Horst in Translation ([email protected]) This is a 43 minute Christmas special from over 25 years ago. Well.. what can I say: The whole thing is very British from start to finish, but only rarely actually funny. But this perception may also be because I was never a great fan of Rowan Atkinson's humor. However, I love Stephen Fry and don't mind Hugh Laurie and Jim Broadbent. It's a pretty different version of Charles Dickens' famous "Christmas Carol". The film's director is not particularly known, but the writer is. It's the man behind the very successful "Love Actually".The worst thing about this one is probably the really annoying audience laughter. They are really losing it about unfunny sequences like the "subtle plans" part or also think it's funny to talk about peeling one's tangerines. They really burst out with laughter on that one. Or when Atkinson's character has a fist as a present for the other guy near the end and just keeps hitting him repeatedly. Absolutely not funny at all. Fairly embarrassing try-hard humor, in fact. There are lots of spectacular costumes in here, but the script really leaves me wanting for more. A lot more. The best thing for me was maybe the catchy Blackadder melody in Christmas fashion. Everything else is very forgettable here. Not recommended.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU The first and essential element is the set of actors and first of all Rowan Atkinson. That is pure English comedy based on totally anachronistic and crazy situations, on witty puns that nearly or most of the time have to do with what is generally under the belt of most people but that is floating on top of the mind of these comedians. It is supposed to make you laugh and nothing else and it ridicules all historical characters and situations: Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Georges VI or some other Prince of Wales, the First World War, Robin Hood and I guess they avoided Peter Pan because he might only be marginally historical, though Pitt Junior is a real hit, definitely under the belt at the level of the comforter, if you see what I mean. It even turns upside down the famous Christmas Carol. As for the Time Machine it is completely twisted around in all directions, back and forth for sure, to make a sort of self-centered social climbing, politically opportunistic remake of Back to the Future more than the Time Machine, but the principle is the same. So Sir Edmund Blackadder finishing King Edmund I is at least hilarious. H.G. Wells is betrayed since for him you cannot change the past and Zemeckis is betrayed just the same since you are not supposed to use your time travelling to recuperate some personal advantage from it. I must say though this type of comedy is light maybe slightly too light, but it is good indeed.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

de_niro_2001 Why hasn't the BBC shown this more often at Christmas instead of constantly reshowing the 1973 Morecambe and Wise Christmas show. It's great and I never saw it until this Christmas just past. It features Erkan Mustafa in his best known role other than Roland Browning (his only role other than Roland Browning!). Rowan Atkinson is great as usual. It is interesting to see Jim Broadbent when he was relatively unknown. He doesn't really look any different. Robbie Coltrane plays the ghost of Christmas and his first appearance is, we know now, an uncanny prediction of things to come. When he first appears he kicks the door down and he has long hair and a shaggy beard. And this was even before J K Rowling had thought of Hagrid. But here he hasn't come to tell Ebenezer Blackadder that he has a place at Hogwarts. The visions of the future are a bit reminiscent of 1970s Dr Who. I just love Blackadder's inevitable comeuppance at the end.

didi-5 A fantastic idea, this one. Take the old chestnut 'A Christmas Carol', give it a shake-up, and turn it on its head.Ebenezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson in fine form as ever) is a good guy, who gives away anything to anyone, and is truly chock-full of the Christmas spirit. Time for the Spirit of Christmas (a rip-roaring turn from Robbie Coltrane) to work his magic, invoke the spirits of Ebenezer's ancestors and descendants, and inform him of the errors of his ways.We're reminded of Blackadder's former incarnations, in Tudor and Regency times, and of the cunning plans and twists of the long-gone relatives. We meet again with the likes of Queenie (Miranda Richardson), Melchett (Stephen Fry), Nursie (Patsy Byrne), and Prince George (Hugh Laurie). And of course the Cratchit character - Baldrick, who else! - suffers more and more as the story unfolds.A scary turn from Miriam Margoyles and Jim Broadbent (Victoria and Albert), and a mind-boggling look into the distant future completes the transformation.Not shown often enough, this is a real plum-pudding of a piece.