Ebeneezer Scrooge (Guy Pearce), a hardened and cynical man is an investment broker specializing in lucrative ventures of cannibalizing bankrupted businesses and yielding exorbitant profits at the expense of worker safety. Scrooge's deceased former partner, Jacob Marley (Stephen Graham), having resided in purgatory of being trapped in his coffin out of desperation begs for repentance and is told his salvation will be tied to the redemption of his friend and partner Scrooge. Marley warns Scrooge he will be visited by three spirits as a last ditch effort to save both their souls from damnation.
Produced by Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott, and written by Taboo and Peaky Blinders scribe Steven Knight, the jointly produced FX/BBC miniseries, A Christmas Carol based on Charles Dickens 1843 novella of the same name was touted as being the darkest take on the material yet with the miniseries intended for an adult audience as opposed to the (relatively) universally accessible versions of the story. The show is certainly unapologetic in how dark it goes into parts of its story with topics such as child molestation, sexual exploitation, and financially motivated negligence resulting in the maiming or deaths of people tackled with very few pulled punches. This miniseries is certainly bold in the direction it takes with the source material, but while I do recommend a one time viewing this isn't one of my favorite adaptations of the source material and I most likely won't be inclined to revisit it.
Despite Guy Pearce being one of the younger Scrooges I've seen, Pearce does well bringing his own take on the material with some really good scenes especially in the first episode that really showcase how strong an actor Pearce truly is and gives added dimensionality to Scrooge with his mannerisms adding an element of psychosis to the character that works surprisingly well. This is very much a showcase for the actors with Stephen Graham doing quite well in a greatly expanded take on Marley, Andy Serkis being an unusual but interesting take on Ghost of Christmas Past, and characters like Mary Cratchit and Scrooge's sister have been expanded upon in order to give added dimensionality to these characters in the context of this darker take on the story. The production design is also quite well done with the show's depiction of 1840s London definitely the grimiest and dirtiest take on the city I've seen in A Christmas Carol adaptation with a real tangible feeling to the soot and filth coating the London streets.
Knight's take on the story is probably the most nihilistic interpretation I've seen of Dickens' story and that will be a major deciding factor in whether or not you enjoy this take on the material. While A Christmas Carol with its Ghosts, scenes of human indifference and neglect, as well as its portrayals of death do make it a "dark" story in some respects, the source story is ultimately about redemption and finding that humanity within. Steven Knight's take on the story does have some level of redemption at the end of the series, but with how much the show ups Scrooge's cruelty and indifference the show seems to take an almost callous view of Scrooge's redemption with some of his actions going to pretty despicable areas that the ending doesn't have that same level of catharsis you got from the Patrick Stewart or George C. Scott versions of the story and the ending feels more Pyrrhic than joyous which I guess fits well with Steven Knight's take, but to an end I can't really say worked for me completely.
The 2019 Christmas Carol miniseries is certainly a different take on the well worn material, but not to the point I'd say it's required viewing. With Knight's more acerbic language replacing Dickens' dialogue in service of a gritty take on the material, the show is pretty consistent with its oppressive atmosphere of 1840s England in a manner that's probably more true to life but it loses a lot of the resonance from the beats in Dickens' original story. The show does tackle dark subject matter and elaborates on minor characters from the story, but it also sidelines other characters with Scrooge's nephew and Scrooge's former love scaled back to borderline cameos at best and cliff notes at worst. There are some absolutely chilling moments in this adaptation as well as unique incorporations of other characters and iconography, but the end result is messy albeit ambitiously so.
