WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
A nostalgia trip for anyone in the UK who grew up on dial-up Internet, Findus Crispy Pancakes, and playground rumours that couldn’t be fact-checked online. We’re not historians — we don’t do dates, and we barely do facts — but science says reminiscing gives your brain a dopamine hit, so think of us as your weekly dose of hazy memories, childhood flashbacks, and confidently misremembered events.
Expect frequent arguments about who remembers things properly as we rummage through the UK’s collective memory box.
WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
Who Remembers........A Christmas Carol (with Ross Kemp)?
What if Scrooge wore a leather jacket, ran a book in a labyrinth of tower blocks, and woke up to the same Christmas Eve until he finally changed? We dive into the 2000 ITV retelling of A Christmas Carol starring Ross Kemp, where Dickens’ moral backbone is threaded through a British crime fantasy complete with a murdered partner, haunted posters, and a community held hostage by debt. We talk about why the surreal set works like a dreamscape, how the time-loop structure sharpens the stakes, and why Kemp’s casting both winks at Grant Mitchell and still finds something tender and new.
We break down the three hauntings with all their twists: a father-shaped Past that drags up grief and neglect, a Present that shows joy without money and the quiet heroism of families under pressure, and a Future that confronts a lonely grave and a legacy nobody wants. The loop keeps resetting until Eddie stops performing goodness and starts doing it when no one’s watching—getting homeless teens treated without credit, wiping balances clean, freeing Bob from a life of servitude, and making amends the slow, unglamorous way. Yes, there are quirks—overnight stairlifts and choir cameos—but the story’s heart beats through the flourish.
Along the way we tackle the EastEnders shadow, the class lens that makes this version sting, and the surprisingly moving beats that caught us off guard. The closing reveal of the mute boy’s identity ties redemption to the future in a way that feels unabashedly festive: change today shapes the family you might yet have. If you’re curious about bold adaptations, British TV nostalgia, or the evergreen power of Dickens’ message, this one’s a rich, strange, satisfying watch.
Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share it with a friend who loves a good retelling, and leave a quick review—what modern A Christmas Carol works best for you?
Hello, this is the podcast. Who remembers the famous college face podcast? And in this episode, we are asking who remembers Christmas Carol.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, a Christmas carol with Ross Kemp. Which I uh the words that I don't think I I never thought I'd say, to be honest, Liam.
SPEAKER_00:Did you did you know of this? Because we we were sent this by uh friend of the show, weren't we? But did you remember this at the top?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, this is a request from Major Charles. Um and he asked us for two things actually over Christmas, but we can't really do do all it because it it would become the Major Charles Christmas. As you know, as much as we love him, with these other people asking for things as well. But no, I I didn't know of this. I I it rings a bell, if you get what I mean. It does ring a bell. I asked my mum actually, I said, Have you heard of a Christmas Carol featuring Ross Kemp? And she said, Oh yeah, really good, yeah. So it must have been pretty big. The year 2000 it came out. Just gotta do a little background into a Christmas carol. The because I don't think you need to watch it really to the the Ross Kemp version to enjoy this podcast because it's it's not the same story, as you said. You said privately, off air to me. There is a couple of twists in there, a couple of different things, but you sort of know the stories. I don't think you need to watch it, but I I would advise to watch it. But the original Christmas Carol was by come on, William. Do you know who wrote the original Christmas Carol? Yeah, yeah, Dickens. Yep, Dickens.
SPEAKER_00:Um I thought I thought some people wouldn't have known that. Um you know who published it. A lot of people say it's the best story ever written, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know who uh published it? Um, Chapman and Hall in 1843. Um do you know Charles Dickens had a fear of trains, by the way? Not something that I uh I discovered in my research. It's never come up in my conversations now. Fear of trains. Um it only took him six weeks apparently to write a Christmas Carol. Um and when he wrote, this is what's interesting about it, Christmas Carol, Christmas when he wrote it, it wasn't commonly celebrated as a public holiday. People went to work and stuff. It wasn't it Christmas wasn't like this huge like sort of celebration as it is now. And it a lot of people have said that this novel was that popular that it was one of the reasons why it came back into you know being this massive holiday.
SPEAKER_00:Came back. What's it was before and then it was.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, it was before, then it yeah, then they they got rid of it for a bit and then they came back with it at Christmas.
SPEAKER_00:And what like just Victorian workhouses and stuff, and everybody working so hard that they just didn't do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because like I say, everyone went to work, it wasn't a public holiday whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not down your research, I don't know if any of that's true.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not down your research, but I don't know if any of that's true. I think maybe poor people had to work, but it wasn't a public holiday, it wasn't like it wasn't this big thing that that it is now whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00:I reckon in the stately homes they were having massive parties and things, and in sort of middle class England, I think probably, yeah, you're right. In sort of this working class slums, they maybe didn't have the luxury Christmas Day. So yeah, they probably didn't celebrate it because they couldn't afford to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Basically, they had Christmas and they said this is rubbish to get rid of it. And then Charles Dickens wrote this book and they said, Yeah, we'll do Christmas again, that sounds good, and that and look at us now, you know, commute consumerism gone gone mad now, isn't it? It were educational this podcast, isn't it? Absolutely. So people now were going to tell the friends and saying, Oh yeah, do you know Christmas didn't used to exist before Charles Dickens came along? Charles, good if like people find this podcast in 50 years, in 500 years' time, like when everything's like the world. Yeah, and say, and I don't know, this who's this Dickens character who created for Christmas.
