In Pictures: Christmas comes early as lights bring festive cheer during lockdown

Christmas decorations are going up extra-early this year, as householders and local authorities seek to spread festive cheer amid the ongoing gloom of coronavirus restrictions.

In Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Paul Fenning went all-out with his decorations, themed around classic seasonal stories The Grinch and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Meanwhile in Soham, Cambridgeshire, the home of Helen and John Attlesey shone bright with festive lights.

The retired couple, who have put on their dazzling light display for almost a decade, raise money for East Anglia Children’s Hospices, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Dreamflight, that all helped their grandson Jacob recover from a serious form of epilepsy.

And lights sparkled in Liverpool city centre, despite the streets being quiet due to England’s four-week coronavirus lockdown.