Very loosely based on Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol, Sky\u2019s new one-off comedy drama Christmas Carole<\/a> transports the classic story to 21st<\/sup> century London with a wealthy entrepreneur named Carole (Suranne Jones \u2013 sporting the most severe bob since Edna Mode\u2019s in The Incredibles) becoming the Scrooge-like character who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time that the infamous miser has been turned into a modern day business mogul \u2013 Scrooged did it with Bill Murray way back in 1988, and Ryan Reynolds is suitably stingy in this year\u2019s musical Spirited<\/a> \u2013 and it\u2019s not even the first version in which Scrooge has been female, with Susan Lucci (Ebbie), Cicely Tyson (Ms Scrooge) and Vanessa Williams (A Diva\u2019s Christmas Carol) all having had a go at being mean-spirited Scroogettes in TV movies over the years.<\/p>\n In this version, Carole has made her money, and earned the nickname \u2018Christmas Carole\u2019, by selling cheap festive decorations that quickly fall apart. She lives alone in a stunning penthouse with a view of the London Eye (and isn\u2019t best pleased when her brother turns up unannounced with his wife and energetic son), expects her PA to be at her beck and call 24 hours a day, and is planning to sell her company in a deal that will make her millions but leave many of her staff without jobs.<\/p>\n It comes as no surprise, then, that Carole is destined to meet some ghostly apparitions on Christmas Eve to show her the error of her ways and help her get in touch with her inner cuddly person. A shock visit from the ghost of her dead mum kicks things off, and then Carole is in for a night of surprises as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future pop by.<\/p> The twist here is that those spooks are the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future entertainment \u2013 so Carole is first visited by legendary comedians Morecambe and Wise (as played by Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel, who are well known for playing Eric and Ernie on stage) who take her on a tube ride back to her childhood home and show her that her life with her brother and dad (after her mum left them) isn\u2019t quite how she remembered it.<\/p>\n The Present entertainer is Jo Brand (playing herself), who zips them both along London\u2019s streets on electric scooters to show Carole how Carole\u2019s family, and her PA\u2019s, are spending Christmas, while the ghost of Future entertainment is Nish Kumar (delivering one of the few funny lines in the script when he describes himself as \u201ca national treasure in the making\u201d).<\/p>\n It\u2019s a neat idea that works best in the scenes with Morecambe and Wise, as Carole\/Suranne gets to be in a couple of their well-known sketches and, best of all, shows off her previously unseen dancing talents in a superb recreation of Angela Rippon\u2019s iconic high-kicking dance from the duo\u2019s 1976 Christmas special. (Special praise should go to the costume department who have replicated Rippon\u2019s racy outfit beautifully).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the rest of Christmas Carole doesn\u2019t quite live up to the Morecambe and Wise sections, in part because those moments with \u201cEric and Ernie\u201d only highlight how humourless the rest of the script is.<\/p>\n That would be fine \u2013 after all, Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol wasn\u2019t a laugh-a-minute, it\u2019s only because of adaptations like A Muppet Christmas Carol that we expect Scrooge\u2019s story to be funny \u2013 but the trouble is, despite it being a ghost story, Christmas Carole isn\u2019t spooky either.<\/p>\n Aside from one brief CGI moment early on that will traumatise any young kids watching (Carole\u2019s dead mum\u2019s jaw literally drops, and it really isn\u2019t very pleasant), there\u2019s nothing scary enough about Carole\u2019s visitations to deliver a festive fright or even the tiniest of shivers.<\/p>\n And despite Suranne Jones\u2019s enthusiastic performance paired with that haircut and sternly pursed bright red lips, Carole never feels quite mean enough \u2013 we wouldn\u2019t be that impressed if our nephew was kicking a football around our luxury apartment, either \u2013 so her 11th<\/sup> hour realisation that she should be kinder falls a bit flat.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth tuning in for Suranne Jones, Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel\u2019s performances (and those dance moves!) but otherwise, sadly, this Christmas Carole is more turkey than triumph.<\/p>\n Christmas Carole airs tonight at 8pm on Sky Max and is also available via NOW \u2013 find out more about\u00a0how to sign up for Sky TV<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Fantasy<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Christmas double issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n By Jo Berry Published: Saturday, 24 December 2022 at 12:00 am 2.0 out of 5 star rating Very loosely based on Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol, Sky\u2019s new one-off comedy drama Christmas Carole transports the classic story to 21st century London with a wealthy entrepreneur named Carole (Suranne Jones \u2013 sporting the most severe bob […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27756,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-review-suranne-jones-is-a-game-scrooge-in-uneven-retelling.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jo Berry Published: Saturday, 24 December 2022 at 12:00 am 2.0 out of 5 star rating Very loosely based on Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol, Sky\u2019s new one-off comedy drama Christmas Carole transports the classic story to 21st century London with a wealthy entrepreneur named Carole (Suranne Jones \u2013 sporting the most severe bob…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/27755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/christmas-carole-morecambe-wise-084c8cf.jpg?quality=90&crop=260px%2C0px%2C7303px%2C4865px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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