Home Alone

Chris Columbus’ 1990 film ‘Home Alone’ followed Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), an eight-year-old boy who is accidentally left behind at his home in a suburb in Chicago whilst his family travel to Paris, France, for Christmas.

Kevin then has to protect his house from robbers Harry and Marv, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, using an array of ingenious booby traps.

It has become a festive classic and watched by millions every year, but it has been criticized for depicting child neglect as no big deal.

The film’s screenwriter, the late great John Hughes, played down any modern criticism, insisting it's just a film.

Hughes - who passed away in August 2009 aged 59 - came up with the plot when preparing to go on vacation as he “made a note to himself not to forget his kids".