SPEAKER_00:It's cross wires and Christmas didn't exist until Ross Kemp like came along and reinvented.
SPEAKER_01:That'd be amazing if he's like everyone's like putting bold like wigs on. Bold like bald would they be a bold wig? Is that what it is? What do you call them? Is it a wig? Is it bold? I don't know. Bold cap, yeah. Walking around with like swimming caps on to celebrate. Anyway, it was priced at five shillings, Liam, which is£31 uh in today's money. Um yeah, it's a lot of money that, isn't it, for a book? Yeah, but I suppose it's a luxury item, wouldn't it? Yeah, but fucking£31. Um, yeah, so many versions obviously in theatre and film over the years, but the one we're concentrating on, and William's gonna go through the story, is the 2000 it's classed as a British crime fantasy film. I suppose it is a crime fantasy in a way.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but yeah, and this is written by certainly is actually, which is again a slight twist on the original. But this this one is a crime fantasy. I would say the original isn't.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, this one is a crime fantasy. It was written by Pete Peter Bauker, um, and it aired on ITV in the year 2000. 9.4 million viewers watched it on a Wednesday night. That's not bad for a Wednesday night, is it? 9.4 million viewers, nearly as much as we get. Um, and this was this is what was quite interesting before you get into the sort. This was Ross Kemp's first major role since leaving East Enders. Which is quite amusing, really, because he basically is playing Grant Mitchell, isn't he? That's well, that's the thing about this, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's the thing.
SPEAKER_00:First thing, and you're gonna have moments where you get dragged back into that. You can't get away from the fact that this is Grant Mitchell in a Christmas carol.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it is great, he is playing Grant Mitchell.
SPEAKER_00:And there's moments, because at first it's it's a bit laughable that he is he's got his leather jacket on, he's pulling the Grant faces, his eyebrows up like Grant. And at first you sort of think this is ridiculous, this is just Grant Mitchell. Like and and then I think this is a really good telling of the story. I think they've done enough to make it their own. Uh Peter Boker has done enough to make it his own. Um and actually, I'm not gonna lie, I I kind of got really into it. Good, and I've I thought it was it was brilliant. I really did think it's a really clever telling of the tale. And there were moments where I sort of forgot that this is Grant Mitchell, yeah. But then there were occasional moments where I'd sort of chuckle a bit and think, oh yeah, it's Grant again.
SPEAKER_01:But the first three things I wrote down, I don't got I ain't got loads of notes or anything, I just thought I'll write write what comes to me as I as I'm watching it. At least we're all in the first five minutes. I put if you switched over, you'd think you were watching EastEnders. Do you agree? I think that's yeah, straight away. Why is his leather jacket so long? Like he's got a stereotype loan shark, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:So he's playing a loan shark in respect.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh same as you've already said, I've wrote um the same outfit as he wore on EastEnders. And he he is he is he is Grat Mitchell, he's storming around the place, he's got the same he's not changed his accent at all. It could easily be an episode of EastEnders until the girls are.
SPEAKER_00:I just don't know why they didn't dress him differently. It doesn't you could have put him in a suit as a deck collector, you could have put him in a I don't know, like there's various ways of dressing him to not make it's it's kind of like they just went for the exact Grant Mitchell, which I don't know, maybe in some ways that's a selling point because people love Grant. But it just seems it very hard for him particularly when he's doing it as Grant to get away from the fact that he is Grant.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and he's as you say, because he's playing a a horrible I'm not what is it is Grant Mitchell a horrible character? Probably was a horrible character. I'm pretty sure he's a big thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean I think it's sort of this guy is uh he's kind of making people's lives miserable. So he's he lent he lent some money, lends them money, and then he collects it back at extortionate rates. I mean, there's a bit, I don't know if you notice someone asked him if they could borrow 700 quid for an airplane ticket, and uh did you see how much he wanted back for it? Uh were it£3,000 or something? No, it's£10 a week for five years, which is over two and a half grand.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did actually type that into a calculator, but did you genuinely true this? And I saw that bit, I thought I'll work that out, that'll be quite clever. And then um I got confused and and just left it. I thought Liam will sort that out and look where we are now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So it comes out of his it's a really weird settle. The the biggest thing I'd say about it, if you if you haven't watched it already and you're contemplating it, you kind of have to get over the weird set. Like it's sort of set in like a it's almost like a futuristic sort of block of flats, or like uh because they're not like any flats I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01:It's like a sort of No, yeah, it's a good point that it's it's it's really it's atmospherically really weird as well. It's almost like you're watching a dream, if you know what I mean. It's like uh I imagine it being like a Black Mirror episode or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and he sort of lives in this like underground flat and in like a car park or something, and he has to come up some steps into like a street that has flats both sides of it, and seemingly he just loans money to these sort of two rows of flats side to side of him. Yeah, but I I don't know, it's it's the the set design is really weird to me. But we're introduced by him, he goes to collect some money from some family, they haven't got it, so he takes the TV. The bit that made me laugh there, though, he's like, So he's taking the collateral, so assumably the value there is and he can sell it to get his money back. He just drops it off the side of his house and smashes it.
