The Nativity (2010 TV series)

The Nativity
Genre	Religious drama
Written by	Tony Jordan
Directed by	Coky Giedroyc
Starring	Andrew Buchan Tatiana Maslany Neil Dudgeon Claudie Blakley Peter Capaldi John Lynch
Composer(s)	Jonathan Goldsmith
Country of origin	United Kingdom Morocco Canada
No. of episodes	4
Production
Producer(s)	Ruth Kenley-Letts
Running time	30 minutes (approx.)
Production company(s)	Red Planet Pictures K Films Temple Street Productions
Release
Original network	BBC One BBC HD
Original release	20 December (2010-12-20) – 23 December 2010 (2010-12-23)
Chronology
Related shows	The Passion
External links
Website

The Nativity is a 2010 British four-part drama television series. The series is a re-telling of the Nativity of Jesus and was broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD across four days, starting on 20 December 2010. It was rebroadcast in two hour-long parts on the mornings of 24 and 25 December 2011.

The series stars Tatiana Maslany as Mary; Andrew Buchan as Joseph; Neil Dudgeon as Joachim; Claudie Blakley as Anna; Peter Capaldi as Balthasar; and John Lynch as Gabriel.

Cast

• Tatiana Maslany as Mary
• Andrew Buchan as Joseph
• Neil Dudgeon as Joachim
• Peter Capaldi as Balthasar
• John Lynch as Gabriel
• Claudie Blakley as Anna
• Gawn Grainger as Levi
• Obi Abili as Gaspar
• Jack Shepherd as Melchoir
• Al Weaver as Thomas
• Ruth Negga as Leah
• Howard Samuels as Tax Collector
• Ken Bones as Bethlehem Rabbi
• Frances Barber as Elizabeth
• Art Malik as Nicholas
• Vincent Regan as Herod
• David Sterne as Abimael
• Sadie Shimmin as Salome
• Helen Schlesinger as Rachel
• Matthew Deslippe as Innkeeper

Production

Tony Jordan started writing the script in 2007. At the time, he did not believe in the Nativity story, but said that since writing The Nativity, his opinion changed. He was asked to produce the series after discussing new projects with BBC Wales in Cardiff, but his meeting got mixed up with another, where they wanted to create a follow up to The Passion. Jordan was asked what he would do with the Nativity and he pitched what he called a "ridiculous notion" of a story centred on the Inn in Bethlehem, which he compared to the BBC 1980s sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!. Jordan forgot about the idea but received a telephone call from the BBC a week later asking him to produce a script.

Filming lasted a month and took place in Ouarzazate, Morocco. Capaldi, Shepherd and Abili almost missed filming due to air travel disruption after the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.

Reception

The first episode was watched by 5.21 million viewers, an audience share of 20.3%.

Sam Wollaston of The Guardian praised the series, saying: "[W]hat is nice about this new telling of an old story: it will resonate, and it's relevant. It's very human, too, because that's what it's about, the characters and what happens to them and between them, rather than the message. In short, it's not preachy, and that's a relief."

External links

• The Nativity at BBC Programmes
• The Nativity at Temple Street Productions
• The Nativity at IMDb