Tragic twist to Chris Rea's Driving Home For Christmas video

Driving Home For Christmas's 2009 charity special is one of the most iconic festive music videos, featuring a star-studded cast. 

But behind the jolly clip's smiles and dancing lies a bittersweet truth which leaves one of its stars in tears every time she re-watches it.

Musician Chris Rea, who sang, wrote and composed the track, tragically passed away aged 74 on Monday following a short illness.

After his death, TV personality Lizzie Cundy, who was among the celebrities to feature in the video, has shared how looking back on it now makes her emotional. 

Chris is not the only star from the music video who has since passed away, after TV presenter Kristian Digby, best known for To Buy or Not to Buy, died by 'misadventure' in 2010 aged just 32.

Canadian-British actor and choreographer Lionel Blair, who died in 2021 at the age of 92, also featured in the clip and is seen dancing with Lizzie. 

Elsewhere Welsh actor Ewen Mackintosh passed away in 2024 at the age of 50 after two years of ill health. And footballer Jimmy Greaves did in 2021 aged 81.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Lizzie said: 'Tragically in that video, there's so many that have died like Lionel, the guy from The Professionals, Kristian Digby.'

She added: 'There's been a lot of tragedy.'

'There's been so much tragedy from that video. And now Chris himself has passed away.'

Lizzie continued: 'So that's a very, another sad kind of part of that video. 

'It felt there was something darker in the end about it because so many tragic things happen to people that appeared in the video.'

Meanwhile Scottish TV personality and model Gail Porter made an appearance in the video four years after losing her hair to alopecia.

Lizzie also shared that she divorced her former husband, footballer Jason Cundy, after filming the music video. 

Socialite Lizzie went on to gush over late singer Chris, hailing him one of the kindest people she had ever met. 

'But I remained friends with Chris and he didn't like the fame, didn't like the red carpet,' she said. 'He just loved the music and wanted to make people happy. He was probably one of the kindest people. 

'And he didn't like the stardom, just loved music and making people happy. But it is a tragedy with his family. It's heartbreaking.'

It comes after it emerged Chris was the third of his siblings to die within just three months.

Chris's older sister Camille Whitaker, 79, described his death as 'tragic' and said the sudden loss had left the family in shock coming so soon after two other deaths, of their brother and then sister.

Camille said the youngest of her six siblings, Nicholas, sadly passed away in a Yorkshire hospital in October from brain cancer, at the age of 66.

Then, just days after his funeral, Camille's twin sister Geraldine Milward died suddenly.

She told the Daily Mail: 'It is an awful pain. It is gut-wrenching what happened. The family has been quite shocked by it. It is tragic. We can't sort of get around it.'

Announcing his death on Monday, Chris's wife Joan and their daughters Josie and Julia, released a statement which read: 'It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris.

'He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.' 

The iconic song Driving Home for Christmas has made a reappearance on the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007, including making number 10 in 2021.

Middlesbrough-born Chris, who met Joan when he was just 16, had been dogged with serious health issues including peritonitis, pancreatic cancer and diabetes. In 2017, it was revealed he needed to inject insulin seven times a day.  

Chris' final social media post featured a car on a snowy motorway with a road sign reading: 'Driving home for Christmas with a thousand memories.' 

In the post, shared on Sunday, he added a caption reading: 'Top to toe in tailbacks If it’s a white Christmas, let’s hope the journey’s a smooth one.'