Nativity!

2009 British film by Debbie Isitt

For the stage musical adaptation, see Nativity! The Musical.

For other uses, see Nativity (disambiguation).

Nativity!

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Debbie Isitt[1]
Written by| Debbie Isitt[1]
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

* BBC Films
* Mirrorball Films
* Screen WM
* Protagonist Pictures

Distributed by| E1 Entertainment

Release date

* 27 November 2009 (2009-11-27)

Running time

| 105 minutes
Country| United Kingdom
Language| English
Budget| £1.8 million
Box office| £6.4 million

Nativity! is a 2009 British Christmas musical comedy film directed by Debbie Isitt and released on 27 November 2009 and the first instalment 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

[edit]

Paul Maddens is a miserable, jaded teacher at St. Bernadette's, a local state-funded Catholic primary school in Coventry. He once had ambitions of being successful as an actor, producer or director in musical theatre, but gave it up after negative reviews in the press. Mr. Maddens grew to hate Christmas after his girlfriend at drama school, Jennifer Lore, broke up with him at Christmas time.

Every year, St Bernadette's competes with Oakmoor, the local posh Protestant private school, to see who can produce the best nativity play. The headteacher at St Bernadette's, Patricia Bevan, tasks Mr. Maddens with running their nativity this year and assigns him a new classroom assistant named Desmond Poppy, who is actually Mrs. Bevan's extremely childish, immature nephew searching for work.

While out shopping with Mr. Poppy for a new school Christmas tree, Mr. Maddens bumps into his old rival from drama school, Gordon Shakespeare, who runs the nativity plays at Oakmoor. Desperate not to be seen as a failure, Mr. Maddens lies to Mr. Shakespeare about how a supposed Hollywood producer, Jennifer, will be turning his production into a Hollywood film (although in reality, he hasn't spoken to her in five years). Mr. Poppy overhears this and gets so excited that he spreads the story to the press. Mr. Maddens finds his lie spiralling 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 at St Bernadette's are nowhere near as talented as the Oakmoor students, and Mr. Maddens 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.

Mr. Maddens tries to contact Jennifer to make the lie come true, even getting on a flight to America to persuade her to visit in-person. It turns out 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. Bevan discovers that the Hollywood story was a lie and cancels the play, advising Mr. Maddens to start looking for another job and firing Mr. Poppy in the process. This causes Mr. Maddens to snap at Mr. Poppy about everything going wrong, but when facing his disappointed class, he 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 children, initially anxious but motivated and encouraged by Mr. Poppy's childlike spirit and optimism, actually put on a decent performance, to the surprise of everyone involved. Halfway through, Mr. Shakespeare 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 boss, Mr. Parker indeed appear at the back to watch. Mr. Maddens joins them and, still in love, kisses Jennifer. The play ends with everyone, including Mr. Shakespeare and Mrs. Bevan, who have a change of heart after seeing the children's talents, united onstage to celebrate the children's success.

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

## Cast

[edit]

* 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, the immature nephew of Mrs. Bevan, whom she appoints as a 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 Mr. Maddens' 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 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

Mr. Maddens' class | Mr. Shakespeare's class

|

Alexandra Allen as Cleo | Adeste McLeod as Grace
Ben Wilby as Bob | Anna Price as Ellen
Bernard Mensah as TJ | Arun Nahar as Jake
Brandon McDonald as Olly | Bessie Cursons as Christy
Cadi Mullane as Crystal | Bethany Carter as Daisy
Caitlin Cronin as Lucy | Charlie Dixon as Thomas
Dominic McKernan as Dan | Cherie Ng as Nicola
Ellie Coldicutt as Beth | Eleanor Bonas as Rachel
Faye Dolan as Jade | Francesca York as Caroline
James Warner as Buddy | Freddie Watkins as Sebastian
Jake Pratt as Alfie | Georgina Owen as Emily
Joe Lane as Edward | Hannah Ciotknowski as Elizabeth
Joshan Patel as Bill | Harriet Kilner as Charlotte
Krista Hyatt as Becky | Hayley Downing as Victoria
Maeve Dolan as Sam | Imogen Stern as Phoebe
Michael McAuley as William | Katie Maguire as Megan
Daisy Churchill as Neve | Katie Stafford as Molly
Morgan Brennan as Charlotte | Lauren Downing as Joanne
Rebecca Maguire as Saffron | Lily-Rose Sharry as Lynette
Oscar Hiscock as Fraser | Michael Brown as Charles
Rhyannon Jones as Alice | Molly Burton as Catherine
Sam Tott as Matt | Mi Tuulikki Kelly as Lorna
Sydney Isitt-Ager as Sadie | Safiya Asharia as Sophie
Thomas McGarrity as Zack | Salim Zayyan as Percival
Oscar Steer as Billy | Behrad Koohy as Harry
Brandon Chambers as Tyrese | Chris Reynolds as Freddy
Tomas Ferris as Charlie | Stephen Mitchell as George

## Production

[edit]

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

## Reception

[edit]

### Box office

[edit]

When released in the United Kingdom, the movie opened at #5, taking £794,315 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]

### Critical response

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 29 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10.[8]

## Sequels

[edit]

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

## Stage musical

[edit]

Main article: Nativity! The 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

[edit]

* List of Christmas films

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f "Principal photography commences on Debbie Isitt's Nativity". BBC. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
2. ^ PA Entertainment (11 August 2008). "BBC's Nativity comedy". Virgin Media. Archived from the original on 14 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
3. ^ "Nativity night comes to Coventry". BBC Coventry & Warwickshire. BBC. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
4. ^ "Debbie Isitt on Twitter".
5. ^ McMullen, Marion (17 September 2008). "Alan Carr and Martin Freeman put Coventry on movie map". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
6. ^ "Martin Freeman to star in 'Nativity'". variety.com. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
7. ^ UK Film Council – UK Box Office: 12 – 14 February 2010
8. ^ "Nativity! (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

## External links

[edit]

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

* v
* t
* e

Debbie Isitt

Films|

* Confetti (2006)
* Nativity! (2009)
* Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger (2012)
* Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? (2014)
* Nativity Rocks! (2018)

Theatre|

* Nativity! The Musical (2017)
* The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband

Related|

* Nativity (film series)

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