Exclusive: Celia Imrie says her new movie is a "marvellous" twist on a British classic

Celia Imrie is back on our screens this week with new British festive movie Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint, which she has hailed as a "marvellous" take on the all-time classic A Christmas Carol.

The new movie follows Aubrey Flint (John Bradley) who, after a shopping incident, finds himself forced into community service at a struggling retirement home. Before you can say Scrooge, he rediscovers the magic of Christmas when he helps out on the residents' production of A Christmas Carol.

Talking to Digital Spy at the London gala screening for the movie, Imrie said: "The thing is, Charles Dickens knew what he was talking about. It's an everlasting story, and it's marvellous that it's been given a modern twist. But I did find it very moving, actually. I'm very thrilled to be part of it."

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Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint has a stacked cast that includes not only Imrie, but also Richard E Grant, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Sophia Di Martino, Adjoa Andoh and Karl Pilkington, as well as Jim Broadbent providing the voice of Charles Dickens.

Di Martino told Digital Spy that it's one of those movies that, like the best Christmas movies, is fun for all the family.

"It's such a heartwarming film and it's got a really sweet message and an important message, actually. So I hope people will laugh, cry and enjoy a happy ending because I think we all need one right now," she explained.

"That's a great thing about this film as well. It's a PG, everyone can watch it together, and there aren't many films like that where you can sit down with the whole family and all enjoy it."

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Director Jack Spring added that he couldn't quite believe his luck that he managed to assemble such a starry cast for the movie, calling them the "elite, best of British actors, really".

"We came up with the idea for this movie in 2018, so you're spending a lot of time with the cast in your mind, who could play these characters, and to land on a cast that we did, never in a million years did I think we'd be here with some of these guys tonight," he continued.

"Not only their names, but how good they are in the film, how much they lend to it, how much they gave me as director, how much I learned off them as well.

"They were diamonds, they're 90% of the way there by the time I get my hands on them. They don't really need a director to be honest, so I just feel immensely blessed and feel a better director having worked with them as well."

Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint is released in cinemas on 6 November.

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Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.