BBC's A Christmas Carol TV Show Review

It's a Wonderfully Tortured Life

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

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Recommended
BBC's A Christmas Carol TV Show Review

BBC's A Christmas Carol Review

This Guy Pearce-starring, Tom Hardy/Ridley Scott-produced, Steven "Peaky Blinders" Knight-written adult adaptation of Dickens' classic tale makes for suitably gritty, compelling Christmas viewing.

Whether you favour the classic black-and-white original, or Bill Murray's superb spin in Scrooged, Dickens' tale has seen some tremendous adaptations over the years, reminding audiences of its timeless qualities. Compelling and character-driven, its earnest but also emotional voyage through past, present and future crimes to tap into the cold heart of its seemingly damned protagonist resonates even well on its way to its second century after first publication.

Putting a different spin on things is Steven Knight, whose approach might initially jar and even possibly alienate audiences expecting a hearty family-friendly Christmas prelude, instead dishing out violence, a little horror, a few f-bombs, a more correct portrayal of races in Victorian times (yes, shock-horror, not everybody was white back then; that was a movie-perpetrated myth) and even a little child abuse. This may not be classic Dickens, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

 Knight has done a commendable job updating a tried-and-tested tale for modern audiences

Ebenezer Scrooge is a rich boss of an investment firm, pushing his loyal worker Bob Cratchit to the limit even on Christmas Day, and showing disdain for anything remotely approaching charitable behaviour. Visited by a slew of haunting faces from his tortured past, Scrooge has to face up to what made him this way, and acknowledge the damage he continues to do in the present, if he hopes to avoid even more horror in the future.

BBC's A Christmas Carol

Once you get past the grave-pissing, cussing, sheer shock factor of 2019's A Christmas Carol, there's something both thoughtful and suitably horrible that drives this new adaptation, which fashions a tale of impossible redemption founded in the more grim reality that perhaps even pervaded the times back then - and is certainly more resonant for audiences of today. The abuse, the Indecent Proposal, the sheer psychopathy of the protagonist - it's all so much more authentic than in either the classic formulations of old, or the relatively contemporary spins on the formula. Desperately, and very visually, bleak, but also fractionally hopeful - insomuch as you hope that this doesn't deviate so far from the tale not to afford the same rewarding ending - Knight's tale gets pretty dark with no obvious sign of a light at the end of the tunnel.

Guy Pearce (recently in Brimstone and Alien: Covenant, but still scraping awfully close to DTV with films like Domino and Spinning Man) is perfectly cast as Scrooge, embracing the almost Rain Man-like numbers-driven obsessiveness of the character as he ignores humanity in favour of cold, hard logic. Rotten inside and almost looking like he's physically rotting, his Scrooge is a plausible villain, not a pantomime one, given depth through some interesting replotting of his past, and sent in even darker directions by some of his resultant actions in the present. It's a choice role, and Knight writes it like he's still writing 'Blinders, making Scrooge's iconic anti-villain teeter dangerously close to the irredeemable precipice.

 This may not be classic Dickens, but it's pretty good nonetheless

The supporting cast are pretty-much as you might expect from a Knight production, but are surprisingly weak in this setting, with Stephen Graham (recently overshadowed by the masters in The Irishman, but still a great new talent) initially a little jarring in his casting, but eventually gelling with the style, whilst Andy Serkis too struggles to fit the tone, similarly getting there in the end (the likes of Charlotte Riley and Jason Flemyng are saved for the final episode). It's Pearce who grounds the piece though, and his attempts at logically explaining the haunting hallucinations he thinks have befallen him are convincing, giving a classic fantasy ghost story some curious realism. It's certainly not a perfect production - the swearing doesn't really feel needed at all - it would still be gritty without, as it proves when they just basically stop swearing; and the asides to purgatory feel a little like padding, with a desire to fill three hours of screentime seeing the show unnecessarily drift from what should be its primary focus at all times: Scrooge himself - but Knight has still done a commendable job updating a tried-and-tested tale for modern audiences, and it's worth checking out. 


Scores

Verdict

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7

7
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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