A fan-favorite member of the “Chesapeake Shores” cast is making a Christmas comeback at Hallmark Channel.
Emelie Ullerup, who portrayed Brie O’Brien throughout all six seasons of the beloved series, will be seen this weekend in a new Christmas movie, “A Danish Christmas.”
‘A Danish Christmas’
In the upcoming holiday rom-com, part of Hallmark Channel’s annual Countdown to Christmas programming event, Ullerup co-stars with Corey Sevier, who previously held the recurring role of Seth Gunderson in Hallmark’s “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove.”
“Marie (Ullerup) is a hotel tech executive living in Chicago who returns home to Copenhagen to spend the holidays with her family and puts herself to work at their inn,” reads the synopsis for the upcoming movie.
“When Ryan Miller (Sevier) checks in a case of mistaken identity leads Marie to believe he’s a travel writer,” the synopsis continues. “She sets out to make sure his stay is perfect, which includes the Christmas tour Ryan’s expecting…but the Andersen Inn hasn’t offered it since her father passed so she scrambles to cobble together an itinerary meant to impress. When Marie’s mom tells her she plans to sell the inn after the New Year Marie becomes doubly determined to make Ryan’s visit a success — a positive story could boost business and convince her to keep the inn. Marie escorts Ryan on a carefully curated tour of Copenhagen and pulls out all the stops to create hygge at the inn, though both efforts end in some festive fiascos.”
Fans of Hallmark Channel movies can probably guess what happens next. “Despite the mishaps the two forge a connection that may be more than just inn-keeper and tourist. When Ryan Miller the journalist arrives they realize their mistake, sending Marie into overdrive to ensure he experiences the perfect Danish Christmas. In the process, Marie learns that warmth, connection – and, possibly, romance — happen naturally and can’t be created,” the synopsis concludes.”
A Return to Denmark
Unlike many Hallmark Christmas movies, “A Danish Christmas” was not filmed in a Canadian town during the summer, but was shot on location in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen, in fact, is actually where Ullerup was born and raised, leaving her native land to move to Vancouver in the early 2000s.
In a vintage Hallmark Channel interview, Ullerup recalled her family’s Danish Christmas traditions.
“So the 24th is usually at my grandparents’ house, and it involves a large dinner — duck, usually — followed by the classic Christmas dessert called risalamande — which is a French word, which is weird, but it’s like a rice pudding with whipped cream in it and it has one almond in it,” Ullerup shared.
“It’s a race to the finish to see who gets the almond because whoever gets the almond gets a present. Which is terribly cruel because you’re so stuffed from duck and you don’t tell anybody when you get the almond, you kind of hide it in the side of your mouth so that the whole bowl has to be finished,” she added.
“And then after that, we dance around the Christmas tree. Everybody in the family, so that’s from oldest to youngest, everybody starts by picking their favorite Christmas song and we all dance around the Christmas tree and sing it together,” she added. “And then it goes around the family, everyone picks a song and then we open presents.”
“A Danish Christmas” debuts Sunday, November 7 on Hallmark Channel.
Watch: ‘Chesapeake Shores’ Star Emelie Ullerup Returns to Hallmark in ‘A Danish Christmas’