A CHRISTMAS CAROL {MICHAEL HORDERN} (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television special tells the Christmas cautionary tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, taken from the classic 1843 novella written by Charles Dickens. The program begins on December the 24th as elderly miser Scrooge declares Christmas to be a "humbug" when his clerk Bob Cratchit wishes him a happy holiday. Cratchit, though poor, says that the season brings out charitable kindliness in people, but Scrooge ignores him, also turning down a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. When asked to donate to the poor, Scrooge retorts that they can simply live in prison or toil in the workhouse, or even "decrease the surplus population" by dying. After grudgingly allowing Cratchit to take Christmas off of work, Scrooge goes home alone, and though he thinks he sees visions of his deceased business partner Marley, he dismisses them as "humbugs" as well. Marley's ghost arrives, however, wrapped in chains, explaining that he is doomed to wander through the world with the chains he forged in life, unable to find rest because he did not show mercy to others in life. He warns Scrooge that he will be visited by three further spirits, and then departs.
Afraid, Scrooge takes to his bed, and he is visited by a figure of a young woman who explains that she is the ghost of Christmas past. She takes him to his boyhood school, reminding him of his lonely childhood, then showing him a loving scene with his "warm-hearted" sister Fannie. The ghost points out that Scrooge does not properly love Fred, his late sister's child, as he should, and then takes him to a later Christmas Eve, in which his good-tempered boss Fezziwig put together a pleasant holiday party for his employees. Scrooge muses that he should have been kinder to Bob, as his boss was to him. Next, he revisits a scene with his former fiancée, Belle, who tells him that he has been much changed since acquiring wealth and "releases" him from their engagement, believing that he cannot love her anymore. Later, she marries someone else and seems happy, though she expresses pity for Scrooge, who is alone.
The ghost of Christmas present comes next and takes Scrooge to the Cratchit home, where the family celebrates happily despite their poverty. Bob and his invalid son Tiny Tim return home from church, and the ghost informs Scrooge that Tim will not live long if things continue as they are, pointedly adding that his death will "decrease the surplus population." Bob defends Scrooge when his wife criticizes him, and at Fred's house, his nephew declares that he feels sorry for the unloved man as he himself makes merry with his friends. The ghost then shows Scrooge two street children who represent "Ignorance" and "Want," saying that they have no refuge.
Finally, the silent ghost of Christmas future arrives and takes Scrooge to a scene in which two businessmen callously discuss the death of a friendless man. They visit the man's house, where the undertaker and the charwoman steal his belongings, saying that he has no one to mourn him in death because he was so unkind in life. The ghost also shows him a poor family who is relieved by the man's death, believing their next debt collector will be far kinder, and at the Cratchits' home, the family sits in mourning, and Scrooge realizes that Tiny Tim has also died. A grieving Bob tells his wife that he exchanged condolences and kind words with Fred, and when the ghost takes him to a graveyard, Scrooge realizes that the dead man is himself, and he pleads for another chance, promising to be kinder and to always appreciate the spirit of Christmas. Scrooge then awakens in his own bed and is giddy to realize that it is Christmas morning and all is well, and he anonymously sends a giant turkey to the Cratchit home and heads for dinner at Fred's after all. When Bob comes in to the office, Scrooge declares that things must change and awards the shocked man a pay raise, and at home, Tiny Tim and the rest of the family celebrate the holiday together. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC 2
- DATE: December 24, 1977 6:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:37
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 108075
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Christmas; Literature
- SERIES RUN: BBC 2 - TV, 1977
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jonathan Powell … Producer
- Moira Armstrong … Director
- Charles Dickens … Writer
- Elaine Morgan … Dramatized by
- Herbert Chappell … Music by
- Michael Hordern … Cast, Scrooge
- John leMesurier … Cast, Marley's Ghost
- Bernard Lee … Cast, Ghost of Christmas Present
- Patricia Quinn … Cast, Ghost of Christmas Past
- Paul Copley … Cast, Fred
- Clive Merrison … Cast, Bob Cratchit
- Carol MacReady … Cast, Mrs. Cratchit
- Maev Alexander … Cast, Fred's Wife
- Zoe Wanamaker … Cast, Belle
- Stephen Churchett … Cast, John
- Will Stampe … Cast, Fezziwig
- Christopher Biggins … Cast, Topper
- Tricia George … Cast, Little Blonde
- John Salthouse … Cast, Scrooge as a young man
- Veronica Doran … Cast, Caroline
- John Grillo … Cast, Caroline's Husband
- June Brown … Cast, Mrs. Dilber
- David Hatton … Cast, Undertaker's Man
- John Ringham … Cast, Charity Gentleman
- Brian Hayes … Cast, Businessman
- Roy Desmond … Cast, Businessman
- Michael Mulcaster … Cast, Ghost of Christmas Future
- Nicholas John … Cast, Dick Wilkins
- Dorian Healy … Cast, Scrooge as a schoolboy
- Tracey Childs … Cast, Fan
- Zelah Clarke … Cast, Martha Cratchit
- David Ronder … Cast, Peter Cratchit
- Claire McLellan … Cast, Belinda Cratchit
- Timothy Chasin … Cast, Tiny Tim
- David Corti … Cast, Carol singer