''Nativity!'' is a 2009 British Christmas musical comedy film directed by Debbie Isitt and released on 27 November 2009 and the first instalment in the ''Nativity'' film series. The film stars Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen. In the film teacher Paul Maddens (Freeman) lies to his rival that

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

are coming to watch his school's Christmas nativity, but after the lie gets out of hand, he must resolve the issue fast. The film was written by its director, Debbie Isitt, but was also partially improvised. The film premiered on 23 November 2009 in the SkyDome Arena, Coventry, England. It was released in cinemas on 27 November 2009. The film was followed by '' Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger'' (2012), '' Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?'' (2014), and ''

Nativity Rocks! ''Nativity! 4: Nativity Rocks!'' is a 2018 comedy film and the fourth instalment of the Nativity film series by Debbie Isitt. It stars Simon Lipkin, Celia Imrie, Craig Revel Horwood, Helen George, Ruth Jones & Daniel Boys and Dave Tooth. Like its ...

'' (2018). In 2017 a stage musical adaptation premiered and has since toured the UK over the subsequent Christmas seasons.

Plot

Mr Paul Maddens is a miserable, jaded teacher at St Bernadette's, a local state-funded Catholic primary school in Coventry. He once had ambitions of being successful as an actor, producer or director in

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

, but gave it up after negative reviews in the press. Paul grew to hate Christmas after his girlfriend at drama school, Jennifer Lore, broke up with him at Christmas time. Every year, St Bernadette's competes with Oakmoor, the local posh Protestant private school, to see who can produce the best nativity play. The headteacher at St Bernadette's, Mrs Bevan, tasks Paul with running their nativity this year and assigns him a new

classroom assistant A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) or team teacher (TT) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate stude ...

named Mr Poppy, who is actually Mrs Bevan's extremely childish, immature nephew searching for work. While out shopping with Mr Poppy for a new school

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

, Paul bumps into his old rival from drama school, Gordon Shakespeare, who runs the nativity plays at Oakmoor. Desperate not to be seen as a failure, Paul lies to Gordon about how a supposed

producer, Jennifer, will be turning his production into a Hollywood film (although in reality, he hasn't spoken to her in five years). Mr Poppy overhears this and gets so excited that he spreads the story to the press. Paul finds his lie spiraling out of control, and all he can do is go along with it as media attention mounts and the children get very excited. The children at St Bernadette's are nowhere near as talented as the Oakmoor students, and Paul has little confidence in their abilities. The enthusiastic Mr Poppy helps him and the class to create an energetic, interesting nativity which showcases all of the children's unique (and often strange) talents. Paul tries to contact Jennifer to make the lie come true, even getting on a flight to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to persuade her to visit in-person. It turns out she is only the secretary to a film producer, and he returns home disappointed. Amid continuing media attention and the Mayor's kind offer to allow the play to be performed in the historical ruins of

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The curren ...

, Mrs Bevan discovers that the Hollywood story was a lie and cancels the play, advising Paul to start looking for another job and firing Mr Poppy in the process. This causes Paul to snap at Mr Poppy about everything going wrong, but when facing his disappointed class, he decides that the show must go on. The play is performed at the cathedral to an audience of the children's parents and family friends. The children, initally anxious but motivated and encouraged by Mr Poppy's childlike spirit and optimism, actually put on a decent performance, to the surprise of everyone involved. Halfway through, Gordon climbs on stage to tell everybody that there is nobody from Hollywood there and the entire story was a lie. Luckily, a helicopter flies over and Mr Poppy declares that it's Hollywood arriving; the show continues, and Jennifer and her producer indeed appear at the back to watch. Paul joins them and, still in love, kisses Jennifer. The play ends with everyone, including Gordon and Mrs Bevan, who have a change of heart after seeing the children's talents, united onstage to celebrate the children's success. As the film closes, Paul and Jennifer are shown decorating his house together for Christmas, reunited at last.

Cast

* Martin Freeman as Paul Maddens, a primary school teacher trying to produce and direct a nativity play that will for once outdo a rival school * Marc Wootton as Desmond Poppy, the immature nephew of Mrs Bevan, whom she appoints as a

* Jason Watkins as Gordon Shakespeare, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

primary school teacher and long-time rival of Paul * Ashley Jensen as Jennifer Lore, formerly a

secretary and Paul's girlfriend at the end of the film * Alan Carr as Patrick Burns, critic * Ricky Tomlinson as The Mayor *

John Sessions John Marshall (11 January 1953 – 2 November 2020), better known by the stage name John Sessions, was a British actor and comedian. He was known for comedy improvisation in television shows such as ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', as a panellist o ...

as Mr Lore * Phyllis Logan as Mrs Lore *

Pam Ferris Pamela Ferris (born 11 May 1948) is a Welsh actress. She has starred in numerous British television series, including ''Connie'' (1985), '' The Darling Buds of May'' (1991–1993), '' Where the Heart Is'' (1997–2000), ''Rosemary & Thyme'' ...

as Mrs Patricia Bevan, the headmistress of St. Bernadette's Primary School * Clarke Peters as Mr Parker, a Hollywood director, Jennifer's boss during her time at Hollywood *

Geoffrey Hutchings Geoffrey Hutchings (8 June 1939 – 1 July 2010) was an English stage, film and television actor. Early life and career Hutchings was born in Dorchester, Dorset, England. After attending Hardye's School, he studied French and Physical Educati ...

as Father Tom * Rosie Cavaliero as Miss Rye * Selina Cadell as Oakmoor Headmistress * Ashley Blake as himself

Production

The film was first announced in August 2008, when it was announced Martin Freeman would star. Principal photography began in the same month.

Box office

When released in the United Kingdom, the movie opened at #5, taking £794,315 at the box office in the United Kingdom. In its third week, the movie rose to #4, and in the end, made £5,187,402.UK Film Council – UK Box Office: 12 – 14 February 2010
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Sequels

* '' Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger'' * '' Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?'' * '' Nativity 4: Nativity Rocks!

Stage musical

A stage musical adaptation of the 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 London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

which have featured guest star celebrities such as Louis Walsh, Danny Dyer, Dani Dyer, Jo Brand, Rylan Clark-Neal and

Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nativity! (Film) 2009 films BBC Film films British Christmas comedy films Films set in schools Films set in Coventry Films shot in England Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in the United States 2000s Christmas comedy films 2009 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films