A Christmas Carol goes wrong

(Amazon UK link)

For Christmas last year, one of our sons gave us two DVDs we had not previously heard of, in the ‘Goes Wrong’ series. We watched ‘Peter Pan goes wrong’ back in March, and thought it very amusing, if a tad silly in places, and with some scenes that I didn’t like so much. But we decided to keep the other one, ‘A Christmas Carol goes wrong’ for the Christmas season.

Last night we watched it - and were surprised to learn that it’s less than an hour long. These were made for TV rather than as films, so perhaps it’s not so unexpected. I had more of an idea what might happen, after recalling the events of the ‘Peter Pan’ film, so we were expecting some light-hearted chaos.

We were not disappointed. The opening scenes are of the classic Dickens story as expected, but then things start to go wrong. I’m not sure I entirely followed what was happening, as I wasn’t familiar with any of the cast of the (supposed) amateur dramatic society who are performing the play for television. Derek Jacobi appears both as himself and as Scrooge, but Scrooge is also - and mainly - played by someone called Chris in the company (Henry Shields). In addition, there’s an ongoing attempt to injure him by the man known as Robert (Henry Lewis) who would also like to play Scrooge.

The play goes ahead, complete with the various ghosts. Backstage crew appear now and then, and just about everything that might go wrong does. It’s cleverly done, with slick choreography and there were places where we chuckled aloud. I thought the most amusing lines, however, were those by Dennis (Jonathan Sayer) who is playing Bob Cratchett. He is so nervous about forgetting his lines that he has them printed in all kinds of random places, which leads to some very humorous asides.

Even though I know the story of ‘A Christmas Carol’ well, it was sometimes hard to keep track of what was going on. It didn’t help that several of the actors and actresses played multiple roles; in particular Charlie Russell as Sandra, who is not just Mrs Cratchett, but several other women’s parts too. I have a hard enough time keeping track of people when they all look different…

It becomes even more surreal towards the end when the entire cast venture out into London, into a supermarket so that Scrooge, now reformed, can buy something for the Cratchetts’ Christmas lunch. It all gets a bit silly then, particularly when they dance around half-singing bits of Christmas carols, and then can’t get back into the BBC building. If I tried to think about what was going on, I got lost. It probably didn’t matter. 

Overall, it was good fun, cleverly done, and with plenty that we found funny, mixed in with the silliness. We watched the ‘extra’ - some commentary from three of the cast members, explaining the background to some of the story, which did take the whole to over an hour.

Recommended in a low-key way if you like this kind of thing, and are familiar with the classic story. But don’t expect anything too deep. Rated U which seems about right - the violence is slap-stick, it's obvious nobody is hurt, and I don't recall any bad language. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews