A CBeebies Chistmas Carol

Title:
A CBeebies Christmas Carol
 
Format:
Pre-recorded Christmas pantomime special, shot on multi-camera HD video
 
Country:
UK
 
Production company:
BBC Television
 
Year:
2013 (first shown on the CBeebies channel in the UK on December 20^th that year)
 
Length:
40 minutes
 
Setting:

Fantasy Victorian
 
Background:
The BBC has a long and proud tradition of high-quality children’s television, and the Christmas pantomimes on its CBeebies channel have become a new part of this tradition in the 21^st century. CBeebies – a corruption of ‘CBBC’, or ‘Children’s BBC’ – is a channel aimed at the under-sevens, and was launched in 2002. As with all of the BBC’s public-service channels, it is available on all television platforms in the UK, whether through a rooftop aerial, a cable or a satellite dish.
 
As with a traditional stage pantomime this took place in a theatre, in this case The Crucible in Sheffield – well-known as the home of the World Snooker Championships. Presumably one of the reasons it was chosen was due to how close the audience can get to the thrust stage.
 
It was recorded and edited for television transmission.

 
Cast and crew:
This was the sixth CBeebies panto, and as usual it featured a mixture of the channel’s presenters and the stars of some of its most popular programmes. For the first time, this one also featured some guest stars who’d been well-known on BBC children’s programmes of decades past, presumably to delight the parents or grandparents watching alongside the young children. So seventies and eighties presenters Iain Lachlan, Floella Benjamin and Derek Griffiths all poke their heads around the door, as does nineties Get Your Own Back host Dave Benson Phillips.
 
Of the contemporary generation, long-serving CBeebies presenter Andy Day stars as Scrooge, with fellow presenter Cat Sandion as the narrator and Children’s BBC stalwart Chris Jarvis as Bob Cratchit, and a host of other guest appearances and familiar faces from the channel alongside them of course.
 
Jon Spooner directed the theatrical production, with Bridget Caldwell directing the television recording – Caldwell was an experienced TV director who’s worked extensively on both multi-camera studio productions and live theatrical events. The producer was Jon Hancock, who’d worked on various other CBeebies productions, and the script was written by Claire Duffy, who later scripted a very well-received young children’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the channel.
 
Duffy’s script for A Christmas Carol is available to download from the BBC Writersroom website: click here.
 

Underdone Potato:
After an opening song and introduction from narrator Cat, we meet Mr Scrooge – quite a young incarnation this, although probably seeming old enough to the target audience – and his three employees. When the audience are told that Scrooge hates Christmas, it’s interesting to see him being booed like a pantomime villain. I know this is a pantomime, but it’s interesting because of course the story doesn’t really have a villain, as such, as Scrooge is technically the hero, in some ways.
 
We get a version of the Nephew Fred scene, before Scrooge heads off home to bed. There’s no Marley scene, although the animated character of Tree Fu Tom provides an equivalent. He doesn’t appear to Scrooge, but is projected onto the back of the stage once Scrooge is asleep, telling the audience that Scrooge will receive visits from three ‘friends’ of his, before there’s a bit of audience participation to create the magic to make them appear.

 
Past:
Derek Griffiths delights the older members of the audience with his appearance as… Well, the first ‘present’ to Scrooge. There’s never any mention of ghosts throughout the whole thing, or even whether it’s the past or the present, but Griffiths certainly looks ghostly in his costume, and the implication is clear enough for the members of the audience who know the story.

We visit a school, although not Scrooge’s own schooldays as such. Instead, he’s encouraged to join in with some messy antics around decorating a Christmas tree. Following this we get the Fezziwigs’ party, with Mr Tumble himself Justin Fletcher as Mrs Fezziwig, and long-serving presenter Pui Fan Lee as Mr Fezziwig.
 
It’s in this section where all of the other old Children’s BBC faces appear as guests at the party, with Floella Benjamin even bringing Humpty along for a rare outing! Griffiths points out that Scrooge enjoyed all the dancing, which he denies, and we get classic bit of panto “Oh yes you were!” business.
 
Present:
CBeebies presenter Katrina Bryan is the second ‘friend’, with a nod to the original’s appearance by wearing a crown of holly around her head.

 
She only shows Scrooge one vision – the Cratchits’ house, with Bob and his wife and their two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is never named as Tim, and doesn’t have anything wrong with him.
 
Yet to Come:
Steven Kynman as his Michael McIntyre-like CBeebies character Robert the Robot is the third ‘friend’, and there’s a bit of comedy business where he initially appears under the traditional cloak and hood, before stumbling his way onto the stage. He does specifically claim to be “from the future”, however.

 
He doesn’t show any visions of what’s to come, though – instead, simply teaching Scrooge, through the medium of song, how to be nice to people. This seems to do the trick, and by the end of it Scrooge is fully redeemed and regretful of his previous actions.
 
What’s To-Day:
Scrooge decides to throw a big party for everyone, sending out invites without saying who they’re from, and gathering everyone together on stage for the big reveal that it’s actually him, and he now loves Christmas. There is a hint of the little joke Scrooge plays on Bob on Boxing Day as he pretends to be cross with him before revealing he’s the one behind the party, before it all ends – of course! – with a song and a dance.
 
The two Cratchit children sign off with a version of Tim’s traditional toast – although, interestingly for a Christmas special, Duffy’s script makes it as secular as they can by changing it to, “Bless us all at Christmas, every one!”

Review:
I can imagine how difficult it is to try and create a version of A Christmas Carol which is suitable for very young children, and yet done in live action rather than with animation or with puppets. While this is clearly a very child-friendly version of the story, it does go to show that if done with attention and care even an adaptation so far removed from the source material can demonstrate what a strong framework the fine old story is.
 
Obviously I am very much not in the target audience for this, but I could appreciate that it was done well. There’s something rather charming about seeing the children in the live theatre audience erupt with glee and tumultuous applause when various of their favourites appear. Matched only, perhaps, by the similar reactions from the parents and grandparents in the audience when some of the familiar faces from their own childhood make guest appearances. All of them looking pretty pleased to be there, too.
 
If I had to make a criticism, I would perhaps say that none of the songs are up there with the best ones from the 1970 or the Muppet versions. But really, it’s hard to find fault with this – a fun little production which achieves exactly what it sets out to do. Certainly it’s a cut above the vast majority of other young child-oriented versions out there.
 
In a nutshell:
I’m sure this will be remembered fondly by many who were young children at the time as their first memory of A Christmas Carol.
 
Links:
BBC blog entry
CBeebies Wiki