Uncle Wormsley's Christmas. Image shows from L to R: Mrs. Goodington, Mr. Goodington. Copyright: Baby Cow Productions
Uncle Wormsley's Christmas

Uncle Wormsley's Christmas

  • TV comedy drama
  • Sky Atlantic
  • 2012
  • 1 episode

An animated cautionary tale with a dark heart. Narrated by Steve Coogan. Stars Julian Barratt, John Thomson, Julia Davis, Ben Baker and Steve Coogan

Press clippings

What do you give the boy who has everything? An enormous crab, of course. This creepy curio is about the collision of two worlds. Spoilt schoolboy Johnnie is rich and lives in a mansion; Wormsley is grey and twisted and inhabits a rotting house. Johnnie wants a brachyura gigantica for Christmas; Wormsley is the only person who has one...

This cautionary tale would suit older children who enjoy Lemony Snicket books and hate festive fluffiness. Don't have nightmares.

Mark Braxton, Radio Times, 24th December 2012

Steve Coogan makes a suitably un-avuncular narrator in this nightmare-before-Christmas tale for older animation fans with a taste for something darker, as spouses Julian Barratt and Julia Davis supply voices. What to buy a boy who has everything? A giant crab, of course.

Gerard Gilbert, The Independent, 22nd December 2012

Joel Veitch - he of the dancing internet cats - writes, and Steve Coogan, Julia Davis and Julian Barratt star in this wonky animated tale of greying Uncle Wormsley and young, wealthy Johnny Goodington. Johnny wants a giant crab for Christmas, but the only person who has one is Wormsley. The boy's parents decide to call in The Crab Catchers to guarantee their precious boy his wish. But at what price? A skewwhiff morality tale that calls to mind Warp Films' superb Bunny and the Bull in tone, this is a weird, exciting half-hour break from the norm.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 21st December 2012

An earlier slot might have been more suitable for this rudimentary animated children's fable. It's a gruesome, cautionary tale about love, greed and a giant crab, written by Tim Gallagher and Joel Veitch, and produced by Baby Cow. Steve Coogan narrates the story of a miserably creepy, grey old man, Uncle Wormsley, whose sole companion is a huge crab that he keeps in a cage and to whom he feeds the neighbours' pets. Across town lives the spoilt Johnnie, whose parents are obscenely wealthy and who is given everything he wants. But the one thing he craves is a giant crab and so his father enters into a devilish pact with the mysterious "crab-catchers". Julian Barratt, John Thomson and Julia Davis provide the voices.

The Telegraph, 21st December 2012

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