Redemptions
A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens: An Extract From Act One (of Five)
Read By Anne-Marie Duff OBE
Marley Was Dead To Begin With. There Was No Doubt Whatever About That. He Was As Dead As A Door Nail.
Scrooge Knew He Was Dead. Of Course He Did. How Could It Be Otherwise?
Scrooge And He Were Partners For I Don’t Know How Many Years.
Scrooge Was His Sole Executor, His Sole Administrator, His Sole Friend And His Sole Mourner.
Scrooge Never Painted Out Old Marley’s Name. There It Stood Years Afterwards Above The Warehouse Door. ‘Scrooge And Marley’.
Sometimes People New To Business Called Scrooge ‘Scrooge’. And Sometimes ‘Marley’.
But He Answered To Both Names. It Was All The Same To Him.
But He Was A Tight-Fisted Hand To The Grindstone, Scrooge. Squeezing, Wrenching, Grasping, Scrapping, Clutching, Covetous Old Sinner!
Hard And Sharp As Flint. From Which No Steel Had Ever Struck Out Generous Fire.
Secret And Self-Contained.
And Solitary As An Oyster.
Once Upon A Time, of All The Good Days In The Year, On Christmas Eve Old Scrooge Sat Busy In His Counting House.
It Was Cold Bleak Biting Weather. Foggy With Oar.
He Could Hear The People In The Court Outside. The Wheezing Up And Down. Beating Their Hands Upon Their Breasts And Stamping Their Feet Upon The Pavement Stones To Warm Them.
The Door of Scrooges Counting House Was Open So That He Might Keep His Eye Upon His Clerk, Who In A Dismal Little Cell Beyond, A Sort of Tank, Was Copying Letters.
“A Merry Christmas Uncle. Good Save You.” Cried A Cheerful Voice.
It Was The Voice of Scrooges Nephew Who Came Upon Him So Quickly That This Was The First Intimation He Had of His Approach.
“Bah.” Said Scrooge. “Humbug.”
He Had So Heated Himself With Rapid Walking In The Fog And Frost, This Nephew of Scrooge’s That He Was All In A Glow. His Face Was Ruddy And Handsome. His Eyes Sparkled. And His Breath Smoked Again.
“Christmas A Humbug?” Said Scrooge’s Nephew. “You Don’t Mean That, I’m Sure.”
“I Do.” Said Scrooge.
“Merry Christmas? What Right Have You To Be Merry? What Reason Have You To Be Merry? You’re Poor Enough.”
“Come Then.” Returned The Nephew Gayly. “What Right Have You To Be Dismal. What Reason Have You To Be Morose? You’re Rich Enough.”
Scrooge, Having No Better Answer Ready on The Spur of The Moment, Said “Bah.” Again. And Followed It Up With “Humbug.”
“Don’t Be Cross Uncle.” Said The Nephew.
“What Else Can I Be?” Returned The Uncle. “…When I Live In Such A World of Fools As This.”
“Merry Christmas?” “Out Upon Merry Christmas!”
“What’s Christmas To You But A Time For Paying Bills Without Money. A Time For Finding Yourself A Year Older But Not An Hour Richer. A Time For Balancing Your Books And Having Every Item In Them Through A Round Dozen of Months Presented Dead Against You?”
“Don’t Be Cross Uncle.” Come, Dine With Us Tomorrow. I Want Nothing From You. I Ask Nothing of You. Why Can’t We Be Friends?”
“Good Afternoon.” Said Scrooge.
“I Am Sorry With All My Heart To Find You So Resolute. We’ve Never Had Any Quarrel To Which I Have Been A Party. But I Have Made The Trial In Homage To Christmas. And I’ll Keep My Christmas Humour To The Last. So A Merry Christmas Uncle.”
“Good Afternoon.” Said Scrooge.
His Nephew Left The Room Without An Angry Word Notwithstanding.
He Stopped At The Outer Door To Bestow The Greetings of The Season On The Clerk.
Who, Cold As He Was, Was Warmer Than Scrooge. For He Returned Them Cordially.
This Lunatic, In Letting Scrooge’s Nephew Out, Had Let Two Other People in.
