Love Actually 2: Five plotlines that could happen

The beloved rom-com is back with a short sequel for Red Nose Day, but will it end happily ever after?

Hugh Grant
(Image credit: Twitter)

Rom-com Love Actually returns with a special sequel as part of this Friday's Red Nose Day telethon, prompting fans and critics to wonder what's in store for the love-struck characters.

Richard Curtis's original 2003 film followed multiple interwoven stories of love found, lost and unrequited and featured a star-studded ensemble cast, including Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson – many of who are back.

The new film will only be 12 minutes long and while the plot has been kept tightly under wraps, a BBC trailer and a few clues by cast members hint at what might happen.

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Here are five potential storylines viewers might get to see.

Sam and Joanna reunite

Thomas Brodie-Sangster's pre-teen Sam was last seen dashing through airport security to catch Olivia Olson's Joanna before she headed back to the US.The two appear to still be in some sort of contact 14 years later, because they appear in the sequel, but it's unclear if they are boyfriend and girlfriend or how often they've seen each other over the years.

Mark finally gets over Juliet. Or doesn't

In Love Actually, Knightley's Juliet married Peter (Ejiofor), to the disappointment of Peter's best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln), who announced his love with a series of flash cards.Thirteen years on and he has apparently still not given up on Juliet, as the BBC trailer reveals him holding up more cards.But maybe the sequel will involve him finding true love somewhere else. Or as Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian suggests, does Mark finally admit he was really in love with Peter all along?

Billy Mack has one last hit

Bill Nighy's ageing pop star Billy Mack is back, along with his garish glam-rock wardrobe. The singer had a Christmas hit following the last film, but his washed-up rocker character seems in need of another success.Can the vain, self-obsessed Mack finally find some depth and true feeling under his rock-star persona and maybe even a love interest to inspire one last tune that he will be remembered for?

The PM and the First Lady have an announcement

Hugh Grant's prime minister David is still in power, somewhat improbably given the sequel is based more than a decade after the original.Nevertheless, a series of tweets from the set by Curtis's wife Emma Freud show his former PA Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) saying: "Our PM is still married. And she's still lovely."

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Another photo shows Grant making an announcement from a podium.

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So is he announcing his retirement to run off into the sunset with Natalie and enjoy easyJet holidays around Europe?Or has he become yet another politician to fall from grace?

Aurelia finds her own literary voice and Jamie joins UKIP

When we last saw them, Portugal's Aurelia (Lucia Moniz) and British novelist Jamie (Colin Firth) had fallen head over heels for each other, despite only having a rudimentary knowledge of each other's languages.Perhaps the latest instalment will see them both fluently bilingual, with Aurelia translating Jamie's novels for a whole new audience.Or has she found her literary voice and become a successful novelist in her own right?Or, as Rebecca Hawkes in the Daily Telegraph jokingly speculates, now Aurelia can read English, will she discover Jamie's novels are actually "really dreadful" and fall out of love with him - prompting Jamie, disillusioned with all things European, to return to England and join UKIP.Love Actually 2 premieres on BBC1 during Red Nose Day on Friday 24 March, starting 7pm.

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