SPEAKER_01:That's that is obviously just showing how much of a that is pure grand, isn't it? Yeah, this is just showing how much of a don't mess with this man. So he takes the TV from this family, and they're like, Oh and I think the the woman says, Oh, it's a tradition we all get up in the morning and watch the TV goes, Well not this time.
SPEAKER_00:So that was an attempt at a sort of uh sort of modern gag, weren't it? Because did you notice she said, Oh, we want to live by Christmas tradition, we put the TV on at 7am and it stays on till midnight. Yeah, that was like an observational comedy gag thrown in there.
SPEAKER_01:So he's just got it all, it's got it all. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, he's got uh an assistant called Bob Cratchit, who basically works for him because he's in so much debt to Scrooge that he doesn't have any choice but to work for him. Um he the the premise is there's a there's a couple of incidents. There's an old family, uh it's the Nanoff uh royal family.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, nana, nana off royal family, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So she's an old couple, they owe him some money, they're saving up for a chairlift, but he's not having any of it. He he takes the money from the savings in the sock and he won't start, he needs his full amount. Some other guy's pestering for money and he's not having it. Um and and yeah, it's just a general bad guy. Uh his his partner, so this is this is the twist on this one. So in the Christmas Carol traditional story, uh his partner, uh Jacob Marley, remember when Simon, by the way, yeah, you want to say do you want to tell people what Simon Jordan said when you were So I sent in a question to talk sport boxing when it was kind of getting started, and I said to Simon Jordan and uh going Spencer Oliver, if you're building a stable of young British up-and-comers, who would you put in there? And yeah, Simon Jordan said we've got a comment here from uh Leo Marley. I hope he's now relation to Jacob.
SPEAKER_01:But Jacob Marley's not a bad guy.
SPEAKER_00:No, what does it mean? I don't know. Well, I mean he he is a bad guy because he's so I don't know if you know that in the original story. It's probably a long time since you've seen it. So this is this is similar to this in a sense that they were b business partners and they're both as tight as each other, but he's he's died. I don't know if it's the previous year or a few years ago, but he's died, and Ebenezer's left on his own. And in this one, his partner, Jacob Marley, was shot. He was shot three times in the chest.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, it arranged to come down on it, cut down on a hail of bullets.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, cut down on a hail of bullets. You know, he was going to meet uh go on Eddie uh Eddie Scrooge, and instead he was shot down by someone. So that's that's kind of hanging over everything. There's posters about this murder all around that Grant Mitchell keeps ripping down.
SPEAKER_01:Um we should see his mum actually, his mum's uh his mum confronts him and he just dismisses her.
SPEAKER_00:There's a few very deliberate moments that are like big trigger events. So a tree falls down with someone trying to pull it out. Um and then he the the next sort of keep it plot is that there's a young, there's a couple of young kids, boy and a girl, and they're sort of sleeping rough outside his house, and he turfs them out and kicks them out, and he says, Why can't you be homeless, be homeless around a posh stately home or something like that? So he turfs them out. So that's it. They Christmas Eve done, he goes to bed, he drinks some cider.
SPEAKER_01:Well, just before that, he actually looks at a picture of Jacob Marley, because obviously, as you said, there's these pictures all over, and the pictures start speaking to him, don't they? But he thinks it's just his imagination.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the corner of it sets on fire as well for no reason. But yeah, the face starts talking to him, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he goes to bed. Oh no, sorry, he's confronted by Jacob Marley in his flat, who says, I'm here to tell you you need to take tonight seriously. Grant runs through, shuts the door, locks it, and then he's he's there again. So it's like you've got to believe me, this is me. Shows him the chains around his feet tied back to the original. These are the chains I carry around with me. He says, You're gonna get three guests, you need to take them very seriously.
SPEAKER_01:So I have to admit, he takes this really well, Gram. If a ghost came into my head, he accepts it pretty well, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, go, go on.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's it, yeah. That's it, yeah. He says, Alright, talk. If a if a ghost came into my house, I might just like I did the beginning bit when he's running away, yeah. Fair enough.
SPEAKER_00:I won't just like say he does the standard ghost test, don't he? He goes into another room, it's still there, so that's it, it's accepted. Go on then, talk.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, then you're a ghost. Fair enough. Come on, what you got for me? He's not scared, and he's not he's not there's not it's as if like this is just a normal occurrence for Grant.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he's fine with it. And he gets his first visitor, which is the ghost of Christmas past. Slightly unusual sort of weird thing in it. So it's his dad. So in the original. It's not Alf Garnet.
SPEAKER_01:It's Alf Garnet. Is it Alfgarnet? I'm sure that's Alf Garnet. I've not I've not looked into this, I'm sure that's Alf Garnet. I don't think so. I'm swearing down that's what's Alf Garnet for it. Warren Mitchell, yeah, Alf Garnet, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Alright.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that passed me by that one. So his dad, his dad is in it as uh Alf Garnet. Yeah, no, it's not Grant's dad, it's Ebenezer Scrooge's dad, played by Alf Garnet.
