FX and BBC are teaming up this winter to bring us the latest adaptation of that oft-told festive ghost story A Christmas Carol. The USP of this version is that it’s a miniseries rather than a single movie and comes from the minds behind gritty Victorian drama Taboo – writer Stephen Knight, exec producer Ridley Scott and producer Tom Hardy, with the Venom star also set to appear.
As you can see in this first trailer, though, Hardy won’t be playing Ebeneezer Scrooge. That honor goes to Guy Pearce. Andy Serkis joins him as the Ghost of Christmas Past, with Stephen Graham as Scrooge’s dead partner Jacob Marley and Jason Flemyng as the Ghost of Christmas Future. Going by the obvious gap in the ghostly lineup, Hardy could fill the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present, but this hasn’t been confirmed as yet.
The rest of the cast includes Joe Alwyn as Bob Cratchitt, Vinette Robinson as Mary Cratchitt and Charlotte Riley (Hardy’s real-life partner) as Lottie. A Christmas Carol will stretch across three 60 minute episodes. As the original story from Charles Dickens is a slim novella, we can assume that Knight will take a lot of liberties with the tale and inject some fresh material to breathe some new life into a plot that most of us know extremely well.
The press release describes the series as a “unique and original take” that’s a “spine-tingling immersion into Scrooge’s dark night of the soul.” It certainly looks promising, too, and the good news is Knight plans to pen five Dickens adaptations, featuring a core repertory of actors, to be produced over several years. Some titles that he’s suggested could be next include David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist.
Staying in the present, though, and A Christmas Carol will arrive to haunt your holiday season this December – a specific release date has yet to be announced.