A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong

All very good but Peter Pan Goes Wrong is marginally better I really don't know why I was on the flour I laughed so much this really will brighten your day

The Mischief Theatre, also known as 'The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society' is a group of comedians who have made a variety of BBC specials as well as a regular series. I have not seen any of these shows other than "A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong' because I live in the States and only just discovered their work. I hope their other productions are as good as this one.

The premise is that a group of mostly untalented people want to hijack a BBC broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" starring Derek Jacobi. After taking Jacobi out of the picture and holding the crew captive, the group put on their own version...which is mostly a giant disaster. A few of the problems are problematic green screens, a Bob Cratchit who knows none of his lines, an actor who wants to play the lead and keeps attacking the new Scrooge, a niece who gets glued to practically everything and much more. It's all very stupid...but fun.

If this had been a longer film, it probably would have become tedious. As is, the 51 minute version is quite enjoyable thanks to the dopiness of the show...and this IS meant as a compliment! Well worth seeing, and I found a copy on YouTube.

My partner and I watch this one every year. We're both theatre people, so we love seeing everything going wrong through the production while knowing that everyone is actually safe. The amount of rehearsal and technical know-how needed to safely execute any "goes wrong" production is incredibly impressive, and my hat goes off to everyone involved.

The only reason I knock points off is that, in agreement with some of the other reviews here, some of the gags are drawn out longer than they need no be. It's surprising, as every other "gone wrong" production has their comedic timing down to a T. Still though, this is worth a watch.

People REALLY need to understand that they are making mistakes , and they are professional enough NOT to laugh making it, there was great humour to it, in life, we must not always think they are meant to be doing a SERIOUS production, things are MEANT to go wrong, certainly gets you away from ALL the fake in normal tv production, where scenes are continually cut until an overpaid actor gets their words right .. WELL done, i am still trying to find out HOW to get this on DVD

The Christmas classic with Derek Jacobi as Scrooge! Who wouldn't be thrilled at the idea? A player of such ability that he can disappear into any role! Well, not the Mischief Theater (masquerading as the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society) banned from the BBC since they ruined PETER PAN the previous year. So they knock out Jacobi, have Diana Rigg, the aunt of one of their performers, do the narration and hey, presto! It's a disaster.

And a very funny one, with performers who don't know their lines, performers covered in glue and stuck to their props, performers caught offsides when the green-screen software goes down.... a wondrous, silly, slapstick affair that kept me laughing throughout, as their inept production gets merged with their 'real' lives. If you've got an hour to spare and not enough laughs, this is a good way to fix that shortage.