Nativity!

{{Infobox film

| name = Nativity!

| image = Nativity poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Debbie Isitt

| producer = Nick Jones

| writer = Debbie Isitt

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = {{Plainlist|

Nicky Ager
Debbie Isitt

}}

| cinematography = Seán Van Hales

| editing = Nicky Ager

| studio = {{Plainlist|

BBC Films
Mirrorball Films
Screen WM
Protagonist Pictures

}}

| distributor = E1 Entertainment

| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2009|11|27|}}

| runtime = 105 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget = £1.8 million

| gross = £6.4 million

}}

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 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.{{cite web|author=PA Entertainment |title=BBC's Nativity comedy |publisher=Virgin Media |date=11 August 2008 |url=http://movienews.virginmedia.com/news/?news_id=81414 |access-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814040903/http://movienews.virginmedia.com/news/?news_id=81414 |archive-date=14 August 2008 }}

The film premiered on 23 November 2009 in the SkyDome Arena, Coventry, England.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/coventry/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8376000/8376025.stm|title=Nativity night comes to Coventry|date=24 November 2009|work=BBC Coventry & Warwickshire|publisher=BBC|access-date=27 November 2009}}

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),{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/DeborahIsitt/status/379638745018138625|title=Debbie Isitt on Twitter}} and Nativity Rocks! (2018).

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

Plot

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, but gave it up after negative reviews in the press. Mr. Maddens 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, Patricia Bevan, tasks Mr. Maddens with running their nativity this year and assigns him a new classroom assistant named Desmond 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, Mr. Maddens 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, Mr. Maddens lies to Mr. Shakespeare about how a supposed Hollywood 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. Mr. Maddens finds his lie spiralling 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 Mr. Maddens 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.

Mr. Maddens tries to contact Jennifer to make the lie come true, even getting on a flight to America 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, Mrs. Bevan discovers that the Hollywood story was a lie and cancels the play, advising Mr. Maddens to start looking for another job and firing Mr. Poppy in the process. This causes Mr. Maddens 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, initially 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, Mr. Shakespeare 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 boss, Mr. Parker indeed appear at the back to watch. Mr. Maddens joins them and, still in love, kisses Jennifer. The play ends with everyone, including Mr. Shakespeare 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, Mr. Maddens 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{{cite web|title= Principal photography commences on Debbie Isitt's Nativity|publisher= BBC|date= 12 August 2008|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/08_august/12/nativity.shtml|access-date= 13 August 2008}}
Marc Wootton as Desmond Poppy, the immature nephew of Mrs. Bevan, whom she appoints as a classroom assistant
Jason Watkins as Gordon Shakespeare, a private primary school teacher and long-time rival of Paul
Ashley Jensen as Jennifer Lore, formerly a Hollywood secretary and Mr. Maddens' girlfriend at the end of the film
Alan Carr as Patrick Burns, critic{{cite web|last= McMullen|first= Marion|title= Alan Carr and Martin Freeman put Coventry on movie map|publisher= Coventry Telegraph|date= 17 September 2008|url= http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2008/09/17/alan-carr-and-martin-freeman-put-coventry-on-movie-map-92746-21837930/|access-date= 21 September 2008}}
Ricky Tomlinson as The Mayor
John Sessions as Mr. Lore
Phyllis Logan as Mrs. Lore
Pam Ferris as 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 as Father Tom
Rosie Cavaliero as Miss Rye
Selina Cadell as Oakmoor Headmistress
Ashley Blake as himself

Mr. Maddens' class	Mr. Shakespeare's class
class="wikitable"
Alexandra Allen as Cleo	Adeste McLeod as Grace
Ben Wilby as Bob	Anna Price as Ellen
Bernard Mensah as TJ	Arun Nahar as Jake
Brandon McDonald as Olly	Bessie Cursons as Christy
Cadi Mullane as Crystal	Bethany Carter as Daisy
Caitlin Cronin as Lucy	Charlie Dixon as Thomas
Dominic McKernan as Dan	Cherie Ng as Nicola
Ellie Coldicutt as Beth	Eleanor Bonas as Rachel
Faye Dolan as Jade	Francesca York as Caroline
James Warner as Buddy	Freddie Watkins as Sebastian
Jake Pratt as Alfie	Georgina Owen as Emily
Joe Lane as Edward	Hannah Ciotknowski as Elizabeth
Joshan Patel as Bill	Harriet Kilner as Charlotte
Krista Hyatt as Becky	Hayley Downing as Victoria
Maeve Dolan as Sam	Imogen Stern as Phoebe
Michael McAuley as William	Katie Maguire as Megan
Daisy Churchill as Neve	Katie Stafford as Molly
Morgan Brennan as Charlotte	Lauren Downing as Joanne
Rebecca Maguire as Saffron	Lily-Rose Sharry as Lynette
Oscar Hiscock as Fraser	Michael Brown as Charles
Rhyannon Jones as Alice	Molly Burton as Catherine
Sam Tott as Matt	Mi Tuulikki Kelly as Lorna
Sydney Isitt-Ager as Sadie	Safiya Asharia as Sophie
Thomas McGarrity as Zack	Salim Zayyan as Percival
Oscar Steer as Billy	Behrad Koohy as Harry
Brandon Chambers as Tyrese	Chris Reynolds as Freddy
Tomas Ferris as Charlie	Stephen Mitchell as George

Production

The film was first announced in August 2008, when it was announced Martin Freeman would star.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2008/film/news/martin-freeman-to-star-in-nativity-1117990349/|title=Martin Freeman to star in 'Nativity'|publisher=variety.com|date=12 August 2008|access-date=2 January 2018}} Principal photography began in the same month.

Reception

= 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.[http://www.ukfilmcouncil.com/article/16448/UK-Box-Office-12---14-February-2010 UK Film Council – UK Box Office: 12 – 14 February 2010]

= Critical response =

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|48|4.9|29|ref=yes|access-date=6 January 2025}}{{cite web |title=Nativity! (2009) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nativity-2009 |access-date=6 January 2025 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}}

Sequels

Stage musical

{{Main|Nativity! The 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 Hammersmith Apollo which have featured guest star celebrities such as Louis Walsh, Danny Dyer, Dani Dyer, Jo Brand, Rylan Clark-Neal and Sharon Osbourne.