Nativity!

Nativity!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Debbie Isitt[1]
Written by	Debbie Isitt
Produced by	Nick Jones[1]
Starring	Martin Freeman Marc Wootton Ashley Jensen Jason Watkins Alan Carr Pam Ferris Ricky Tomlinson
Cinematography	Seán Van Hales
Edited by	Nicky Ager
Music by	Nicky Ager Debbie Isitt
Production companies	Mirrorball Films BBC Films Screen WM
Distributed by	E1 Entertainment
Release date	27 November 2009 (2009-11-27)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$2,443,493 or £1,847,561.95
Box office	$8,494,434 or £6,422,769.81

Nativity! is a 2009 British Christmas musical comedy film directed by Debbie Isitt and released on 27 November 2009 and the first installment in the Nativity film series. The film stars Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen. In the film teacher Paul Maddens (Freeman) lies to his rival that Hollywood are coming to watch his school's Christmas nativity, but after the lie gets out of hand, he must resolve the issue fast. The film was written by its director, Debbie Isitt, but was also partially improvised.^[2] The film premiered on 23 November 2009 in the SkyDome Arena, Coventry, England.^[3]

It was released in cinemas on 27 November 2009. The film was followed by Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger (2012), Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? (2014),^[4] and Nativity Rocks! (2018).

In 2017 a stage musical adaptation premiered and has since toured the UK over the subsequent Christmas seasons.

Plot[]

Paul Maddens is a teacher at St Bernadette's Catholic primary school in Coventry. Paul once had ambitions of being successful as an actor, producer or director. Every year St Bernadette's competes with Oakmoor, a local Protestant private school, to see who can produce the best nativity play.

Paul hates Christmas because his girlfriend at drama school, Jennifer Lore, broke up with him at Christmas time. His headteacher, Mrs Bevan, tasks him with running their nativity play, and gives him a new teaching assistant named Mr Poppy, who turns out to be more of a child than the students.

Paul's rival from drama school, Gordon Shakespeare, runs the nativity plays at Oakmoor. Determined not to be seen as a failure, Paul lies to Shakespeare about how a Hollywood producer, Jennifer, will be turning his production into a Hollywood film (though he hasn't spoken to her in five years). Mr Poppy overhears this and is so excited that he spreads the story to the press. Paul finds his lie is out of control, and all he can do is go along with it as media attention mounts and the children get very excited.

The children are nowhere near as talented as the Oakmoor students, and Paul has little confidence in their abilities. The enthusiastic Mr. Poppy helps him and the class to create an energetic, interesting nativity which showcases all of the children's unique (and often strange) talents.

Paul tries to contact Jennifer to make the lie come true, even travelling to America to persuade her to visit. It turns out that she is only the secretary to a film producer, and he returns home disappointed.

Amid continuing media attention and the Mayor's kind offer to allow the play to be performed in the historical ruins of Coventry Cathedral, Mrs Bevans discovers that the Hollywood story was a lie and cancels the play, advising Paul to start looking for another job and firing Mr. Poppy in the process. This causes Paul to snap at Mr Poppy about everything going wrong, but he comes to his senses when facing his disappointed class and decides that the show must go on.

The play is performed at the cathedral to an audience of the children's parents and family friends. The production is amazingly good, to the surprise of everyone involved. Halfway through, Gordon climbs on stage to tell everybody that there is nobody from Hollywood there and the entire story was a lie. Luckily, a helicopter flies over and Mr Poppy declares that it's Hollywood arriving; the show continues, and Jennifer and her producer indeed appear at the back to watch. Paul joins them and, still in love, kisses Jennifer. The play ends with everyone, including Gordon and Mrs Bevans (who has a change of heart), reunited onstage to celebrate the children's success.

As the film closes, Paul and Jennifer are shown decorating his house together for Christmas, reunited at last.

Cast[]

• Martin Freeman as Paul Maddens, a primary school teacher trying to produce and direct a nativity play that will for once outdo a rival school^[1]
• Marc Wootton as Desmond Poppy, nephew of Mrs Bevan and immature classroom assistant
• Jason Watkins as Gordon Shakespeare, a private primary school teacher and long-time rival of Paul^[1]
• Ashley Jensen as Jennifer Lore, formerly a Hollywood secretary and Paul's girlfriend at the end of the film^[1]
• Alan Carr as Patrick Burns, critic^[5]
• Ricky Tomlinson as The Mayor
• John Sessions as Mr Lore
• Phyllis Logan as Mrs Lore
• Pam Ferris as Mrs Patricia Bevan, the headmistress of St. Bernadette's Primary School
• Clarke Peters as Mr Parker, a Hollywood director, Jennifer's boss during her time at Hollywood
• Geoffrey Hutchings as Father Tom
• Rosie Cavaliero as Miss Rye
• Selina Cadell as Oakmoor Headmistress
• Ashley Blake as himself

Production[]

The film was first announced in August 2008, when it was announced Martin Freeman would star.^[6] Principal photography began in the same month.

Box office[]

When released in the United Kingdom, the movie opened at #5, taking £794,314 at the box office in the United Kingdom. In its third week, the movie rose to #4, and in the end made £5,187,402.^[7]

Sequels[]

• Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger
• Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?
• Nativity 4: Nativity Rocks!

Stage musical[]

A stage musical adaptation of the film written and directed by Debbie Isitt and composed by Nicky Ager opened at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in October 2017. Since its world premiere the musical has toured the UK over the Christmas seasons, including runs at London's Hammersmith Apollo which have featured guest star celebrities such as Louis Walsh, Danny Dyer, Dani Dyer, Jo Brand, Rylan Clark-Neal and Sharon Osbourne.

See also[]

• List of Christmas films

References[]

External links[]

• Nativity! at IMDb
• Nativity! at British Comedy Guide
• Official website