TV Review: Christmas Carole is an imperfect but worthy take on Dickens
Christmas Carole on Sky
(Sky Max and NOW) isn’t perfect. But then, neither is Christmas. But this modern-day take on the Dickens’ classic is still worth a watch.
Suranne Jones plays Carole Mackay, a high-powered businesswoman with a frightening bob. (That’s a hairstyle, in case you’re a man.) We join her in the boardroom of her company, which sells single-use Christmas tat at a massive mark-up. Don’t take my word for it, that’s Carole’s view of what they do. She is in the process of selling her company to make a fortune, because as she puts it, life is a competition and the person with the most money at the end is the winner.
She’s horrible, and she hates Christmas, and she fires the assistant on Christmas Eve who refuses to accompany Carole to an event announcing the sale of the company. Obviously, the crowd buying it are eejits, because who announces that kind of thing on Christmas Eve?
Anyway, why is Carole so horrible? The story unfolds when she meets the ghost of her mother in the gym, who tells her there is more to life than money. That’s rich coming from the mother, considering she abandoned Carole and her brother to run off with a rich guy.
This brings Carole’s Dad into focus. Or at least Morecambe and Wise bring him into focus. Seriously, the ghosts of Morecambe and Wise accost her on the Tube and bring her back to her childhood. This is a really silly bit of the show, but it won’t matter over Christmas because you’ll be too full of mulled wine and cake to care.
Jo Brand pops up later and brings her into the present, where her father and brother are playing charades in their home up-north on Christmas Day, but Carole isn’t there because she’s a big wig down in London.
Next comedian up is Nish Kumar, who shows what will happen in the future if she doesn’t go home and spend Christmas with her Dad.
Carole goes to the company sale announcement to announce she won’t be selling the company, preferring to change it into a sustainable Christmas tat operation instead. A few suits leave the event in disgust, or maybe they’re in a rush to get home to their family because it’s Christmas Eve.
It all ends with hugs and Mariah Carey singing 'All I Want for Christmas is You'. If Christmas Carole becomes a family favourite, must-watch Christmas show, then I don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s too patchy for that. It has none of the spookiness of the old skool adaptations of and Carole herself isn’t a patch on Ebenezer Scrooge on the bah-humbug front.
But, Morecambe and Wise aside, it whizzes along and it’s hard to take your eyes off anything that Suranne Jones does on screen. Mark Benton is believable as the father who loves his daughter no matter what. There’s a nice message and hugs and Mariah Carey. If nothing else you could put it on in the background while you wrap the presents. Merry Christmas!
