Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ and I’m Tim Bradley!

Yes, I know. I’m reviewing this after Christmas, but I purchased the DVD from ‘Happy Who Year 2026’ quite recently. So, why not check it out and see what it’s like featuring three well-known ‘Doctor Who’ stars. And hopefully, I will see this again next Christmas!

This latest stage adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens is a unique one. It’s presented as a radio play filmed live on stage instead of an actual theatre production with actors moving from one set to another. I found this very interesting to see on the DVD.

It reminds me of when David Benson and Jack Lane performed their ‘Dad’s Army: The Radio Show’ on stage, as they performed like they were recording the episodes for audio. I don’t think there’s an audio CD of this version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ for listeners just yet.

‘A Christmas Carol’ is adapted and directed by Martin Parsons, one of the co-producers of the ‘Happy Who Year’ conventions that I’ve attended these past two years. It’s also performed by the Crime and Comedy Theatre Company, which I’ve found out about lately.

As I understand it, Colin Baker and Peter Purves have been performing ‘A Christmas Carol’ with the Crime and Comedy Theatre Company for the past few years or so since it debuted in 2023. They’ve performed this production at a variety of theatres over the years.

I don’t think it’s come to Cardiff yet. I’d like it think it will come to Cardiff someday, but that would depend on the theatre chosen for it to be performed. I decided to purchase this unique adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ on DVD to see for myself what it was like. 🙂

I’m very pleased that it’s available on DVD, as I wanted to see what this version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ would be like with ‘Doctor Who’ stars in it. Having met them in person at conventions, it felt irresistible to see this version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ with them in it.

Colin Baker (well-known for playing the Sixth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’) is playing Ebenezer Scrooge. From watching the DVD, Colin is very into his performance as Scrooge, delivering a variety of energy that’s enjoyable and refreshing to watch throughout the tale.

Peter Purves (well-known for playing Steven Taylor in ‘Doctor Who’) is playing Charles Dickens, the author of the story. I enjoyed Peter’s reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’ when he’s playing Charles Dickens and it’s easy to hang on every descriptive detail that he’s reading.

There’s a specially filmed appearance of Tom Baker (well-known for playing the Fourth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’) as Jacob Marley in the production. Understandably, Tom is recording his lines as Marley from his home, especially since it’s like one scene with him.

The rest of the cast are members of the Crime and Comedy Theatre Company, including Martin Parsons, who portray a variety of roles throughout the story. Most of the characters that are regarded as male in this story are portrayed by female members of the company.

Not that’s an issue for me since it’s interesting to see how roles usually performed by men are performed by women for a contemporary theatre setting. It’s interesting a man is playing the Ghost of Christmas Past whilst a lady is portraying the Ghost of Christmas Present. 🙂

For your information, Martin Parsons plays the Ghost of Christmas Past as well as Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. Sarah Gain plays the Ghost of Christmas Present as well as one of the charity collectors. Yes, the charity collectors are portrayed by women in this production!

Kate Ashmead, the producer of ‘A Christmas Carol’, plays Emily Cratchit, Belle and the other charity collector in the story. There’s Owen Frost as Bob Cratchit and Fezziwig in the story. And there’s Charlotte Cooper playing the Stage Manager in this unique production.

It’s interesting to see how the sound effects were done in the production, especially as Charlotte Cooper and other members provided some of the sound effects like the ‘clip-clopping’ of horse hooves, the wind and the chains of Jacob Marley during the production.

It was fascinating to see Colin Baker playing both his older and younger selves as Scrooge in the production. One would have to dispel your disbelief on that, as usually, Scrooge would be played by a variety of actors in older and younger forms in other productions. 🙂

There’s an intermission featured in this theatre version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, as is to be expected. I wonder if that’s going to be the case when ‘A Christmas Carol’ is to be performed in the upcoming ‘Christmas with the Doctor’ event in November. Very probably.

The production ends with Colin Baker saying, “God bless us, everyone!” as well as the cast singing ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ whilst it seems to be snowing in the background. 😀 I like that the production ends on that note, especially with everyone singing.

‘A Christmas Carol’ with Colin Baker, Peter Purves and Tom Baker has been worth seeing on DVD. I don’t know if I’ll get to see this theatre production on stage in real-life, whether at the ‘Christmas with the Doctor’ event or not. But I’m happy to have seen it this way on DVD.

Having seen a variety of productions of ‘A Christmas Carol’, both TV and film, on DVD and via streaming, including Disney+, it’s been refreshing to see this version of Charles Dickens’ famous Christmas story with three classic ‘Doctor Who’ actors performing it for the stage. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