As a kid I always loved getting an annual and in the early 70s I got the usual selection of The Beano, Victor Book for Boys and Blue Peter. Well, it was only Blue Peter that became a yearly staple of my childhood. This was because I loved the range of stories, articles and even Paddington! I was absolutely fascinated by the tale of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and it definitely gave me an early sense of injustice. Anyone who is interested in what a 70s childhood was like, this is a marvellous window into it.
One of my only fond memories of my time at the Maths School, perhaps my only one, was having the original musical version of Scrooge played on a big screen in the school hall. It was full of life, colour and humour and it had a real atmosphere of Dickensian fun. It covers the main beats of the story as well as adding a scene that goes to Hell itself, which is great fun but not necessarily effective. Even when it misses a beat like that, it’s brio carries it through. It’s simply marvellous as my review below suggests.
There have been over 100 versions of A Christmas Carol in the last 120 years, and I have 11 of them on DVD or Blu Ray at the last count (!) so it is very difficult to pick a favourite film or performance. However, there is one performance of the central character that I have grown to admire more than any other. George C Scott portrayed the most realistic Scrooge in the grittiest and most realistic version of the story. Read the article below for my full thoughts and if you see it on the TV at any time over Christmas make sure you watch it or record it.
Quite possibly the best of the BBC Ghost Story for Christmas strand, and definitely my favourite, The Signalman is based on the Charles Dickens short story written in 1866. It has a magnificent central performance by Denholm Elliott and a real atmosphere of dread. It’s amazing to think that I was only 11 when I first saw it because it’s frightening enough as an adult! It’s bound to be on TV at sometime this Christmas, so happy viewing!
The first thing to point out is that poor Denise Bryer suffered the indignity of having her name spelt wrong on this cover. She shares reading duties with Martin Jarvis (spelt correctly) and lifts this version above all others purely because it is the only one that doesn’t rely on an actor trying to put on a female voice, which often strays into caricature. Everything about this is amazing, and if you want to hear it for yourself I have finally tracked it down on the internet! Here it is https://era.org.uk/lit-resource/book-at-bedtime-a-christmas-carol-1985-episode-1/
Here is the original article https://davidgpearce205.blog/2023/12/06/book-at-bedtime-a-christmas-carol-martin-jarvis-and-denise-bryer-cassette/
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 