The Muppet Christmas Carol Film With Sir Michael Cane 1992
‘Scrooge The Musical’
With The Late Sir Anthony Newly
The Alexander Theatre, Birmingham (1992)
The Late Albert Finney & Anton Rogers
‘Scrooge’
The Multi-Oscar Nominated (1970) Film (Including A Nomination For Best Original Song )
Every Year We Take A Gander At The King’s New Year’s Honours List.
As Resolute Dickens Fans (Shakespeare Is Too Unneccesary, Convoluted And Exclusive of The Working Classes) We Are Interested To See That This Year Actress Anne-Marie Duff Has Been Awarded An OBE For Her Services To The Arts And The TV Industry.
She Has Also Appeared In The Third Series of BBC Four’s Classic Novel Narration Programme ‘The Read’ In Which She Tells The Story of The Charles Dickens’ Character Ebenezer Scrooge And His Ghostly Visitations On The Road To Redeemption In ‘A Christmas Carol’. A Christmas Carol By Anne-Marie Duff Sunday December 22 2024.
She Is Excellent As She Plays All The Characters Using Her Incredible Voice Skills And Matching Great Acting Gestures For Well Over An Hour. Her Telling of This Ever Popular Tale Is Set Against The Backdrop of A Dusty Old Dickensian Study, With Lots of Books And Several Candles Pretty But Precarious In Such A Compact Space (As Reflects The Common Lighting Realites of Victorian Times).
She Is Not In Costume Nor Dolled Up With The Expertise of Hair And Make-Up So Often Bestowed Upon Acting Professionals As Standard. She Is Simplicity Itself. Natural And Wearing A Simple White Cotton Shirt (As Might Befit A Middles Class Lady of The Era). She Is Utterly Engaging And Simply Lets Her Talent Do The Talking. Literally!
She Shares With Us A Vast Range of Characters From The Old And Miserly, Dead And Ghostly, Jolly And Portly, Thin And Happy, Male And Female, Adult And Child. Healthy And Afflicted. She Has Us Gripped Right From The Very Start And Only Gets Even Better As The Story Progresses Over Five Stages. Act One Is ‘Morley’s Ghost’. The Final Act Called ‘The End of It’ Indeed Ends Approximately An Hour And A Quarter Later. It’s So Virtually Impossible Not To Listen Again. Almost Immediately, Such A Fine And Undulating Tale Is This One And Simply Told So Well.
Other Classic Novels Which Get The Celebrity Treatment In ‘The Read’ Collection Include:
Other Classic Novels Which Get The Celebrity Treatment In ‘The Read’ Collection Include:
Wuthering Heights Written By Emily Bronte, Read By Vinette Robinson (S.3) @_vinetterobinson_
Frankenstien Written By Mary Shelly, Read By The Ever Excellent – Alex Kingston (S.3) @alexkingstonofficial
Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Written By Robert Louis Stevenson, Ready By Reece Shearsmith (S.3) @shearsmithreece
1984′ Written By George Orwell, Read By Sacha Dhawan (S.3) @sachadhawan
All Are Currently Available On BBC Iplayer. We Selected Duff And Robinson And Both Were Excellent. We Love Alex Kingston But Hate Super Scary Productions And Horror. So As Much As We Love Her, We Just Couldn’t Go There.
But We Imagine With An Educated Guess That She Is As Excellent As Ever Because She Has A Very Distinctive Voice And Whenever She Is On We Usually Watch Her, Which Has Been The Case Over The Years As She’s A Brilliant, Rich And Layered Actress. Plus We Notice She Is Very Particular About Only Doing Quality Productions. That’s Why She’s Ever Brilliant. We Last Watched Her Earlier This Year In Douglas Is Cancelled Which We Also Reviewed.
A Christmas Carol Is Just One of Five Dickens’ Ghostly Christmas Novels, But By Far The Most Popular One (1843). However He Did Not Make A Lot of Money From It At The Time Because The Lack of Success of His Last Novel Meant That He Had To Self-Publish As His Publishers Were Not Confident of It Being A Success.
Furthermore He Wanted It To Be Well Illustrated And Somewhat Fancy (Especially Given The Time of Year) And That Involved Substantial Publishing Costs. But His Self-Confidence And Backing Himself Proved A Good Gamble Indeed As It Is Now A Time-Honoured Classic Which Has Been Reproduced In Many Versions And Formats Including Book, Film, Musical And Celebrity Reading Special.
Quite Entirely Seperately Dickens Had Already Written Another of His Most Popular Novels ‘Oliver Twist’ In Its Final Form In 1838. (He Was Just 26.)
