UNDER THE MISTLETOE – A warm-hearted seasonal tale, very loosely based on Charles Dickens’ Christmas story The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, where two angels are tasked with restoring a man’s memory when it is accidentally wiped by magical mistletoe.

Charles Dickens’ novella The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time is a sort of upside down version of A Christmas Carol. Whereas in A Christmas Carol the spectres revive the Christmas memories of Scrooge in order to bring about his reclamation, in The Haunted Man, Redlaw, a gentleman suffering from melancholia, what we today would call depression, encounters a doppelganger spectre who offers him the opportunity of having all his sad memories wiped away. This should, argues his ghostly twin, bring to an end his depression. Well, it’s an intriguing theory, but it doesn’t quite work out as easy as that in Dickens’ tale.

Although Under the Mistletoe is based on the premise of a depressed man having his sad memories removed, there’s little else that connects it with the Dickens plot. I have, however, consciously borrowed from two Christmas angel movies, namely The Bishop’s Wife and It’s a Wonderful Life. I know I’m supposed to prefer It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a better film, for sure, but I prefer the festive charm of The Bishop’s Wife. If you’ve never seen it, find a copy and give yourself a Christmas treat!

"Two unpromising angelic visitors and a melancholic young man for whom Christmas evokes only sad memories unite in Under The Mistletoe. Steve Nallon tells a festive tale that is witty and warm, delightfully combining the familiar and the unexpected. I can’t think of another writer who would make a connection between mistletoe and syphilis."

Revd Simon Buckley, Rector of St Anne’s Church, Soho

"Steve constantly demonstrates a very fertile imagination effortlessly blending tradition with modernity. He has a wonderful ability to raise a smile and tug on the heartstrings within the same story. I’ll never look at what’s on the top of my Christmas tree in quite the same way again."

Alistair McGowan, BAFTA Winning Comedian

"These are absolute GENIUS! Perfectly formed, individually wrapped treats, to be consumed by the fireside, a large sherry in hand, the fingers of long branches scraping across a window. A mixture of Wodehouse, Conan Doyle & fresh Nallon, these spooky tales chill and thrill in equal amounts."

James Dreyfus, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and The Thin Blue Line