SPEAKER_01:This is getting a bit so it's Ross Grant Mitchell's dad, Alf Garnet, but it's ne neither of those people. Neither of them is those two characters, no. Yeah, they're not playing those characters, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So oh something I forgot to tell you as well, by the way. Um sorry, I have got a bit of a cold, so I'm just gonna mute a quick cough.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, you know, I mean it's uh it is that season, to be honest. But you know, as we're recording, there might be some some more Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm having a Lemsip right now. Yeah, um the same Lempship I had for the Christmas trailer episode. And I know what you're thinking, God was days ago. Can I let you in a secret? Or else it were minutes ago, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, we're recording it earlier today, yeah. Well, today, about about five minutes ago actually. Yeah. Anyway, so we've got mixed up here, we've got Grant Mitchell and Alf Garnet. We're gonna have to we're gonna we're gonna have to call him Grant Mitchell. We we need to because I'm gonna keep calling him Grant Mitchell by accident. So he is Grant Mitchell, that's it.
SPEAKER_00:It's his dad. Alf Garnet, yeah. So he takes him back. Yeah, sorry, the bit I'd forgot to mention is so he goes into a sort of bar slash club at one bit, and his nephew comes to see him. This is uh Grant Mitchell, his nephew comes to see him, and he's a policeman, and he says, Would you like to come to dinner with us tomorrow? Uh uncle, and he says, Nope. And he says something like, Well, we'd love to have you. He goes, No. He says, Right, okay, well, we'll still set a place out for you anyway.
SPEAKER_01:But is there something like uh mum would have loved it? Oh well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, he says it's what mum would have wanted. Sorry, that's the line I was looking for. Yeah. So obviously implies his mum's no longer with us.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So now when we get the the the going back, Grant and his dad are going back in times, Christmas past. We go to a graveside, and it's Grant and his sister as kids with the dad stood behind them. And I thought this this was the first bit of genuinely good acting I'd thought from Grant. He's he sort of says we needed you, where were you? And he gets quite mad and says, We were kids, and his dad just has no idea what to do, he can't process it, he can't deal with it. He he kind of says, Look, I don't understand why you're showing me this, and it cuts to them in the house and the dad's out somewhere, and it shows that Grant did have this care inside to him, he puts his arm around his sister and he says, Look, he does love us, he does care about us. In fact, that's where he goes all the time. He's at parenting school trying to be a better parent parent to us.
SPEAKER_01:Full head of hair, this this version of Grant, obviously as a child. Oh, he's very early, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So we're talking like nine years old, but I I would like to know when he went bold, Grant Mitchell, uh, aka Roskamp. I think days after that event. Ten years old. I can't imagine him not bold. Someone must have got a picture somewhere of I I know he's got a bit in.
SPEAKER_00:And that like wacky advert thing, is he bold in that?
SPEAKER_01:He's bold in that, yeah, and the um Bramflet or whatever the fuck it is, fruit and fiber. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's bold in that. I swear he's always been anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, so it's still when Christmas passed. Um I should actually be checking my notes so that I don't well, they're not my notes, by the way, they're the notes of Wikipedia.
SPEAKER_01:But well, what I found interesting here is by the way, is after he sees Jacob Marley, just but this is before his dad comes in, he sits calmly down to watch the TV. He's just seen a ghost who says you better take these ghosts seriously. And he's like, Yeah, alright. Imagine putting TV on. Straight after that. He's gonna watch it. In fact, it's Maidley, innit, on TV. I don't know if you caught that. Oh no, I didn't actually know, is that what's on? Yeah, it's this morning, uh, what he's watching, which doesn't make sense thinking about it because it's night. He's recorded it, he's a Maidley fan. It's obviously of all, yeah, fair enough. We've all done it, haven't we, to be honest. Yeah, maybe he's getting his favourite croaks by him. Um but yeah, Maidley's on. Uh Maidley, Maidley's on in the background with with Jude. Um, so he just puts that on, like he's just seeing a ghost. Ridiculous. Imagine Maidley would calm you down in that situation, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's a ghost, get on with it, it's fine, it's fine, Judy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. What's his name? Jacob, Jacob, yep, yep, welcome, welcome, welcome to the show. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Uh so he then sees still in his past, and I love this, because obviously they can't de-age him and there were no digital tools then. To show this is a young grant, they put him in a hoodie. Did you see that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So he's wearing a hoodie and it's showing how he met his his uh girlfriend Bella, um, who then it shows him trying to get engaged to her, but she doesn't she doesn't want his lifestyle, she's sick of his. I don't know if it's criminal as such, I don't know. It's implied.
SPEAKER_01:I don't get I don't like this. So she like that we get the bit where obviously she's splitting up with him because obviously there's a lot of flashbacks and things, and she's splitting up with him and saying, I I just can't deal with what you do. She must have known that, like, and they've been going out a while by this like flashback. They cover it, don't they?
