Nan's Christmas Carol

Nan's Christmas Carol is a spin-off of The Catherine Tate Show.^[1] The one-off special based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is about Nan visited by three ghosts on Christmas night in her council flat.

Plot

The Beginning

Jamie comes to visit Nan in her council flat, only to find she's been sitting in the dark with the heating off to save money. She is visited by some carollers (played by Madness) and an old friend who she does the lottery with. This doesn't please her, but she doesn't buy the lottery and she keeps it in a jar for herself to save. "Northern Bob", his family and their dog, Tim, are hoping to stay for the night and have Christmas dinner with Joannie. They give her an alternative Christmas present by making a donation in her name to the Mobile Library of Sudan. She eventually throws them out.

In the night, the ghost of Jake Taylor, her deceased husband, comes through her closet to tell her she'll be visited by three more ghosts.

Christmas Past

The first ghost she is visited by is the Ghost of Christmas Past (Ben Miller), who is really rubbish at his haunting tricks.

He takes her to her house when she was a little girl. They see her mother putting her to bed to be ready for Father Christmas. She leaves him out a mince pie and a glass of milk. In the morning, Father Christmas left the younger Joannie a tangerine. She opens her mouth and "Nan" is born. Then he takes Joannie to the 1950s when she sees her and Jake failing to arrange a date together. Then he takes her to the 1970s, where Joannie and Jake are very unhappily married.

Christmas Present

The next ghost to appear is the Ghost of Christmas Present (David Tennant). He comes on with his mobile playing the "Ghostbusters Theme", which doesn't impress Nan.

He shows her "Northern Bob" and his family living in the streets having crisps for their Christmas dinner, which chokes Tim to death.

Christmas Future

The last ghost to visit her is the Ghost of Christmas Future (Roger Lloyd-Pack) who appears in an advert on her TV, which again doesn't impress her.

He takes her to the following year where she sees her lottery friend's numbers coming up. She pretends to go into the convenience store to get the money, but she comes back out and gives them £1 each, claiming that there were thousands of winners but it turns out that she hadn't gotten the lottery ticket and the other ladies chase her down the street. Jamie has a baby son, Ludvig Brian Taylor, by his German wife Stephanie, but doesn't invite Nan to the christening as he wants her to have nothing to do with the baby. She ends up living in a home where nobody comes up to see her, and everyone hates her. At her funeral, nobody turns up except Jamie, Stephanie and their son, who don't pay any attention at all. The Ghost explains to Nan that if she doesn't change her ways, she will spend the rest of her life alone. Nan wakes up the following morning in her flat.

The End

She tells Jamie to get to the convenience store to buy her stuff for a Christmas banquet. She invites Bob and the family (and lets them stay for the night), and her Lottery friends. The carollers come back and sing "Baggy Trousers".

When everyone is in bed, she picks up a packet of crisps and shouts for Tim and offers one to him implying she hasn't changed at all.

Cast

• Catherine Tate as Joannie Taylor (Nan)
• Mathew Horne as Jamie Taylor
• Ben Miller as the Ghost of Christmas Past
• David Tennant as the Ghost of Christmas Present
• Roger Lloyd-Pack as the Ghost of Christmas Future
• Deddie Davies as Gail
• Madness as carolers
• Richard Lumsden as Bob Cratchit
• Rosie Cavaliero as Mrs Cratchit
• Alana Knowles as Belinda Cratchit
• Owen Salthouse as Peter Cratchit
• Lorna Brown as nursing home caregiver

See also

• The Catherine Tate Show
• A Christmas Carol
• List of A Christmas Carol adaptations
• Joannie Taylor

References

External links

• "Nan's Christmas Carol" on BBC Two
• Episode Info on the British Comedy Guide