''The Flint Street Nativity'' is a 1999

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Marcus Mortimer, written by

Tim Firth Tim Firth (born 13 October 1964) is an English dramatist, screenwriter and songwriter. Life and career Firth was born in Frodsham, England. He spent much of his time at school writing songs and it was only a few weeks before going to King's ...

, and starring

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), known professionally as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

Neil Morrissey Neil Anthony Morrissey (born 4 July 1962) is an English actor, businessman, narrator, and television presenter. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Rocky in ''Boon (TV series), Boon'', and Tony in ''Men Behaving Badly''. Other notable acti ...

Jane Horrocks Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) is a British actress. She portrayed Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous''. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage pl ...

, John Thomson,

Stephen Tompkinson Stephen Phillip Tompkinson (born 15 October 1965) is an English actor, known for his television roles as Marcus in '' Chancer '' (1990), Damien Day in '' Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1990–1998), Father Peter Clifford in '' Ballykissangel'' (1996� ...

Mark Addy Mark Ian Addy is an English actor best known for his roles as DC Gary Boyle in the sitcom '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–96), Andy Richmond in '' Trollied'' (2011–13), King Robert Baratheon in the first season of ''Game of Thrones'' (2011) ...

Ralf Little Ralf Alastair John Little (born 8 February 1980) is an English actor, writer, presenter, narrator and former semi-professional Association football, footballer. He has worked mainly in television comedy, including playing Antony Royle in ''The ...

Julia Sawalha Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992–2012). Her other television roles include as Lynda Day in '' Press Gang'' (198 ...

Mina Anwar Mina Mumtaz Anwar (born 20 September 1969) is a British actress. She is best known for her roles as Constable Maggie Habib in '' The Thin Blue Line'' and Gita Chandra in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. Early life Anwar was born to a family of P ...

and

Dervla Kirwan Dervla Kirwan (born 24 October 1971) is an Irish actress. She has received a number of accolades, including two IFTA Awards for her performances in the film '' Ondine'' (2009) and the RTÉ thriller series '' Smother'' (2021–2023) respective ...

. The film is about primary school children putting on a nativity play. It was broadcast by ITV on 22 December 1999.

Plot

The film is set in the fictitious inner city Flint Street Primary School, on the Welsh-Cheshire borders. It focuses on the seven- and eight-year-old pupils in that evening's sole performance of the school

nativity play A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas, the feast of the Nativity. For the Christian celebration of Christmas, the viewing of the Nativity play is o ...

, from the pre-performance classroom preparations to the final stage performance, which culminates in calamity. There are inevitable mishaps, misunderstandings, young egos, fears of failure and fallings out. The children's characters eventually evolve into mirror images of their parents when the actors all appear as their parents (the play's audience) at the post-show gathering.

Cast

as Jaye Dackers /

Angel Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in ...

as Debbie Bennett /

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

as Zoe / Shepherd 2 * Hywel Simons as Errol Chiverton / Shepherd 1 * John Thomson as Christian Jerrums / Innkeeper *

as Ian Rotherham / Herod *

as Shamima / Angel *

as Tim Moyle / Narrator *

as Dawn / Wise Man 1 (

Melchior Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations. As a first name * Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide * ...

) *

as Adrian Atherton / Wise Man 3 ( Casper) * Tony Marshall as Wise Man 2 (

Balthazar Balthazar, Balthasar, Baltasar, or Baltazar may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Balthazar (novel), ''Balthazar'' (novel), by Lawrence Durrell, 1958 * ''Balthasar'', an 1889 book by Anatole France * ''Professor Balthazar'', a Croatian a ...

) *

as Andrew / Ass * Jason Hughes as Warren Pipe /

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

as Clive Cattle /

Star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity of Jesus, nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 2, chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (biblical Magi, Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, ...

*Lynn Hunter as Mrs R. Humphries

Production and release

The story is based on real events, collected over ten years from members of Tim Firth's family and friends who were teachers. Flint Street Primary School is modelled on Stockton Heath Primary School, where Firth attended and his mother taught. The film was shot in Lansdowne Primary School in Canton,

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. An oversize set was used to make the actors' characters more believable. The actresses wore swimsuits three sizes too small to flatten their adult body parts. The film was broadcast by ITV on 22 December 1999. It was originally released on DVD on 31 October 2005 and re-released on 3 November 2008.

Reception

In 2002, the film was voted in the top 15 Christmas TV moments on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Alfred Hickling of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' thought the film "exposes what an ungodly snake pit of paediatric power-politics the staging of your average Nativity play can be... There are moments when you may wet yourself laughing."

Theatre adaptation

Firth rewrote the play and added music for the stage production at the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actre ...

in 2006. It was repeated again in 2007.

Award(s)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flint Street Nativity, The 1999 television films 1999 films 1990s Christmas comedy films British Christmas comedy films Depictions of Herod the Great on film Portrayals of Mary, mother of Jesus, in film Portrayals of Jesus on television Films shot in Cardiff Films set in Wales 1990s English-language films 1990s British films British comedy television films English-language Christmas comedy films