In Previous Interviews Duff Has Revealed That It Was Her Father Who Introduced Her To Dickens As A Young Girl And She’s Stuck With Him Ever Since. Her Favourite Version of A Christmas Carol Is The (1970) Albert Finney Film (With A Very Young Anton Rogers Who Would Later Star In The Sitcom From May To December About An Older Man With A Younger Lover). She Also Likes The (1992) Muppets Version (With Sir Michael Cane) Which She Says, Amazingly, Is The Most Accurate.
Next Year The Dickens Museum Celebrates Its Centenary. We’re Not Sure The Muppets Will Be There But It’s A Great Visit For Those Who Love History.
Duff – Anne-Marie Duff ‘OBE‘ If You Please – Has Previous Royal Connections, Including A Saucy One, Which Was Clearly of No Concern To The King. So She May Indeed Remain Both Shameless And Shame Free As She Owns Her Medal For Services To The Showbusiness Industry!
Like So Many Actors She Ventured Into Acting As A Child As An Antedote To Her Shyness. She Did So Well She Is Now On Course To Collect A Gong At Buckingham Palace For Services To The Industry. That Is A Tale In Its Own Right Too. There’s Motivation For You. Well Done That Girl. And Woman!
A Woman Indeed And At The Time She Meet The King – When He Was Still A Prince – She Was A Married Woman Too. Married To Fellow Actor James McAvoy. They Were Married For 10 Years From 2006 To 2016. They Are Both Celtic. She Is of Irish Descent. Him Scottish. They Fell In Love With Each Other Whilst Working On The Award-Winning TV Comedy Drama Series ‘Shameless’.
She Was Also Nominated For Her Role As Fiona Gallagher (Eldest Daughter And Matricah In This Manchester Working Class Family Living On The Ficitional Chatsworth Council Estate). It Was Brilliantly Written By The Ever Brilliant Paul Abbot (Clocking Off, Cracker And Reckless To Name But A Few).
On One Particular Glitzy Night During Their Marriage The Couple Went To A Film Premiere Where The Then Prince Charles Was In Attendance. During The Course of The Usual Cordial Royal Red Carpet Conversation His Majesty Enquired If The Couple Managed To See Each Other Given Their Busy Acting Schedules. Keeping It Real Mrs McAvoy/Duff Replied “We See Each Other In Bed”. Okay. Nice.
Saucy! Straight To The Point! Shameless! We Would Have Love To Have Seen His Majesty’s Face. No Doubt That Was Something of A Sex Education He Wasn’t Expecting!
Suffice To Say She Has Up Until Now Owned That As The Most Embarrassing Moment of Her Life. (Maybe His Too!). Well Now She’s Made The King’s New Year’s Honours For The New Year 2025 It Might Be The Perfect Time To Make A Fresh Start And Let It Go Because Clearly His Majesty Was Amused On This Occassion With His Impromptu Sex Education.
That’s Officially Now Our Favourite Honours List Story Ever. Possibly Royal Story Ever! It’s So Full of Hope And Limitless Possibilities When It Comes To Turning Things Around, Always Staying Positive And Hopeful, And The Power of Redeemption.
Ahh! Not Unlike A Christmas Carol.
The Other Royal Connection Is That The Lady Duff May Doth Say That She Also Played Queen Elizabeth I – The Virgin Queen – One Day. On The BBC. And Again, For The Second Time, She Was Nominated For A BAFTA (2005).
More Recently It Was A Case of Third Time Lucky As She Won The 2023 BAFTA For Supporting Actress For Her Role In Apple TV’s Bad Sisters.
She Is Now Set To Visit The Palace At Some Stage In 2025 To Collect Her Honourary Medal For Services To The Arts. A Royal Reunion Perhaps!
She Also Has A New TV Series Coming Out. It’s A Gritty Drama Called ‘The Reunion‘ In Which She Co-Stars With The Great Eddie Masden (Ray Donavan – Which We Loved!).
It Too Is A Tale of Redeemption!
Reunions
It’s A Groundbreaking Production As It Has Been Written By William Mager A Deaf Creative (The Particular Language Used To Describe Deaf People In Some of The Publicity Has Been ‘Non-Hearing’). The Drama Includes Several Deaf Actors In The All-Star Cast (Which Again Is Described In Some Publicity Material As ‘Hearing’ And ‘Non-Hearing’ Regarding Cast Members).