SPEAKER_00:By the the implication is she thought she could change him, and that's kind of how they get around that. I know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, rubbish.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, he uh he wakes up, and this is the big twist in the whole thing. So he wakes up and it's Christmas Eve again. He's reliving Christmas. It's like Groundhog Day, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Uh yeah, I I yeah, you mentioned this to me before we started. I didn't really clock this because it's been that long since I watched any of the other Christmas carols. But yeah, I've got mixed up with Groundhog Day. So that didn't seem weird to me, because I thought, oh well, yeah, that's what happens. But I've got a Christmas carol mixed up with Groundhog Day featuring the gr the late great Bill Muller. Mullah, Murray.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so so this is uh it's a bit it's like I say, it's an interesting take. So he's he's kind of seen it all before, and he's sort of saying to Bob Scratch it, uh Bob Cratchit, I uh Scratch it.
SPEAKER_01:Bob Scratchit.
SPEAKER_00:Is that like a fashion character? It feels like it should be.
SPEAKER_01:It's Bob Fleming, who used that. Bob scratching. Bob scratching.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, so uh he kind of knows what's gonna happen, and and those like very deliberate moments of like the guy trying to grab the tree falling over, allow him to sort of predict what's gonna happen. Obviously, he's not shocked enough into kind of changing his ways, he still goes and smashes the TV.
SPEAKER_01:Well he thinks he's pissed he thinks he got too pissed, didn't he, last night? That's that's it in his own eye, it is like what he's like tells himself is he had a lot to drink, so he were having weird dreams. I'm having a lot to drink, so I'm reliving the same day. He kind of lets things go quite easy, doesn't he, Bran? Yeah, he's not he's not he just gets so you can see why he's such a good dick collector, to be fair, or good at his job, because nothing phases him. He's not phased by anything, no.
SPEAKER_00:So he relives the same day, and again he kicks the teenage kids out of the thing. I don't actually know if he did that the first time or the second time, but anyway, he does it this time. And so so this time we go to Christmas Eve again, and at bedtime again, he has his drink again, and he says, like, come on, Jacob, you told me it was gonna happen again. So he didn't think it were a dream.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so a few plot a few plot holes here, few plot holes.
SPEAKER_00:There is a few plottles if you want to unpick it, but I I was willing to do that.
SPEAKER_01:I mean the fact that this ghost isn't it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a fantasy. Let's come on. It's a crime fantasy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So crime fantasy, yeah. So this is it now. He he now finds out that Jacob Marley is actually the ghost of Christmas present, and he says something like it's Christmas, it's our busiest time, I'm double booked.
SPEAKER_01:So he then shows him like that line.
SPEAKER_00:So he then shows him um the things about what's happening on that particular day. Um, it's not great here. This time he shows him uh so the his debtors who are who are happy but have nothing. So the people whose TV is smashed, they're kind of trying to show him look, he he sort of believes everything's about money, but they're showing him no, actually, they're alright. Uh they go to the hospital and Bob's son Tim, so he's got cystic fibrosis and he's living in bed on Christmas Day, and the family is still around him. Um, and she sort of says to him, the the wife, you need to get away from uh Scrooge because of what Scrooge because of what he's doing to you. They don't like the way you're becoming you, and he says, Oh, I can't leave him, I've I owe too much money to him. And then the final thing he sees is the two teenagers that were living rough die from hypothermia. Have we got this wrong? No, that's right, yeah, that's right, yeah. So he resets again, yeah, yeah. Sorry, yeah, yeah. No, it's alright, we've got another reset to come. Yeah, we've got we've got three resets. This is the second reset. So he resets again to start Christmas Day, but but this time, and again, this this is kind of what I quite liked. He kind of half has a go at trying to fix things, but he doesn't know for the right reasons, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He does it for he does it because he wants he thinks he has to do it to get over this weird ground odd day loop and he wants to impress his girlfriend or his ex-girlfriend at this point.
SPEAKER_00:So ultimately his his one aim is to win back Bella, that's that's his aim, but he thinks if he just sort of does the right things, he'll get her back, or at least he's perceived to be doing the right things.
SPEAKER_01:So the best bit of this scene, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry, carry on.
SPEAKER_01:Go on, no, but the scene where he gets uh the pe the the the poor people are present, not not the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's two brilliant bits. There's one where he bursts in with like a VCR for the poor family, and they say, No, we don't want anything else off you because obviously that's how they get you, they give you more stuff, you owe more money. And he goes, It's a present and sort of slams it into it. No, he doesn't, he goes, It's a present, you stupid loser. That's it, yeah. Stupid loser.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, kids are crying on self-id loser. Yeah, they're all crying. The best thing if you notice is in the background is the raggedy dolls thing, ragged dolls, ragged alls, dolls like you, uh me, it's a present, you stupid loser.
