A Christmas Carol on BBC, 1977

Tonight I watched a version that would be very hard to see if not for our friend, the World Wide Web. This evening’s entertainment is the 1977 English television version. This was a BBC offering on Christmas Eve 1977.

It’s too bad this isn’t more widely seen. Even though it runs barely one hour, there’s a full helping of the Dickens’ classic served.

To be honest, for many years the main reason I wanted to see this rendering was to see Patricia Quinn. I’ve always been taken with this sultry lady. Having seen the production, I learned she’s just one of the draws of a great cast in this little gem.

The great Michael Hordern (Lady Jane; voice in Paddington Bear) is our Ebenezer Scrooge here. Mr. Hordern has an A Christmas Carol pedigree. He was Jacob Marley in the classic 1951 ACC and voiced Marley in the great 1971 animated version! John Le Mesurier (Dad’s Army) is a good Jacob Marley. I already mentioned Patricia Quinn (I, Claudius; Rocky Horror – both original stage & screen versions) as the Ghost of Christmas Past while we get Bernard Lee (“M” from James Bond films) in a very effective portrayal of the Ghost of Christmas Present. I’m a fan of Zoë Wannamaker (My Family; Cassandra “moisturize me” from Dr. Who) so it’s just a plus with her in the ensemble. Hers is probably the best-acted Belle there is! Paul Copley of Downton Abbey is Fred. Bob Cratchit is Clive Merrison, whose work I’m not personally familiar with (there’s only just so much English television an American gets to see, after all). Brian Blessed is the narrator.  Oh yeah…Christopher Biggins appears as Topper.

Production values and the atmospheric look are in large part by-products of their being fashioned in the later half of the ‘70’s. It’s a look that could only be best described in better-dedicated paragraphs conerning that topic that aren’t going to be attempted here.

The script is very direct from Dickens. This makes up for the lack of effects and small-scale presentation. This one gives the rare offering of opening with Marley’s funeral though other things are sacrificed for the one-hour timeframe. All in all, this is an extremely respectable contribution to the repertoire of A Christmas Carol productions.

 Unique

This happens during the scene in Scrooge’s room after his encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He begins looking at parts of his room pointing out where events happened as he realized the events truely happened. The scene itself isn’t unique as it is right out of the novella. It is the visual imagining of the scene I find unique.   As Scrooge says, “There’s the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley came” a couple of chain links are shown on the floor, then disappear. As he exclaims, “And there’s the window I went out of!” Scrooge see’s his footprint in the snow, and then it disappears. He then says, “There’s the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present sat!” as sprig of holly is shown, and that disappears as well.

Extra Stuff

See pictures of Zoë Wannamaker as Belle and read about some of her insights into the character on a special page in her website.