A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is on tonight

[iklboo]

7:10pm on BBC1 if you enjoyed last year's Peter Pan Goes Wrong or have seen The Play That Goes Wrong.

Derek Jacobi and Dame Diana Rigg are in it.

I’ve seen all of their stage shows and loved them.

Wasn’t too impressed with this but dh was laughing like a drain.

Exactly the same here Lizzie

Yep. Too much of the same stuff too quick. I laughed in some places but I'm not enough for a group as brilliant as them. They tried too hard. I wanted the stage back too.

Wish I had recorded Peter Pan to watch this year. Loved it as much as The Play That Goes Wrong.

I was also disappointed. I saw their original production on the West End and loved Peter Pan last year so was looking forward to it but there was nothing new and it lacked something from not being a stage show they were putting on.

Disappointing. They should have stuck to an "As live" format. Too much of it was not credible silliness.

Disappointed here too. We switched over to watch the darts which has been WAY better.

Would it have worked as a stage show? Culd they have done the BBC foyer bit or the supermarket bit ? (Probably could come to think of it).
Christmas Carol is not a light hearted story though, quite grim.

But why wasn't it before Christmas? There were so many programmes they could have booted out ?

In PPGW they cut to footage eg Hook in a rowing boat in a children's pond.

I think maybe the company know theatre inside out and that's why it works so well but TV is a new platform so it wasn't funny/was clumsy.

Just a guess because I was so surprised at how awful it was compared to the brilliance of their stage stuff.

The Play that Goes Wrong was honed and honed again by live theatre- it started off as a fringe production and made it's way via Edinburgh festival to off West End to West End. It's very very good because it has been crafted over time.

Peter Pan is of the same origin.

Their success means they are under pressure to produce new stuff.

The Comedy about a Bank Robbery is good but no where near as good as PTGW - because it had a shorter gestation.

Christmas Carol has the same problem plus as PP said - there are only so many ways that the same actor not remembering his lines can actually be funny.

PTGW - the highlight is when they get stuck in the script loop. Very funny.
PP - earphones with radio interference - funny.
CC - reading stuff off doors. really not funny.

I've heard very good things about 'The Play that goes wrong' and was looking forward to Christmas Carol (one of the very few things I'd highlighted in the Radio Times this year).

Turned it off less than 10 minutes in. Thought it was pretty dire and really not very funny. Sounded like a canned laughter track over the top of it.

We liked it but not as good as last year. One of the best bits of last year was the continued presence of David Suchet trying to be a serious actor while everything fell apart around him - we thought it was a mistake to knock out Derek Jacobi for so long.

For those who gave up, it livened up hugely towards the end, basically when Derek Jacobi got back in it.

I really enjoyed it - I've never seen any of their earlier work so had nothing to directly compare it to, but I thought it was really funny. Maybe because I hadn't seen the other stuff?

I now really want to see Peter Pan, I'm guessing it's not on IPlayer or similar?

I'm very surprised at the general consensus on this thread. We all found it very funny in our house!

I'm looking to book The Play That Goes Wrong this year so I'm pleased to hear that it's even better.

I've never seen their other stuff either, and thought it was really funny! The kids were chortling away too, even though it was about the 3rd or 4th time they have had the story told to them in the past 2 weeks!

DD was keen to watch this as she loved the Peter Pan last year, but it hardly raised a laugh. Too few jokes (actor can't memorise lines, actor walks into set) repeated too many times and, as someone here said, Morecambe and Wise did them all 40 years ago. Perhaps the team are getting complacent?

Just watched it yesterday it was meh I laughed at bits but was to try hard Peter pan goes wrong was much funnier and flowed better,We saw the play that goes wrong last year and I laughed till i couldn't breath.

Peter Pan goes wrong works much better as it's the theatre format. It just wasn't credible that they could take over a TV production like that. I've booked to see the Play (and recommended it to friends) so hope it's better than the Christmas Carol.

I rewatcher Peter Pan last night, and it is indeed much better. Still had me laughing and bears rewatching, whereas I barely laughed at the Christmas Carol one.

It's here on youtube.

On again this afternoon

So disappointing. Didn't raise even a smile in our house, and we all loved the Peter Pan last year. Over done and pointless. And why did we need big names like Diana Rigg and Derek Jacobi? The whole point is it should look like a genuine amateur production.

Another disappointed family here. We've also still got Peter Pan recorded from last year. Have seen the Play that Goes Wrong and it was brilliant. Bank Robbery not so good.

Too much rehashed slapstick in Christmas Carol. Mistake to move away from the theatre format. Not enough layers to it - Peter Pan had so much going on - the story, the narrator, off-stage relationships etc etc. And the slapstick was so slick in Peter Pan.

And to put Derek Jacobi and Diana Rigg on the bill and give them a few minutes each was a farce!

Would be interested to hear if anyone has been to Movie Night and what they thought of it?

I saw the original stage show and loved it and got tickets again for this year. Enjoyed Peter Pan Goes Wrong but just tried watching this and the laughter track made me turn it off after 5 minutes.

The initial premise was too impossible to suspend disbelief for me - if a bunch of students broke onto a TV set and took it over they'd be arrested in short order. They should have found a more plausible scenario.

I laughed at some of the green screen stuff, some of the forgotten lines stuff, and I liked the tall puppet ghost. Had trouble following who was who in the party gossip scenes.

DD 11 was so disappointed, she loved Peter Pan last year and was so looking forward to this but didn't really enjoy it. She said it was too confusing.

Gutted they didn't reshow Peter Pan as I accidentally deleted it in May. Thank god I discovered the Youtube before Christmas so we could all watch on Christmas eve. Sadly the BBC will probably remove at some point. Would happily buy a DVD of it - hint hint BBC.

Haven't seen Christmas Carol yet apart from the first 10 mins on tv. Have it recorded though. Will keep an eye out for the other plays.

In order of preference:

Play that goes Wrong
Peter Pan
Bank Robbery
Mischief Movie night (seen twice)
Christmas Carol

Saw Mischief night twice - good performances, great audience participation, different plot every time. Lasts about an hour. But, having seen two performances you sort of get the drift of how they do it and I would imagine that even if you saw another 10 performances it would pretty much be the same format, different story. But was good though. Have enjoyed all from this company but definitely think the Play That Goes Wrong is the best. Comic timing, slapstick element and laugh out loud script. Loved it.

DrMM. Thank you so much for sharing the Peter Pan link. I am one happy lady!