SPEAKER_00:And then there's another funny bit where a guy who owes him some money tries to put it in his pocket and he sort of says, No, leave it, leave it. Tries to do it again, he goes, leave it. He sort of wrestles him to the ground and gives him a like a bloody nose. Yeah, it punches him because he's trying to give him some money. So then we we come back again, and this is uh he goes back to his flat again, Christmas Eve night again, the third time. So Jacob Marley turns up, and this time what he says is the way you need to address this is to start with a thing that's been hanging over you all the time, and it's about how I died. And basically, we what we're told is that uh Grant set him up. There was a rival debt collector who thought he was getting a bit greedy, straying into other territories. So Grant set him up thinking that he was just gonna get a bit of a frightener from this other guy, and actually the guy turned up and shot him. And he basically makes Grant sort of say, You set me up. Yeah, uh no, I set you up. Grant set him up. Grant set him up. That's like a revelation for him, and that and and it said it turns out he knows that. But Grant says, Well, why did you make why bloody how do you make me say that? Then he says, 'Cause you need to know it, you need to say it to yourself. So that's his first kind of moment of acceptance. And then we go to go to Christmas Future. I think there's a there's a few moments in this. I've had a long day, I've had two pretty much sleepless nights with a fever. My daughter's been having an infusion today, and it was quite hard work.
SPEAKER_01:This is not part of the storyline, this is your actual life. This is not yeah, yeah. Um and you were you were visited by the ghost of Grant Mitchell, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But no, I there were three or four times in this where I was kind of just starting to well up a little bit, and that that sounds pathetic. Grant Mitchell has very woke, but yeah, go on. Well, I don't know if you can embrace that, can't we?
SPEAKER_01:Have you have you seen Joey Barton having a go at Angry Ginger recently? Where it's obviously Angry Ginger's on I'm a celebrity and he's crying um about because he's like me said he's farmlight. And Joey Barton's been, we saw you cry on the tele, and he says, 'Real men do not cry.' Basically, that's what he says, and that's Joey Barton saying it, who is you know, I think that the point I'm making is not that like if the original upsets you, there are some Christmas films I do find quite emotional.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's too much.
SPEAKER_01:By the way, I'd like to clarify that I don't uh I yeah, I'm I'm clear, I would clarify you're right to be emotional because Jimmy Barton's.
SPEAKER_00:What I mean though is that what I think sounds ridiculous is that oh what you cried at the Grant Mitchell version. That's what you wouldn't believe. I think Christmas films are designed to sort of make you feel emotional, but it just surprised me that the version of him strutting about kind of still got me, those moments still got me, and a couple of unique ones as well. But yeah, this is such a kind of clear setup, and I hope you've watched it by now if you want to watch it, because we will reveal what I thought was the sort of most obvious twist in the world. So he's he's visited by a mute boy as he goes to Christmas Future, and he keeps saying things like, Oh god, I feel like I know you, but I don't know where from. And uh there's a couple of moments where he says, Oh, I won't you just speak to me? And he says, God, it's almost like it's almost like I know you, but well, maybe not yet. Like it's it's so sort of obvious where they're going with it. But put that on the back burner for now. So he shows him the future. Um it's not actually tiny to him in this, but Tim's died in hospital because uh Bob Cratchit never left Gran and stayed with him and sort of got mixed up in that world, they split up, so they're no longer together, the Cratchits. Um the Scrooge family, uh he's he's murdered. It says implied impliedly murdered. Well, he is murdered, you see his grave, you don't see how he dies, but he's been killed. The only people who go to his grave are Bella, so his ex-partner, and his nephew, the policeman. And Bella's that new boyfriend who's his mate. No, she hasn't, she hasn't. You misunderstood that bit. No, I misunderstood it. He thought that's what he was showing him, and he goes, Oh, great, you're gonna show you. Oh, sorry. And it's that they're the only people who have gone to his grave that think enough of him to go put flowers on his grave.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I get you. I mean, I've I've I've added a little bit more to it if they wanted to, yeah, anyway.
SPEAKER_00:There's a bit where uh there's a there's a probably a funny bit where bearing in mind like Gervasis has sort of said the zippy thing about him, and you kind of sometimes you can't unsee it. There's a bit where he says, I will not look at the grave, I can't do it, I will not do it. And then his massive round face appears in a reflection on the plaque. He's going, No, oh my god, no, it's Ebenezer Scrooge, obviously, or Eddie Scrooge as it is, isn't it? He starts shoveling away at the thing, and then the kind of the worst bit, and it's not really his fault. So the mute boy is clearly on some sort of trailer being pulled along, and it keeps cutting to him being either side of him, saying, Come on, there's got to be something I can do, and then he cuts to the other side of him, must be able to change this, there must be away. It it's really badly done that shot, and also I think what I didn't like is that the whole point of him waking up is supposed to be realising it's not about himself, but the thing that makes him more than anything want to change is that he thinks he's gonna die.
SPEAKER_01:He's gonna die. Also, by the way, I don't know if you noticed the uh when they go into the the the first bit when he walks out of the flat, they're selling all his stuff, aren't they? All Scrooge's stuff, because he's obviously dead in this future uh version. And I'm like thinking, minds would just be loads of 442 magazines and do you know what I mean? Like different sort of like programmes and things like that. He's got nothing, he's got absolutely nothing, but yeah, they're all really happy as well that he's died, like you say. There's only two people turn up to his grave, and all the people in the street are like, Oh, I never thought it happened. Like they're delighted that Scrooge's been murdered.
