So many festive favourites present a one-note image of Christmas.
He recalls one memorable instance: “I had a shoot that started on Buckingham Palace and an American exec asked what ‘that old building’ was. So I’m not surprised that the stereotypes come out very quickly!”
Paddington, for one, is guilty of “ruthless use of red buses,” says Douglas, who believes the British accent often attempted by Americans in Christmas films is “inevitably a posh accent, often based on not-too intensive research by listening to old interviews with Diana or Charles, or by watching The Crown.”
What do English actors do? They’ll likely copy Sean Connery’s accent if they’re playing a Scottish character, and other actors will turn to Dick Van Dyke if they need to play British, he suspects. Of course, there’s a comforting familiarity about certain stereotypes. “Great writing doesn’t head for cliché, but the complication is that often a story can start in a familiar place to let the audience in,” explains Douglas. “The problems start if you also finish in a familiar place.”
Not all Christmas shows follow this cookie-cutter approach. The Dead Room is a clever example of how we can rethink Christmas drama while avoiding cliché: set in an old radio building, haunting shots show a crumbling studio, as an older man relives trauma from his past. It is perhaps inspired by Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but the feel is grittier, more modern and more realistic, as an older man recounts trauma from his past.
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