Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley Says Recreating ‘Last Christmas’ Scenes for Documentary Felt ‘Incomplete’ Without George Michael

Stepping back into the world of “Last Christmas” has been a bittersweet experience for Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley.

The musician — one half of the iconic ’80s pop duo — recently returned to Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where the music video for the 1984 holiday hit was filmed. The experience, he told Hello! magazine, felt “incomplete” without his late bandmate George Michael, who died unexpectedly on Christmas Day in 2016.

“We had a wonderful time and recreating those scenes felt like yesterday,” Ridgeley told the U.K. outlet before expressing he wishes his lifelong friend and Wham! bandmate — whom he refers to using Michael’s childhood nickname, “Yog” — could have been by his side on the Swiss mountains.

“But it was incomplete because Yog wasn’t with us,” Ridgeley said. “I think enough time has passed from his death that we’re able to reminisce and look back largely with fondness. He would have wanted us to enjoy being with each other, even if he weren’t there.”

Ridgeley returned to the snowy mountains to film part of new BBC documentary, Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, which follows the song’s trajectory from Christmas hit to cultural phenomenon. Penned and produced by Michael, the enduring holiday classic celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The original “Last Christmas” music video features Ridgeley and Michael as friends uniting during the holidays with a twist. The previous year, Michael had given a girl his heart and, as he croons in the track, she “gave it away” — to none other than Ridgeley.

Despite the tension between the on-screen romantic rivals, however, filming the video was actually a blast, Ridgeley recalled to Hello! magazine.

“There was a lot that would have made for quite hair-raising outtakes. When George and I arrived, the others had already been enjoying the bar and it was already quite raucous,” he said. “We were a group of friends having a wonderful time together and there was a real sense of camaraderie, togetherness, enjoyment and laughter — the carefree joys of youth.”

Given these memories — and how much Michael loved Christmas — it is a “painful irony,” that he died on the holiday, Ridgeley said. But, in the years since the pop icon’s death, it has become easier to grapple with his grief this time of year.

“While it was very difficult in the immediate months after his death, the passage of time does dull the sharpness and gives you a slightly different perspective on things,” he told the magazine. “So now we can remember Yog at Christmas positively.”

Ridgeley also teased more Wham! projects — similar to Last Christmas Unwrapped and last year’s Netflix documentary — in the future, a change from the quiet years he’s spent out of the spotlight since the duo split in 1986.

“To be a part of something which has that kind of impact on people’s lives is extremely flattering and humbling,” he said of his role in the hitmaking duo, whose origins date back to his and Michael’s close-knit friendship in secondary school.

And, the musician recalled, the longtime pals and collaborators always “had each other to keep us on the straight and narrow as far as letting things go to one’s head.”

Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped is available to stream on Netflix.