We Have Written A Number of Articles In Support of The Deaf Community And In Particular The Use of BSL (British Sign Language) So We Are Very Much Looking Forward To This Production Hitting Our Screens. Warp Films Announced It Was On The Way Last May (Springtime) And Now It’s Nearly Here As It’s Due To Air March Next Year (2025).
With The Aforementioned Duff And Masden It’s Already Looking Good Plus It Really Does Have A Stellar All-Cast Including Rose-Alying Ellis (The Eastenders Star Come Strictly Winner) Who Achieved So Much On Behalf of Both Herself And Other Members of The Deaf Community With Her Authentic, Brave, Bold, Beautiful, Clever, Elegant, Moving ‘Symphony’ Dance In Strictly (We Actually Cried…And Still Cry Whenever We Watch It Again). And Cherie Gordon Who We First Met In The BBC’s Boat Story Which We Also Reviewed Last Year. Also The Reunion Production Team Includes Plan B Entertainment Who We Simply Love. Naturally! And It Will Be On The BBC In Spring.
A Deaf Ex-Con Is Looking For Both Revenge And Redeemption, Which Is A Very, Very Tricky Combination. Groundbreaking Drama Is Afoot. We Can’t Wait. We’re Here For It!
The New Year’s Honours List 2025: As Well As Actress Anne-Marie Duff OBE, Another Great Actress On The King’s 2025 New Year’s Honours List Is Carmen Munroe OBE, Aged 92. She Is British Guyanese And Came To Britian In The 1950s As Part of The Windrush Generation.
She Was Awarded The OBE In 2007 And Now Becomes A British Dame. Carmen Esme Munroe Dame Commander of The British Empire. OBE. DBE. For Services To The Performing Arts And Drama Industry.
Amen!
Over The Decades She’s Utilized Advocacy, Discussions, Forum, Initiatives And Mentorship, And Encouraged Black UK Talent And Helped Path The Way For Others In The World of Theatre, Film And Television. She Co-Founded The Talawa Theatre Company in 1986 @talawatc
She Is Still Most Famous For Playing Wife ‘Shirley’ In The Black British Comedy ‘Desmonds’ About A Barber Shop Owner In Peckham And His Family And Friends. It First Aired In The Late 1980s And Is Still Aired Today. It Was Co-Written By Charlie Hanson And Trix Worrell.
Carmen Is Also One of The Selected Members of The King’s Special Windrush Generation Art Collection Which Features 10 Representatives of Windrush Britain (Which We Have Previously Written About). Last Year The Artist Who Painted Carmen For The Collection Was Selected For The King’s New Year’s Honours List – Sonia Boyce OBE. This Year As The Artist’s Subject And A Veteran Actress She’s Now Been Selected For This Year’s Honours List Too. It’s A Beautiful Artistic Full Circle Royal Reunion Moment.
London Major Sadiq Khan, Actor Stephen Fry And Former England Football Manager Gareth Southgate Are Amongst Those Public Figures Who Have Become Sirs.
A Full List of Those Honoured This Year Is Available Here.
(Photo Gallery Directly Above: Sonia Boyce OBE (Right) In Vogue And Her Painting of Carmen Munroe OBE Top (Left), Carmen In Desmonds And Carmen As A Young Actress.
@soniaboyceartist – Carmen Esme Munroe OBE – royal collection trust shop.co.uk – rct.co.uk – a portrait of carmen esme munroe OBE
Now Dame Carmen Esme Munroe OBE ‘Dame’ Commander of The Order of The British Empire (DBE)
The Writer, Cast & TV Production Team of The New BBC Drama ‘Reunion’ Includes:
Eddie Masden @eddiemasden (Fourth Photo In Cast/Writer Photo Gallery Above)
Writer William Mager @wlmager (Second In Cast/Writer Photo Gallery Above)
Cherie Gordon @wearezooco.co.uk (Third In Cast/Writer Photo Gallery Above)
‘The Reunion’ Film & TV Production Company Warp Films @warpfilms
Rose Ayling-Ellis @rose.a.e (Sixth In Cast/Writer Photo Gallery Above)
Anne-Marie Duff As Grace Garvey In Bad Sisters @badsisterstv
The Royal National Institute For The Deaf @RNID
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