Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
A Christmas calamity
They brought madness and mayhem to New Year’s Eve television last year with their slapstick shenanigans in Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Now the Mischief Theatre company are back – and they promise their latest BBC special is going to be even crazier. The group’s productions have become huge hits in theatres around the world, and they’re rapidly becoming festive TV staples. Peter Pan, adapted from Mischief’s stage play and starring David Suchet, got 6 million viewers last year. This year’s A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong has been written for TV and stars two more acting legends – Sir Derek Jacobi and Dame Diana Rigg. ‘We were blown away by the reaction to Peter Pan, our first TV experience,’ says Jonathan Sayer, who writes and stars in the shows. ‘We said we’d love to do another one, and here we are.’
Working for Mischief can be dangerous though. Jonathan has been concussed so often after being hit on the head by props that doctors have warned he can’t afford to let it happen again. But that won’t stop him putting his body on the line to get laughs. ‘We can be even more daring on TV,’ says Jonathan. ‘Stage stunts have to be ones you can do eight times a week; for TV you only have to do them once.’
A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong picks up where Peter Pan left off. Last year, am-dram group the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society had won a spot to perform Peter Pan on the BBC, but everything that could go wrong did, and by the end the set was in ruins. This year, unsurprisingly, the BBC have not invited the group back and opt to screen a professional production of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. But Cornley enjoyed their time in the spotlight so much they want to return – and aim to hijack the show.
Derek Jacobi plays Ebenezer Scrooge in the professional show. ‘I hear last year’s production was a shambles, but thankfully the BBC have called in the professionals for this one,’ Sir Derek jokes. Diana Rigg plays the aunt of one of the am-dram group who pledges to help them. ‘I’ve been entrusted with a very important job,’ she says. ‘All will be revealed, but let’s just say hearts will be warmed!’
Jonathan says, ‘Diana and Derek headed our list of people we wanted to work with but we assumed they’d say no. It’s nerve-racking to have people with their heft in our show but it’s great they’re still up for making themselves look a bit silly.’ A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, 30 Dec, 7.10pm, BBC1.