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 and save his school fast. The film was written by its director, Debbie Isitt, but was also partially improvised.
The film is set and was made in Coventry, England and premiered on 23 November 2009 in the SkyDome Arena there.
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! (2018).
In 2017, a stage musical adaptation premiered and has since toured the UK over the subsequent Christmas seasons.
Contents
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 not as talented as the Oakmoor students, and Mr. Maddens has little confidence in their abilities. Mr. Poppy helps him, and the class to create a nativity which showcases all of the children's 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 calmly snap at Mr. Poppy about everything going wrong, but when facing his disappointed class, he has a change of heart and realises that he must save the play.
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 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
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
Production
The film was first announced in August 2008, when it was announced Martin Freeman would star. 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.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 29 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10.
Sequels
Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger
Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?
Nativity Rocks!
Stage musical
A stage musical adaptation of the film, also 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 and Sharon Osbourne.