Outside the Blue Box: A Christmas Carol (2000)

AAll Doctor Who fans know that it’s canonically true that the Doctor knows Charles Dickens. After all, they defeated the Gelth together on Christmas Eve 1869. But here’s a question no one ever asked: I wonder what Charles Dickens would have made of EastEnders? Moreover, can comparisons be drawn between Dickens’ seminal tales of class struggles and avarice in nineteenth-century London and the dramatic daily lives of the residents of Albert Square? One thing that will now forever bond the two together is none other than Mr. Ross Kemp. Yes, the former EastEnders actor who famously played hard man Grant Mitchell has earned a place in the annals of history by giving us his Ebenezer Scrooge in this millennial remake of the Dickens classic.

But does it have the drama we’ve come to expect from Walford’s finest at Christmas, or is it best relegated to a Christmas past? And most importantly, how does Doctor Who fit into all this?

Eddie Scrooge (groan) is a loan shark operating in a downtrodden estate in central London. He’s a one-man bailiff, collecting his debts from every age group—from dopey OAPs (notably played by Liz Smith, criminally underused) to desperate single mums—tailed by his long-suffering and similarly indebted assistant Bob Cratchit. His Grinch-like approach to Christmas knows no bounds, as he commits the truly heinous act of throwing a family’s television off a balcony when they can’t pay their bill. Remember, this is the year 2000, and Christmas TV was a national obsession, so this really is the height of festive meanness.

Following the mysterious murder of his business partner Jacob Marley (Ray Fearon), Scrooge has been blamed for his death by Marley’s religious mother. Needless to say, he’s somewhat perturbed by the ghostly reappearance of his deceased partner on Christmas Eve, warning him about the three spectral visits to come. The story follows Dickens’ well-trodden path: Eddie gets to revisit his childhood trauma, largely caused by his emotionally distant father (played by Warren Mitchell of Alf Garnett fame), experience the first sparks of his now-lost love Bella (The Commitments’ Angeline Bell), and confront his inevitably doomed future if he doesn’t change his ways. As each Christmas Eve resets, Eddie tries a bit harder to right his wrongs, and, as with the Dickens classic, by Christmas Day, Eddie decides to change his miserly ways and embrace the Christmas spirit before it’s too late.

A quick glance at Wikipedia will inform you that there have been many, many iterations of Ebenezer Scrooge over the years. While Kemp’s version probably isn’t the worst (step forward, Tori Spelling), it won’t be winning him any awards. In fact, it didn’t. This version of A Christmas Carol was produced as part of a ‘golden handcuffs’ deal which the extremely in-demand Kemp had signed with ITV after leaving the BBC’s EastEnders earlier that year. He’s squarely in Grant Mitchell territory here.

It’s not an awful combo—the gruff nature of both characters naturally blends together, so I can see how execs thought this would work. However, Kemp is coming off an ensemble program, and it shows, as he struggles to carry the whole 90 minutes alone and convey the emotional baggage the character needs to display. He’s more mean than miserly—threatening and aggressive as opposed to penny-pinching. Even when playing a changed man, I was still half-expecting him to punch someone as he forces his generosity onto confused former debtors. Similarly, his journey to the past, present, and future barely evokes emotion, as he mainly shouts angrily at the various figures in his life. His eventual reformation comes very late and very fast.

Kemp isn’t a bad actor; he’s just born to play Grant Mitchell. Here we are, a full 24 years later, and he’s still best known for playing Grant, a role he’s since leaned into in various projects. That should give some indication of how iconic that character was, along with the epic reach of EastEnders and broadcast television in the late nineties and early noughties. A colossal 9.41 million people watched this on its debut—figures that broadcast TV could only dream about now.

So down to the Who of it all: director Catherine Morshead. This is a good ten years prior to her TARDIS directorship, but already we can see the beginnings of someone who would do well in the ‘made-for-TV’ filming style of series 1–5 of NuWho, rather than in what would eventually become the cinematic style of Moffat’s universe in series 6–10. Both episodes of NuWho that Morshead directed, Amy’s Choice and The Lodger, have a few things in common with this version of A Christmas Carol.

In Amy’s Choice, Amy, Rory, and the Doctor are bounced in and out of realities by the sinister Dream Lord, and we’re on similar footing here with Marley’s ghost ominously haunting Eddie Scrooge’s domestic life. The ghosts bring him to different points in his life, focusing on the mundane events that made him the man he has become. While Amy’s Choice is a far superior viewer experience, there are shades of similarity in the lighting style, the jarring jumps, and the confusion that time or dimension jumping brings.

The Lodger, on the other hand, isn’t a personal favorite of mine, but juggling Matt Smith, James Corden, and Daisy Haggard in a single episode and giving each one room to shine is no mean feat. Similarly, the cast of A Christmas Carol is suitably starry—Kemp may have been the pull, but there are plenty of famous faces on offer here, and Morshead is clearly good at getting the most from an ensemble cast. The Lodger is also a lighter Who episode, and Morshead makes the comedy moments punchy when they need to be, even with actors for whom comedy may not come naturally, like Kemp—or Corden.

Honorable mention goes to Whoniverse member Mina Anwar, the sassy friend of Scrooge’s ex-girlfriend, who also played sassy mum Gita Chandra in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Morshead may not yet have set foot in the TARDIS, but she was already honing her craft as a TV director who could balance lighter moments with darker ones, as well as lead an ensemble production. These are all skills that would come in very handy a decade later.

So, as you gather your nearest and dearest around the fireside on Christmas Eve, with dreams of the Doctor Who Christmas special in your head, forget the Muppets’ version this year and settle down for some proper East End Christmas fare with this retro classic. No, really, please do—otherwise Kemp might come around and throw your TV off a balcony. Like you’d care.

David’s Archive – A Christmas Carol (2000)