The Spirit of Christmas

**The Spirit of Christmas** is a Christmas fable play produced by Cornley Drama Society. It is the first installment of The Goes Wrong Show. It was first aired in the UK on 23rd December 2019, and in the USA on 9th June 2020.

## Synopsis

It is Christmas Eve. Belle, a little girl, builds a snowman, while her parents argue over the misplaced Christmas star. Belle's dad leaves, and Belle writes a letter to Santa to ask for his help. She asks her mother if she can sleep downstairs to wait for him, and her mother agrees.

Santa comes down the chimney with his elves, and they try to cheer her up by bringing the snowman she built to life. They also use the Magical Toy Machine to give her a doll and a unicorn. Belle's mother receives a phone call from her husband, who says he isn't coming back. The snowman sings her a song about family, but she is still unhappy. Santa, the elves and the snowman don't know what to do to cheer Belle up, so the snowman suggests they eat his buttons, which are made of biscuits.

Santa and his elves have to leave, but as they are going, Belle's father returns with the Christmas star, and her parents agree to stop arguing. Belle thanks Santa and the elves, and they leave. The next day, Belle's family open their presents together happily.

## Cornley Cast

* Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway as Belle
* Annie Twilloil as Maude (Belle's mother)
* Max Bennett as Lawrence (Belle's father)
* Robert Grove as Santa
* Sandra Wilkinson as Nistle (elf) / Narrator
* Jonathan Harris as Nostle (elf)
* Chris Bean as The Snowman
* Dennis Tyde as Rudolph
* Children from "the local area"
* Singer - Tommy Blaize
* Trevor Watson (himself)

## Songs

* "Dear Santa, Can You Help Me?" - sung by Belle
* "We're Nistle and Nostle" - sung by Nistle and Nostle
* "Ho Ho Ho, Hee Hee Hee (A New Friend's On His Way)" - sung by Santa
* "I'm A Snowy Old Snowman" - sung by the Snowman

## Trivia

* This episode was originally meant to be aired last, but the others were posptponed because of General Election coverage - because of its seasonal theme this episode was aired in its original December slot. For this reason, there are several nods to the previous episodes scattered through the play:
	+ The antlers worn by Dennis to play the reindeer are the same as in The Lodge
	+ Robert wears the same boots as he wore to play Hitler in The Pilot (Not the Pilot)
	+ Jonathan can't get in to the room, which also happens in a lot of the other episodes
	+ The body of the reindeer is the same as the horse costume used in Harper's Locket.
	+ In A Trial To Watch and The Lodge, Sandra is seen reading Robert Grove's book "Anything You Can Act, I Can Act Louder", which is directly referenced for the first time in this episode.
* They realised near to filming that some of the aspects of the play didn't make sense, such as Santa coming down the chimney whilst the sleigh is in the garden and comments about returning up the chimney when they don't, but as it was to late into production they instead had Robert complain about how the play didn't make sense.
* This is the only episode in Series 1 with songs written by Mischief Theatre.
* In this episode, the audience are wearing elf hats and Santa hats.
* The button that Belle eats is not made of plastic, it is some form of edible material.
* The last note of "Dear Santa, Can You Help Me?" is a high E.
* The voiceover elements are done by Charlie Russell, who also plays Nistle.
* Originally, Max was going to play the snowman, but they swapped it so Chris ended up performing the role.
* The last scene of the play was prerecorded, and it featured the fully-decorated tree. The actors had to mark the tree so they knew where to put the sausages and chicken breasts later, for continuity.
* The fake snow being thrown over Max's head could be seen as a callback to throwing the fake snow in The Murder at Haversham Manor.
* Although this was the first of the series to be aired, Chris introduces this episode, as he does all the others (including "Not the Pilot Episode", which was to have been first), with the words "Welcome *back* to Play of the Week"

## Notes

1. ↑ This song is half sung by a singer who is offstage (Tommy Blaize), and half sung by Robert Grove, when he takes the microphone from him.
2. ↑ The song in Harper's Locket is "Home! Sweet Home!" by Sir Henry Bishop and John Howard Payne.