With the big day edging ever closer, I thought it could be a bit of fun to talk about one of my favourite Christmas TV specials. There are a growing number of films and TV programmes set at Christmas time, and a lot of them can be rather repetitive to say the least! If you’re looking for somewhat of a different take on Santa Claus – both visually and narratively – then the 1991 animated TV special Father Christmas might be just what you’re looking for!
I have to confess something before we go any further. Watching this on TV as a kid when it first aired was borderline traumatising thanks to one scene in particular! Seeing Father Christmas getting drunk, hallucinating, and rushing to the toilet was… well, let’s just say it’s something that’s still etched in my mind all these years later! What I’m trying to say is that if you have little ones – or even older kids who are particularly sensitive – there’s at least one sequence in the film that I remember being shocked by when I was a wee bairn.
That being said, Father Christmas is one of those TV programmes that I’ve found myself drifting back to Christmas after Christmas. I may have missed it one or two times, but it’s a perennial festive favourite in my house – and it has been ever since I first watched it. Christmas is a time for tradition and memory – and this TV special has become one of my personal traditions, even as my memories of that first viewing aren’t entirely positive!
In 1982, Raymond Briggs’ kids’ book The Snowman was adapted for television by the brand-new station Channel 4. It became a smash hit, and is Father Christmas’ better-known cousin; the films even take place in the same “shared universe.” After The Snowman had won a BAFTA TV award and been nominated for an Academy Award, it only makes sense that Channel 4 would’ve wanted to commission another adaptation of Briggs’ work!
Father Christmas is based on two children’s books: Father Christmas and Father Christmas Goes On Holiday, and it amalgamates the plots of both into a single story. It’s charming in its own way, answering a question that few other festive films have really tackled: what does Santa do for the other 364 days of the year? It follows Father Christmas – as he’s known in the UK – around the world, visiting different countries and cities as he takes a break from his busy work.
Father Christmas himself is voiced by the late Mel Smith – a comedian who was a mainstay on British TV in the ’80s and ’90s along with his partner Griff Rhys Jones. Smith also scored an unlikely hit on the music charts in 1987 with a cover of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree that he recorded with singer Kim Wilde for charity – so he has some Christmas time pedigree! His vocal performance in Father Christmas is part of what makes this version of the character stand out.
Father Christmas, naturally, reaches its narrative climax on Christmas Eve, and after spending much of the year on holiday, it’s back to work for the man in the red suit! There’s a tie-in with The Snowman at this point in the story – and while I’d absolutely recommend The Snowman as well, it’s by no means essential viewing. The story of this TV special is easy to follow, after all.
Hand-drawn animation wasn’t uncommon on British television at the time, but with an abundance of CGI and computer animation nowadays, Father Christmas feels even more special, somehow. The animators, some of whom had also worked on The Snowman years earlier, used a lot of pastels and coloured pencils during the animation process rather than paint – and I think that gives Father Christmas a pretty distinctive look.
Apart from the aforementioned drunken sequence, there are a couple of others that really stand out. The first is seeing Santa living a fairly quiet life in a British town. This version of the character lives not at the North Pole (nor in Lapland) but in the kind of terraced house that you see quite often here in the UK. Catching a glimpse of Santa’s home life is something neat.
A lot of Christmas programmes show Santa on his sleigh on Christmas Eve – and while I’d say that this part of the special is enjoyable and fun, it’s perhaps its least-unique offering at the same time. There are moments of tension as darkness falls and the snowfall gets in his eyes, but by and large it’s nothing you won’t have seen before.
But the song that accompanies Santa’s flight is hilarious: Another Bloomin’ Christmas is the perfect encapsulation of how this production’s version of the character sees his job and Christmas in general. It’s a pretty fun song in its own right, too!
All in all, this is a particularly British take on Santa Claus and Christmas time – but with the twist of showing Santa’s activities throughout the year in the months before Christmas. After returning from his travels, Santa has to see to the growing mountain of post, take care of his reindeer – and pet cat and dog – as well as prepare for his flight. There’s a fun sequence that shows him racing to Buckingham Palace as dawn nears on Christmas Day, too.
The aesthetic of the programme puts it firmly in Britain in the second half of the 20th Century. Many of the things that I remember from my own childhood are present, and I think that’s part of why this TV special in particular triggers a very specific kind of nostalgia: not only for Christmases past, but for the time and place of my childhood in general, and for those things that don’t exist any more. Even on that first viewing in December 1991 – on Christmas Eve, no less – everything about Father Christmas felt, well, like Christmas to me. And it still does thirty-two years later.
As to how you can watch it… well, there are a few options. The special was released on DVD along with The Snowman, and copies seem to still be available on Amazon at least here in the UK. Also in the UK, Father Christmas can be streamed via the Channel 4 website. I think it’s available for purchase via iTunes and possibly via Amazon Video outside of the UK (it’s not on Amazon Video in the UK, curiously). I’ve also seen bootlegs of the special on YouTube and other streaming sites… but be careful of copyright laws if you decide to go down that route!
Father Christmas is a programme I heartily recommend at this time of year. Brits like myself may appreciate the nostalgia factor, but folks from all across the world can take in a different – and distinctly British – take on Santa’s flight and Christmas Eve. I hope you’re able to tune in… and Merry Bloomin’ Christmas!
Father Christmas is out now on DVD and may be purchased digitally via iTunes, Amazon, and other platforms. Father Christmas is the copyright of Channel 4. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 