The ‘Facts of Life’ Cast Once Reunited for a Lifetime Christmas Movie

Three decades after their hit sitcom came to an end, The Facts of Life cast gave fans an early Christmas gift when they reunited for a holiday film. Back in 2019, series stars Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn, and Nancy McKeon came back together for Lifetime’s Christmas film You Light Up My Christmas, which debuted as part of the channel’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” programming.

The plot is inspired by real-life events and follows Fields’ character, Emma, as she “returns to her hometown built around her family’s pioneer Christmas Light Factory two weeks before Christmas. However upon Emma’s return, she discovers the lights have gone dim in the once festive town, prompting her to reconnect with an old flame to set their hearts and the town ablaze with light again.” Whelchel stars as Aurora, Cohn as Rose, and McKeon as Kathy, and Rae. Fields, who executive produced the project, also made sure the film paid special tribute to Charlotte Rae, who played Edna Garrett on both The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes, following her death in 2018.

“It’s been amazing to work together again and have the ladies’ input on their characters from their wardrobe to names, as well as provide fun inside jokes for fans,” Fields told PEOPLE at the time. “I also had the production name the ice-skating rink in the movie after our dear friend, Charlotte Rae, who passed away last year. We truly are a family so it was great to work together on something new!”

The film marked a reunion for Whelchel, Fields, Cohn, and McKeon, who starred alongside one another as Blair Warner, Dorothy ‘Tootie’ Ramsey, Natalie Green, and Jo Polniaczek on Facts of Life. The hit sitcom, created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon as a spin-off of Diff’rent Strokes, followed Rae’s Edna as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York. The series ran from 1979 through 1988.

The Christmas miracle that was The Facts of Life reunion in You Light Up My Christmas is available to watch via the Lifetime Movie Club and on YouTube here. Fans can also purchase the movie on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service for $5.39 and Vudu for $3.99.