A Christmas Carol

[AlecOrAlonzo]

They're mumbling.

Ffs.

They can hear it three houses away. The telly is up at 11. Still can't hear a damn thing.

Is this what pay my tv licence fee for?!

I'm thoroughly enjoying it, even if it is only a nodding acquaintance of the original. I like that Scrooge is teetering on the edge of properly evil, not just a grumpy, doddery old man. I like the fact he comes over as powerful, someone who enjoys being a puppet master being deliberately manipulative rather than just thoughtless. I rather fascinated as to how (if) he will be redeemed.
I also like the visual slipping and sliding between reality and dreams, it looks stunning.

However I am a massive Guy Pearce fan and always find him very compelling to watch.

Oh, BTW, can anyone clarify whether the Ghost of Christmas Past is supposed to be Jesus with the scars from the Crown of Thorns on his forehead?

I really don't think Christmas Past is Jesus. Given that he is blind in 1 eye, I would wonder about Odin sonsofvikings.com/blogs/history/viking-origins-of-christmas-yule-traditions

The Ross Kemp drama based on A Christmas carol was very good ( it was years ago on ITV but he played a money lender with a heart of stone) but then I always thought that Ross was a bit of an under rated actor.
A more modern twist in this might have worked but ( as someone already said on here) it may have been seen as ' Tory bashing ' nonsense by some. There has always been inequality and money lenders and manipulative business owners etc but where a Christmas carol excels is that Scrooge is seen the error of his ways and tries to be a better person at the end. Putting his money to good use instead of bad. I wonder if he will in this?
The scene with the mill printing money was very well done I thought.
Dickens had such powerful characters in his books.

Then again there are some echoes of the Odin story in the Jesus story.

mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/2083/why-is-the-story-of-odin-hanging-from-yggdrasil-so-similar-to-that-of-jesus-on-t

I love some modern adaptations of Shakespeare: Baz L’s Romeo and Juliet is brilliant (and I have a huge soft spot for 10 Things I hate about you!)

Peaky fucking Xmas is genius though

Well that's almost as bad as raping her. It's going to take more than a turkey.

hmm. Seems to be about control and humiliation (but missed a bit there as had to turn over at a crucial point as a child came into the room)

I'm not liking this at all. Dickens version was much better

Loving the ‘trot out of Cathy’ in Peaky Fucking Christmas!

I liked the bit at the grave, about redemption, and the piss soaked grave being what he deserved.

I thought that final episode was bloody well done.

But I agree with everyone who says it should have been given a different name as marketed as a reimagining of ACC, because that's what it was

That was definitely the best episode of the three, overall I quite enjoyed it. I found the parts with his sister and the church particularly moving.

As someone who read this every year as a child I have to say that I loved this adaptation. I have no problem with the changes but felt they were absolutely in the (ahem) spirit of the original. And to those complaining about it being dark I'd just like to point out that the depths of winter 170 years ago without the benefit of electric light would have been horribly gloomy. In fact, one of the earliest scenes where Bob turned up to work at 7am in daylight rather set my teeth on edge.

Dammit, that was a good dramatisation in want of an ending ... Far too much time spent on setting the scene (ep.1) and then Christmas Past (ep.2 running into ep.3) leaving far too little time to do justice to Christmases Present and Future, let alone the change to Scrooge's character. The scriptwriters ran out of steam far too early - at that pace, it needed to be four or five episodes long.

A lot to like about this. Flawed but interestingly so, and with some depth to it.

let alone the change to Scrooge's character

I thought the whole point was that it wasn't a complete personality change, as in the traditional story. He isn't redeemed yet - he'll have to work on that.

Agree the episodes were not correctly weighted in terms of the 3 spirits. They should have done Present this episode and future and conclusions tomorrow.

Glad someone else noticed it getting light at 7am. Def not till 8am ish in real life.

I'm glad I stuck it out. Had a bit of a wobble at the end of episode 1. I agree with pp and that they should have spent an episode on each ghost. The last episode was the best but felt too rushed

Part 3 was definitely the best episode. A thought provoking series. It's got us all talking about Dickens.

God bless us, everyone!

I may be wrong but I thought his sister was usually known as Fran or Franny , not fanny.

Last episode was definitely the best and also thought the scenes with his sister in were the most moving. I wish they showed him going to his nephew's house for Christmas dinner at the end.

A pp was right about Scrooge playing mind games with Mary Cratchit, to prove a point about the integrity and virtue being bought and sold. It was hard to watch but Mary had the upper hand in the end.

I loved this

I like to be surprised by drama. I don't need it to be a faithful word for word from the original source

Thought provoking and Gut Pearce. Tears from me

Well done bbc

You are wrong : his sister is Fan. She became known as Fran in coy adaptations! and now is called Lottie??

Isn't she Fan throughout the book, not Fanny? Thought the change from Fanny to Franny was in the newer Magic Faraway Tree?!