SPEAKER_00:Another thing that we forgot, so going back to the previous Christmas Eve that I forgot, I suppose. I'll I'll I can't group you in with it, I'm doing it. Is that he tried to save the young kids, but he didn't find an ambulance, he took the girl to the hospital to to Bella to try and score points for Bella. And she still she ended up passing away. So again, that was in the the previous Christmas Eve. He tried to do something about it. So now this is his last go at it. This is his final stab at Christmas Eve. What happened, by the way, just before I forget, what happens if he got this one wrong? I suppose that that's him done, it would it couldn't it couldn't change.
SPEAKER_01:It couldn't change, so he just ends up yeah, so it's quite yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine that! Oh my god, Phil, you'll never believe what's happened to me. Sha mate! Do you think they're look like brothers?
SPEAKER_00:Or are they just both bold? A little bit, you can kind of see it, but not not really, but I Yeah, I don't know. I I think it's gonna go for another day, isn't it? Yeah, there's another one for another day as well. Uh probably grand.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, anyway.
SPEAKER_00:So, last stab at it. So he saves the teenagers, but he doesn't do it for attention, he goes and grabs the girl, he takes into the hospital, he tells the nurse, not not Bella's ex, just tells the nurse that she's got hypothermia pneumonia, she needs treatment, he's also ill, you need to treat him. Um he cancels debts, he takes a hamper around to the I thought it was quite funny that bit. He takes a hamper around to the old couple, the guy faints. So he says, Oh, you could probably sue me if we were in London or if we're in a city now. Um so here's a grand, here's another two grand, and here's another grand. And they're absolutely stunned by that. Yeah. But but what they do with it, I don't know if do we see that straight away? No, what's the point?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this doesn't make sense. Well, it doesn't make sense this. So it obviously gives them loads of money. I'm glad you brought this up because I wrote this down. And they've got a stair lift. Now, my mum's waiting for a stair lift, and let me tell you, you cannot get a stair lift at all that quick, you certainly can't get it on Christmas Eve to be fitted on Christmas Day. Two on opposite sides. I mean, that's the other thing I'd be annoyed about if I were grand. You know, I've give you this money, you didn't need two. You've got two stairs. No, you didn't need two, you only need one. Yeah, well, you don't we don't need to go up together, just one of one of them.
SPEAKER_00:There's only one of them who can't walk upstairs. Yeah, so they've they've got double stair lifts, and they've got a Christmas tree at the top of the stairs for some reason. Strange. But anyway, quite clever what he does with uh Cratchit, so he just sacks him, which you would think that's not festive, but obviously he's only there for the debt he owes him. And he says, You can't sack me, I owe you so much money. He goes, Yeah, that's how little I think of you. Um I'm gonna get rid of you and just get right the debt off. But he walks away smiling because he knows that's the best thing he can do for him. Yeah, he also then when Bob Cratchit gets to the he makes things happen very quickly, so he's only being a big thing.
SPEAKER_01:He does make things happen very, very quickly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they've had a check at the hospital to say they've won 50 grand on the premium bonds, which they're all delighted about, and uh Bob Cratchit sort of muses to to the family. Well, that's weird because we don't have any premium bonds, so obviously this is Eddie Scrooge at it again or Mitchell.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and he gets the uh the Jacob Marley's uh mum to like lead a choir to sing for him. Again, this is all done in one morning, so that's it.
SPEAKER_00:Was one of the bits that got me actually. So yeah, he says to the mum, I'll do all I can to solve the crime, which he already knows who did it. So he's yeah, but fair enough. He says that can you do one thing for me? And then it turns out that when they've got the premium ones and he's in bed in hospital, the choir come in and sing a Christmas song, and I thought that was a really touching moment there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, nice, very nice.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and then he goes, sorry, yeah, he goes to take. I mean, to be fair, to say he's trying not to make it about Bella noticing, he didn't have stiffing around that hospital, is it? So he's back in there. No, he's always around hospital, yeah. Made me laugh actually because they're in a bed together. I mean, this is 2000, the NHS weren't on its knees then, was it?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no. This is the two homeless people. He obviously sent them in, yeah, and they're and they're in a bed together.
SPEAKER_00:Put them in the same bed.
SPEAKER_01:No, that'd never happen. Not even like, not even now. NHS is fucked. They want to do it.
SPEAKER_00:They just leave you in a corridor now, don't they? They don't know the one in a bed.
SPEAKER_01:They'll live in a corridor, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But he's he goes in, he puts some Christmas presents on him. She comes and says, Well done about bringing them in today. And he says, Don't know what you mean. She says, Yeah, you do. Someone saw you. He says, No, not me. Um, I thought quite a funny line where she said, 'What are you doing in here?' And he said, 'I thought it was a snooker hole.' Yeah, yeah. Coming to the hospital thinking it was a snooker haul. But she he basically tells her the story and he says something like, Look, I would have been that ridiculous to tell you this to try and my only shot to try and win your bike to tell you this story. And she kind of buys into it.
