# Nativity (film series)

Nativity is a film series of British independent Christmas family comedy films written and directed by Debbie Isitt, produced by Mirrorball Films and Nick Jones and distributed by Entertainment One.

## Films
### Released films
#### Nativity! (2009)

Paul Maddens is a primary school teacher who once had ambitions of being successful as an actor, producer or director. Every year St Bernadette's Primary School in Coventry, where he teaches, competes with a local private school.
Despite this, St Bernadette's headteacher Mrs Bevans tasks him with running their nativity play this year and gives him a new class teaching assistant called Mr Poppy, who turns out to be as much of a child as the rest of Paul's class. As every year, it is one of Paul's other friends from drama school, Gordon Shakespeare, who runs the nativity plays at rival school Oakmoor.
Determined not to be seen as a failure by his old rival, Paul lies to Shakespeare about how a Hollywood producer, their old friend Jennifer, will be turning his production into a Hollywood film, though he has not even spoken to her in five years. Mr Poppy accidentally overhears this and is so excited that he has to spread the rumour.
Soon, 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 more and more excited, so Paul has to try to actually get Hollywood to turn their production into a film.

#### Danger in the Manger (2012)

Donald Peterson is an anxious teacher who has just moved to a new house with his pregnant wife Sarah. He accepts a teaching job at St. Bernadette's Primary School, taking over the class formerly taught by Mr Maddens, who by this point has left for the United States. In the interim, the enthusiastic and childlike teaching assistant Mr Poppy has been teaching the class unaided.
The class wants to enter a competition called "A Song for Christmas", in which each school produces a Christmas song, with the winning song earning its school £10,000 and the chance at being a Christmas #1. However, headteacher Mrs Bevan refuses the class permission to enter without a qualified teacher and worries that Mr Poppy's behaviour is so inappropriate that no teacher will stay on the job.
When Mr Poppy decides St Bernadette's should enter the National 'Song for Christmas' competition, he persuades Donald to sign the entry forms, later kidnapping him for an impromptu road trip to Castell Llawen ("Merry Castle", not a real place) in Wales, where the competition is being held.

#### Dude, Where's My Donkey? (2014)

This movie stars Martin Clunes, Marc Wootton and Catherine Tate, with Celia Imrie and Jason Watkins.
At St. Bernadette's school, Mr Poppy and the kids sign up to do a Flashmob in a Flashmob competition hosted by the famous Flashmobber, Bradley Finch. The winning prize will be to go to New York to dance on the Empire States Building.
Jeremy Shepherd is a super teacher (as Desmond Poppy thinks he is) who is the father of Lauren and is due to marry his fiancée Sophie in New York on Christmas Eve. However, Shepard is hit in the forehead by Mr Poppy's pet donkey Archie, and loses his memory.
As Shepard loses his memory, Lauren’s wish was to make Shepard marry Sophie, so Mr Poppy and the kids help Lauren make her Christmas wish come true, by helping Shepard get his memory back by his Christmas past, getting to New York until Shepard takes a walk around New York.

#### Nativity Rocks! (2018)

It was confirmed on 4 December 2017 that Nativity 4 would be released on Friday 23 November 2018, and would be entitled Nativity Rocks!. A teaser trailer was released in July 2018. Casting included; Simon Lipkin, Daniel Boys, Craig Revel Horwood, Meera Syal, Helen George, Ruth Jones, Celia Imrie, Hugh Dennis, Anna Chancellor, Ramin Karimloo, as well as some of the cast from the original theatre musical cast.
Doru, a child refugee from Syria, is separated from his father as he arrives in the United Kingdom. He is moved to Coventry by social worker Miss Shelly and joins St Bernadette's Primary School, where he meets a new teaching assistant, Jerry Poppy, who assists him in his search for his father amid another Christmas musical production for the school, led by impresario Emmanuel Cavendish.

### Future
#### Possible future films

In an interview, Debbie Isitt said "Nativity 4 has been developed already and so has Nativity 5 – one of them is set ‘Down Under’ in Australia". She later added "However, I am uncertain as to if or when they will be made as there are other projects competing for my attention. We will just have to see." The 4th film was released in 2019, but the 5th film is yet to be made as of 2025.
In 2019, she commented on having a prequel film centred around Marc Wootton's character, Desmond Poppy, "On her slate".
In 2024, when asked about a potential 5th film, she stated "Never say never". She also stated later on she was "thinking" about the possible film. Soon after, she was seen back at Holy Family Catholic Primary School, where the originals were filmed.

