There are some Christmas traditions that you simply can't beat. Eating a roast dinner with the family is a big one, of course, as is the annual fight over who really won Monopoly - but, in my house, at least, the festive season doesn't truly begin until Love Actually is on.
Released in 2003, the charmingly British romcom follows eight different couples in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It's got a star-studded cast, with Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, and Liam Neeson all claiming pretty big roles, and has some excellent one-liners that still hold up even 15 years later ("I HATE Uncle Jamie!").
But despite the drama, the romance, and the jaw-clenchingly cringeworthy moment in which Andrew Lincoln tells Keira Knightley he's been creeping on her for years via the medium of CARDBOARD, the absolute highlight of the film has to be the octopus kid from the nativity play.
The boy, who has been lovingly dubbed "the cockblocktopus" by some friends of mine, is not actually named in the film, but is undoubtedly the best character of the lot.
For those who need a quick reminder of who he is, the octopus kid mades an appearance at the end of the movie when Hugh Grant is looking for Martine McCutcheon on Christmas Eve. He searches for her in "the dodgy end of Wandsworth" (because he apparently didn't have her address anywhere on file, despite her working for him for a couple of weeks????) and eventually stumbles upon her house just as she and her family are leaving for the school play.
Rather than having a chat with his former housekeeper as he intended, however, Hugh ends up bundled in the car with her and, of course, the Octokid.
After a few moments of awkward conversation between the pair, the car pulls up, octokid declares his one line - "We're here!" - and that's it, his moment in the spotlight is over.
Nevertheless, he made an impact on the audience enough for us to remember him all these years later.
Looking at him now, though, you'd never know it was him. In a post on Twitter, the actress Kathy Burke shared this side-by-side of Octokid, who happens to be her godson.
"Want to feel old? Here's what octopus boy aka my godson, Bill looks like now," she wrote.
The actor's full name is Billy Campbell and, as far as we know, that horrendous green octopus costume was the highlight of his career. There was even a revival of the original cast a few years ago in aid of Comic Relief, but Octokid (or Octoman, as he is now) did not make an appearance.
Really, though it's no surprise we didn't see him again, given how difficult it would be to make the costume. Eight is a lot of legs, David.