SPEAKER_01:Which is ridiculous, by the way. Last week's episode, we were talking about Deidre falling for a pilot, and you think, mm, but a bit of an idiot. Imagine Deidre in court and they're saying, So let me get this straight. This man told you that he were haunted by three ghosts and you believed him. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It was a ghost that couldn't speak.
SPEAKER_01:I told him, Ken, you've got to believe me, Ken.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Apologies if my deedre wasn't spot on there. I've got a cold this week. Um, yeah. So yeah, he he she wants to make things right with him. He goes and sorry, his nephew comes again to the bar and says, Well, actually, he gives him an envelope and says, Here's the name. And and this is where he kind of reveals the truth because this is the implication that he has changed because he he's not going to sort of just lie to make himself look better. So the guy says, How long have you known this? And he says, Well, basically all the time. And he says, Oh, you didn't say anything because you were worried about implications on yourself. And he says, No, I didn't tell you because I'm worried about implications on my business. And he sort of says, Really? And he says, Yeah, sorry, that's that's what it was. But now I've developed a conscience. So he sort of goes to move away and then says, Do you want to come for Christmas dinner? And he says, I would absolutely love to. And I thought that was quite sweet how he did it and how happy the guy I was.
SPEAKER_01:Uh grabbed Mitchell. He was like shaking, just like I do, I've got dyspraxia, I don't like talking about it, but I have got dyspraxia. Um, I mentioned it a couple of times, uh, three or four episodes.
SPEAKER_00:So watching this in this two remember.
SPEAKER_01:It's not been too bad, it's not been too bad, has it? But no, he's he's like shaking, like it's a it's a really shit looking pint as well, and it's like full I don't know what he's doing. He's like sh I thought it was like a joke or something. It's like, but no, he just can't hold the pint.
SPEAKER_00:He's bottling up the rage, you know, the grand still in there, yeah. But yeah, and then we see him, he goes round to dinner the next day at theirs. This is actually when we see the stare lift, so it's Christmas Day. So within one day on Christmas Eve, they've had two sterlers fitted, and he's round at the nephews, he's holding the kid, they're all happy families. The he sent a massive bundle of presents to the poor family at the start whose TV smashed, and yeah, I I just thought enough different stuff to make it worth a watch. Really interesting telling of it. I mean, we've sort of saying Grant, like you said, I I wasn't watching it thinking it's Grant as such, but I kind of was all the way through. But I think that's fine, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because he's played a lot of repress. Yeah, it can be grand, it could be an episode of East Enders where Grant gets a conference, could be a Christmas special East Enders, couldn't it? Yeah, well not with the ghost, really. But I they had they had Empath coming back as a ghost this year or something. Yeah, or she yeah, I think Nick Cotton, so yeah. Nick Cotton comes back, um yeah, so it could work, it could, it could happen, and I I really, really, really did enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, genuinely, no, no irony.
SPEAKER_01:I no, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get on the grant thing. Yeah, but as you said, it cat it still works as Grant. And as we were saying, like you said, it's funny that his first major role since leaving East Enders was him playing Grant. Maybe that's part of it that he he he started. Maybe that is that like a metaphor for his career going forward. He started as Grant and he finished as someone completely different.
SPEAKER_00:Well, he's work he has to work away from Grant over time, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I has been.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because to be fair, that uh uh what's that clip for him shouting Ollie Watkins? That Grant wouldn't do that, would it?
SPEAKER_01:Ollie Watkins! He's like sort of Grant there, but he's a happy Grant, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And on that note, we'll finish our first festive episode of 2025.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and we'll be next next week with uh talking about the Christmas truce not featuring Grant Mitchell. As far as I know, I haven't actually done any research into it yet, but I presume you weren't there.
SPEAKER_00:No. Be weird. Be weird. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway, thank you. Thank you, Liam. I know you've had a cold, and if you it is a bit all over the shortcut. Yeah, apologies.
SPEAKER_00:I hate it to sound very nasal. I hope I didn't. If I do, I apologise. If it sounded really bad, you you won't still be here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, give him a clap because he's put it all in for this Christmas effort because we want to get these episodes out. So um yeah, we I've been shivering. I've been shivering and he's literally shivering and sweating, so don't be saying, Oh, weren't one of your best episodes, because he's tried his best, that's not I. And if you liked it, just let us know. By the way, give generously. Don't let us know if you didn't like it.
SPEAKER_00:See you later. Bye. As was always the intention. This this might seem like a a bolt-on at the end. Nope. This is part of the plan. The bit that I asked you to put a pin on, the the Grant Mitchell saying, Oh, I feel like I've always known his character. So, right at the very end of the episode, it turns out he's filmed skating with his partner, and you're not gonna believe this. That the kid, the mute kid, that he felt like he'd known, that he maybe he'd known, but not yet, it's their son from the future. So, yeah, again, this might feel like oh they've they've added that on because they forgot it. No. Absolutely not. This is part of the festive magic. We we always thought, well, just add that bit on at the end. So there you go. Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for listening to Who Remembers. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us at who rememberspod at outlook.com. If you are a right wing fascist, you can find us on Twitter at WhoRemembersPods. Or if you're a wokener, you can find us on Blue Sky at WhoRemembersPolitics. Once again, thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time for more remembering.