A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol was a novella written by Charles Dickens and published in 1843.

In 1869, Dickens gave a reading from this story in Cardiff. It was interrupted by the Gelth-possessed corpse of Mrs Peace who, in life, had been a fan of the story. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)

The Eleventh Doctor used the story as a basis for a plan to convince Kazran Sardick to save a crashing starliner. (TV: A Christmas Carol)

In a world where all of history occurred at once because River Song refused to kill the Doctor, Charles Dickens gave some details about his "new Christmas special" on TV, at 5:02pm 22 April 2011, as that was always the time and date in that timeline. He said that it would involve ghosts and the past, the present and future, all at the same time. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)

Behind the scenes

 * One idea for the first two stories of Doctor Who was a take on a Christmas Carol, with the ghost of Jacob Marley really being the Doctor, only slightly tipsy.

Connections

 * Simon Callow who portrayed Charles Dickens in The Unquiet Dead, previously portrayed both Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge in the 2001 animated . The movie began with a live-action sequence of Callow as Dickens performing a live reading.
 * David Collings played Bob Cratchit in the 1970 musical film.
 * Richard E. Grant played Bob Cratchit in the 1999 TV film.
 * David Warner played Bob Cratchit in the 1984 TV film.
 * Mark Strickson played young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1984 film.
 * Rowan Atkinson, Jim Broadbent Nicola Bryant and Miriam Margolyes all appeared in the 1988 Blackadder Special Blackadder's Christmas Carol.