Toonhound - Father Christmas (1991)

    This bloomin' good film from John Coates' TVC combines both of Raymond
    Briggs' acclaimed Father Christmas books into one animated production.

    Santa is fed up and in need of a holiday, which he duly takes. After various
    trials and tribulations in France, Scotland and Las Vegas the bearded one
    is almost grateful to return home and start preparing for his Christmas work
    once more. We follow Santa off on his special night duties delivering presents
    to young and old around the globe before taking a wintery detour to the
    North Pole where he joins in a rollicking Snowman Ball, before heading
    to his bloomin' home once more...

    "Father Christmas" reunites the same crew who produced TVC's adaptation
    of "The Snowman", and just like that film, great care is taken to capture the
    tone of the original work, utilizing soft crayoned cels and layouts. Dialogue
    is restricted to just a few bloomin' words - again, just like the book. Comedian
    turned director Mel Smith provides suitably gruff intonations and contributes to
    an additional song "Another Blooming Christmas". Like "The Snowman"
    before it, "Father Christmas" is now a regular feature of the Christmas tv
    schedules and has been repackaged on home video ad infinitum. Audiences,
    it seems, can't get enough of this bloomin' production...



    » There's a special young guest at the Snowman's Ball. It's James from
       "The Snowman", and his frosty pal features too.

  » Eagle-eyed viewers will note down the initials on the milkman's float outside
       Buckingham Palace. "RB" obviously tips a wink to creator Raymond Briggs.
       But there's a twist here, too, because Raymond Briggs' late father Ernest
       was a long-serving Co-op Milkman. And indeed, in the original book we
       get to see Ernest, delivering milk to The Royals...

         Look here - 'RB' - that's 'Raymond Briggs'...

    Briggs' bloomin' books

   Raymond Briggs' "Father Christmas" was first published in 1973 and its
    sequel, "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday" arrived in 1975. The books
    broke new ground at the time in their fly-on-the-wall perspective. Father
    Christmas was depicted as a grumpy suburbanite, living alone with his
    dog, his cat and his reindeer for company, moaning about the bad weather,
    about the lack of good television, his outside toilet, and generally behaving
    rumbuctiously!

    Father Christmas
    1973 / Hamish Hamilton / 28 pages

    Father Christmas Goes on Holiday
   1975 / Hamish Hamilton / 30 pages

     Father Christmas on DVD

      The Snowman / Father Christmas
                Region 2 / double-bill / Universal / November 2005

     The Snowman / Father Christmas
                Region 1 / double-bill / Sony / December 1998

     from the books by Raymond Briggs

    producer:   John Coates
    director:     David Unwin
    exec prod: Iain Harvey
    sup dir:       Dianne Jackson
    music:       Mike Hewer
                     song "Another Blooming Christmas"
                     sung by Mel Smith
    voice:       Mel Smith

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			Father Christmas (1991) producers: TVC animation: 2D animation run time: 29 mins
		This bloomin' good film from John Coates' TVC combines both of Raymond Briggs' acclaimed Father Christmas books into one animated production. Santa is fed up and in need of a holiday, which he duly takes. After various trials and tribulations in France, Scotland and Las Vegas the bearded one is almost grateful to return home and start preparing for his Christmas work once more. We follow Santa off on his special night duties delivering presents to young and old around the globe before taking a wintery detour to the North Pole where he joins in a rollicking Snowman Ball, before heading to his bloomin' home once more... "Father Christmas" reunites the same crew who produced TVC's adaptation of "The Snowman", and just like that film, great care is taken to capture the tone of the original work, utilizing soft crayoned cels and layouts. Dialogue is restricted to just a few bloomin' words - again, just like the book. Comedian turned director Mel Smith provides suitably gruff intonations and contributes to an additional song "Another Blooming Christmas". Like "The Snowman" before it, "Father Christmas" is now a regular feature of the Christmas tv schedules and has been repackaged on home video ad infinitum. Audiences, it seems, can't get enough of this bloomin' production... » There's a special young guest at the Snowman's Ball. It's James from "The Snowman", and his frosty pal features too. » Eagle-eyed viewers will note down the initials on the milkman's float outside Buckingham Palace. "RB" obviously tips a wink to creator Raymond Briggs. But there's a twist here, too, because Raymond Briggs' late father Ernest was a long-serving Co-op Milkman. And indeed, in the original book we get to see Ernest, delivering milk to The Royals... Briggs' bloomin' books Raymond Briggs' "Father Christmas" was first published in 1973 and its sequel, "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday" arrived in 1975. The books broke new ground at the time in their fly-on-the-wall perspective. Father Christmas was depicted as a grumpy suburbanite, living alone with his dog, his cat and his reindeer for company, moaning about the bad weather, about the lack of good television, his outside toilet, and generally behaving rumbuctiously! Father Christmas 1973 / Hamish Hamilton / 28 pages Father Christmas Goes on Holiday 1975 / Hamish Hamilton / 30 pages Father Christmas on DVD The Snowman / Father Christmas Region 2 / double-bill / Universal / November 2005 The Snowman / Father Christmas Region 1 / double-bill / Sony / December 1998 from the books by Raymond Briggs producer: John Coates director: David Unwin exec prod: Iain Harvey sup dir: Dianne Jackson music: Mike Hewer song "Another Blooming Christmas" sung by Mel Smith voice: Mel Smith On the web Illuminated Films Iain Harvey is a producer at Illuminated films now. They've recently brought us the wintery feature "Christmas Carol: The Movie" and the award-winning special "War Game"... index » previous » next »

© TVC/Raymond Briggs/Bloomin' Productions / F2006