People are voting emotionally.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This modern reworking stars Ross Kemp as Eddie Scrooge, a loan shark in a council estate. He is mean but unlike other loan sharks he does not break your arms and legs or threaten to rape single mothers. He just throws down the television set from the 15th floor instead of selling it in Cash Converters for some ever readies.On Christmas Eve Eddie is visited by the ghost of his late murdered business partner Marley who warns him that if he does not mend his ways he will face an afterlife of misery, presumably he will owe himself some money.Marley tells him that Eddie will be visited by three ghosts. The first ghost is his father who harks back to his impoverished childhood and his later blossoming love life with Bell who is a nurse but who left him because of his increasing meanness.However each time Eddie is visited by a ghost his life resets to that Christmas Eve which he relives like Groundhog Day and Eddie clumsily tries to improve his ways but with little success as his heart is not in it until he meets the third and final ghost.It seems that Eddie needs to face up to hard truths such as his role in the death of Marley which is why he tries to avoid Marley's mother or his world-view of the feckless and deserving poor.It is an interesting update on the Dickens tale. Of course Eddie comes across too much as Grunt Mitchell that famous character Kemp played in Eastenders and the ending is not as sentimental as the Dickens novel but the comic elements does not quiet work and Michael Maloney seems miscast as Bob Cratchett.

A modern take on Charles Dickens' Christmas classic, where Scrooge is a loan shark squeezing money out of people, rather like the original Scrooge. It's a lot darker than some other adaptations of A Christmas Carol I've seen - especially the scene where Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Future and sees his own grave! That scene actually almost drove me to tears and I screamed at him to wake up, it was only a dream! However, it does end well for Scrooge and his family and friends, as in every other version of this classic festive tale.Definitely worth watching if you want something that's a little more different from your usual cheery, merry Christmas movie fare.

This version of A Christmas Carol is now a tradition - I cant stop watching it and it never grows boring.Its a modern 21st century version of the story we know and love with Ross Kemp playing Edward (Eddie) Scrooge who, of course, is a money lender/loan shark who squeezes everything he can out of his poor clients.Christmas eve night he gets the visit from Marley - His recently murdered business partner who announces the spirits. After each spirit, Eddie relives Christmas Eve in a chance to get it right.He eventually does, meets up with his lost love and they have a son who is familiar to Eddie.Its brilliantly written, directed and Ross Kemp is fantastic as Eddie Scrooge, certainly in the top 3 Scrooges of all time. Its on ITV3 during Christmas 2009 - catch it, its worth it.

I am an avid fan of the 'carol' movies, and have read the book more times than I can count. Some version of 'Carol' are terrible, some are brilliant, this movie goes into the latter choice. Kemp brings us a very believable Scrooge, a loan shark in a council estate. We see more of Scrooges love, Belle (or rather, Bella, in this new version), who fills out the character like I have never seen before. The ghosts were fantastically thought out, instead of being random spirits, these ghosts were close to Scrooge in their lives. The Ghost of Christmas-Yet-To-Come being the biggest shocker of all.This is undoubtedly my favorite take on the 'Carols' so far, and I would recommend it to anyone. I really, really hope that one day, it will be brought out onto DVD, I don't think the recording I made of it when it aired will last much longer from being watched.