A Christmas Carol: Trailer and Release Date for FX/BBC Dickens Miniseries from Steven Knight

Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight is tackling a series of Charles Dickens TV adaptations, starting with A Christmas Carol, for the BBC and FX.

A Christmas Carol is coming to FX and the BBC as a three-part miniseries. While that might not initially sound like the most groundbreaking news, seeing as the original 1843 novella by Charles Dickens has been adapted countless times in every conceivable medium, there’s a (non-Oliver) twist here. This version will be brought to you by the creator of Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight.

As we first learned back in November 2017, the BBC is teaming with Knight to adapt a slate of Dickens miniseries, starting with this year’s kickoff, A Christmas Carol, which will star Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge, the bah-humbugging holiday-hating protagonist who famously undergoes time-travelling therapy, courtesy of three spirits. Knight wrote the script and serves as executive producer, with Nick Murphy (The Awakening) in the director’s chair.

A Christmas Carol FX BBC Trailer

A new trailer has arrived for FX/BBC’s A Christmas Carol with just over a week until the premiere.

The full trailer, seen just below, showcases a gritty, stylistically-ambitious adaptation effort that believably comes from the mind of Steven Knight.

You can also check out the first teaser below.

A Christmas Carol FX BBC Release Date

A Christmas Carol will make its stateside premiere on FX on Thursday, December 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT.

A Christmas Carol FX BBC Release Date

This small screen adaptation of  A Christmas Carol arrives as a joint intercontinental offering, airing on BBC One in the U.K. and FX in the U.S. It’s an arrangement that mirrors the release of Taboo, the (prospectively-sequel-bound) Knight-developed 2017 miniseries starring Peaky Blinders alum Tom Hardy. Likewise, Hardy – joined by partner Dean Baker – is involved as a producer via Hardy Son & Baker, as is David W. Zucker and Kate Crow of (Ridley Scott’s) Scott Free, and BBC’s Mona Qureshi. Producer Julian Stevens is also onboard. As Knight expressed in a statement:

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“This production of A Christmas Carol will respectfully present what we believe to be a timely interpretation of a timeless story”

As FX president of original programming Eric Schrier chimes in:

“We are incredibly proud to join the BBC in this latest creative venture, which builds on our expansive programming partnership to bring the best in television to audiences in the U.S. and U.K Charles Dickens’ classics, including A Christmas Carol, are timeless tales that have been reimagined generation after generation. We couldn’t imagine a better team to undertake this enormous task than Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, and their formidable production companies.” 

Joining star Guy Pearce in the cast of A Christmas Carol are Andy Serkis as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Stephen Graham as Jacob Marley, Charlotte Riley as Lottie, Joe Alwyn as Bob Cratchit, Vinette Robinson as Mary Cratchit, Rutger Hauer as the Ghost of Christmas Future, Kayvan Novak as Ali Baba and Lenny Rush as Tim Cratchit.

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.