#### Cancelled international remakes

Producer Nick Jones revealed that they had so far "politely declined" offers to make American and Australian remakes.

## Cast

| Characters | Films | Films | Films | Films |
| Characters | Nativity! | Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger | Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? | Nativity Rocks! |
| Characters | 2009 | 2012 | 2014 | 2018 |
| Desmond Poppy | Marc Wootton | Marc Wootton | Marc Wootton | |
| Gordon Shakespeare | Jason Watkins | Jason Watkins | Jason Watkins | |
| Patricia Bevan | Pam Ferris | Pam Ferris | | |
| Paul Maddens | Martin Freeman | Photographs | Photograph | |
| Jennifer Lore | Ashley Jensen | | | |
| The Mayor | Ricky Tomlinson | | | Vincent Franklin |
| Miss Rye | Rosie Cavaliero | Rosie Cavaliero | | |
| Donald Peterson | | David Tennant | Photograph | |
| Roderick Peterson | | David Tennant | | |
| Mr Peterson Snr | | Ian McNeice | | |
| Angel Matthews | | Jessica Hynes | | Jessica Hynes |
| Sarah Peterson | | Joanna Page | | |
| Jeremy Shepherd | | | Martin Clunes | |
| Sophie O'Donnell | | | Catherine Tate | |
| Bradley Finch | | | Adam Garcia | |
| "Uncle Henry" | | | Stewart Wright | |
| Clara Keen | | | Celia Imrie | Celia Imrie |
| Jerry Poppy | | | | Simon Lipkin |
| Emmanuel Cavendish | | | | Craig Revel Horwood |
| Ben Johnson | | | | Daniel Boys |
| Suzy Shelly | | | | Helen George |
| Clara Hargreaves | | | | Anna Chancellor |
| Robert Hargreaves | | | | Hugh Dennis |
| Farmer Beatie | | | | Ruth Jones |

## Crew

| Role | Films | Films | Films | Films |
| Role | Nativity! | Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger | Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? | Nativity Rocks! |
| Director/Writer | Debbie Isitt | Debbie Isitt | Debbie Isitt | Debbie Isitt |
| Producer | Nick Jones | Nick Jones | Nick Jones | Nick Jones |
| Executive Producer(s) | Joe Oppenheimer Lee Thomas David M. Thompson | Laurence Brown Jason Garrett Alex Hamilton Dan Lawson Gary Phillips David Rogers Mark Vennis | Laurence Brown Daniel Toland | Laurence Brown Alexander Hamilton |
| Composer(s) | Nicky Ager Debbie Isitt | Nicky Ager Debbie Isitt | Nicky Ager Debbie Isitt | Nicky Ager Debbie Isitt |
| Editor | Nicky Ager | Nicky Ager | Nicky Ager | Nicky Ager |
| Release date | 27 November 2009 (2009-11-27) | 23 November 2012 (2012-11-23) | 14 November 2014 (2014-11-14) | 23 November 2018 (2018-11-23) |

## Stage musical

A stage musical adaptation of the first 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.

## Reception
### Box office performance

| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office gross | Box office gross | Budget | Ref. |
| Film | Release date | United Kingdom | Other territories | Worldwide | Budget | Ref. |
| Nativity | November 27, 2009 | $8,412,353 | $82,081 | $8,494,434 | $2,443,493 | |
| Danger in the Manger | November 23, 2012 | $14,433,981 | | $14,433,981 | $3,657,136 | |
| Dude, Where's My Donkey? | November 11, 2014 | $11,283,866 | | $11,283,866 | | |
| Rocks! This Ain't No Silent Night | November 23, 2018 | $4,129,456 | | $4,129,456 | | |
| Total | Total | $38,259,656 | $82,081 | $38,341,737 | $6,100,629 | |
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### Critical response

| Film | Rotten Tomatoes |
| Nativity (film) | 48% (25 reviews) |
| Danger in the Manger | 36% (22 reviews) |
| Dude, Where's My Donkey? | 16% (19 reviews) |
| Rocks! This Ain't No Silent Night | 0% (8 reviews) |