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The Canterville Ghost is based on an Oscar Wilde story, which was made into a 95-minute comedy in 1944, but here, it’s four hours including adverts. Did they get James Cameron to write it, or will there be a plot to this, unlike Avatar: The Way of Water?
Lucy Otis (Caroline Catz), her husband, Hiram (James Lance) and their troublesome kids come to a massive, creepy mansion, riddled with rats, one of which can climb stairs. Thankfully, the one which broke into my house didn’t manage that, but since I take warfarin, I managed to put that to good use.
First up, it’s really grating that everyone in the family is clearly a British actor, yet is putting on a terrible American accent. I wish they hadn’t even begun to do that.
Hiram is rather like James Dyson, since he’s the inventor of the fancy Otis Max vacuum cleaner, but causing more issues than problematic carpets is the ghost of Sir Simon De Canterville (Anthony Head – The Stranger), who killed his wife in 1575, but still is rattling around the mansion, along with his pet rat, Cesspit, can speak to him. So glad that mine couldn’t, or else he’d have been running the house by now, since I’d have passed out.
Along the way, most the family assume the ghost is a myth, so don’t think there’s any chance of a haunting, although the sons want to borrow their Dad’s tech to prove the existence of the spirits. There’s also potential hidden treasure around the house, but if it’s not been found over the centuries to date, will that happen now? Well, what do you think…
Meanwhile, the lads encounter some bullies, and for a certain someone, there’s a potential romance in the offing.
There’s also small bits of humour, such as a ‘social media influencer’ getting across how she counts herself amongst those who work for a living, and the new arrivals also come across a gypsy family who don’t move around – similar to how Peter Kay went on a comedy tour, but never writes any new jokes.
I saw this presented as four individual episodes, rather than two double episodes which is how it is being broadcast, but it lost me 15 minutes into the second (individual) episode, as it’s very dragged out, and the plotting of Anthony Head’s character is seemingly thrown in at random, and quite few and far between.
Obviously, no spoilers about how anything I’ve seen turns out, but it’s not exactly The Usual Suspects in terms of plotting, and won’t be particular scary for a Xmas afternoon.
What’s most staggering about this, however, is that Channel 5 are broadcasting this on Christmas Day afternoon, yet, not only is it a BBC Studios production, but it has already been shown on a US cable channel called BYU TV, in October 2021!
The Canterville Ghost begins on Channel 5 on Christmas Day at 3.10pm, with part two on Boxing Day at 3pm. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD., but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
If you miss it, you can watch the each episode on My5 after transmission.
Directors: Paul Gibson, Suri Krishnamma
Producer: Sue Howells
Writer: Jude Tindall
Story: Oscar Wilde
Cast:
Sir Simon De Canterville: Anthony Head
Lucy Otis: Caroline Catz
Hiram Otis: James Lance
Virginia Otis: Laurel Worthington
Theodore Otis: Tom Graves
Franklin Otis: Joe Graves
The Honourable Cecil Canterville: Jack Bardoe
Masilda Lovell: Cathy Tyson
Voice of Cesspitt: Jonty Stephens
Lady Deborah of Canterville: Haydn Gwynne
Mrs Watkins: Liz Sutherland-Lim
Mrs Umney: Carolyn Pickles
Patience Lovell: Harriette Robinson
Charity Lovell: Charlotte Robinson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.