{"id":14696,"date":"2011-12-16T01:11:36","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T01:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/no-ho-ho-or-why-eddie-izzards-not-joking-this-christmas\/"},"modified":"2011-12-16T01:11:36","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T01:11:36","slug":"no-ho-ho-or-why-eddie-izzards-not-joking-this-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/16\/no-ho-ho-or-why-eddie-izzards-not-joking-this-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"No ho ho! Or why Eddie Izzard’s not joking this Christmas…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy
\nNicole Lampert<\/a><\/p>\n

Last updated at 1:11 AM on 16th December 2011<\/p>\n

On a cold Christmas night in Manchester, a drunk with a past finds a strange man lying next to the canal. His shirt says \u2018I am called Antony\u2019, but he doesn\u2019t know who he is. So that\u2019s where Eddie Izzard has been hiding. <\/span><\/p>\n

The comedian, who has been quiet on the showbusiness front for the past couple of years (he has been running marathons for charity instead), will be back in force in the coming weeks. <\/span><\/p>\n

He plays Long John Silver in the forthcoming Sky1 drama Treasure Island, but before that he is the mysterious Antony in BBC1 drama The Lost Christmas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\"Plucked<\/p>\n

Plucked from danger: Eddie Izzard as Antony and Larry Miles as Goose<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The 90-minute film is a co-production with CBBC and is made with older children in mind, but it contains very adult themes of loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a ten-year-old tearaway nicknamed Goose who lost both his parents the Christmas before, a couple who lost their daughter, a man who has lost his family and a doctor who has lost his wife.
<\/span><\/p>\n

The mysterious Antony unites them, but it is hard to work out who or what he is. <\/span><\/p>\n

He can appear and vanish at will, has an array of amazing facts which spill out randomly as he talks and he has a magical ability to help people find what they were looking for. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s massive to be on television over Christmas,\u2019 says Eddie, 49.
<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018It is a bleak subject, but I think people are used to that at Christmas \u2014 look at Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. Like them, this is a film about sacrifice and second chances.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironically both Eddie and Larry Mills, who plays Goose, had a bigger understanding than many about loss, as both lost their mothers at a young age.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018This is a family film but a lot of kids won\u2019t get the themes of loss because they won\u2019t have experienced it.
<\/span><\/p>\n

Curiously, Larry and his family, and my family, both had family losses,\u2019 says Eddie. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018That was a strange thing. I didn\u2019t know how to broach it but it was definitely in there for both of us. This is a dramatic film, very much rooted in reality.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

This particular role is unusual for Eddie in that there is barely any comedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I love that there is no comedy,\u2019 admits the star.
<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I played the character straight and that was fun in itself. He has no fear because he has no memory and that is interesting. It gives you an ethereal quality.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

The end has a twist which only one person in an audience of more than 500 people at the first screening of the drama was expecting. <\/span>
But, thankfully, it restores a little bit of the magic of Christmas. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018You have to have that,\u2019 says Eddie. \u2018You can\u2019t be completely bleak at Christmas.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n