Plot Summary

As final preparations are made for the Christmas Chart Show, in the TV studio the directors prep the assembled crowd to be loud and energetic as the show’s theme tune kicks in! It’s then over to hosts Tim Tinsel, Holly Bush and Sam Frost, who welcome the audience and tell us about the show’s format. The acts performing on stage tonight will all be characters from a very special story, and their songs will tell of the roles they played in that story. The hosts chat to members of the crowd, then introduce the first act, Gabriel’s Soul Patrol, who are on stage talking to the show’s roving host, Chris Cracker.

Gabriel tells Chris how he visited a woman called Mary, to give her the news that she would be doing a special job – having God’s baby! Mary joins the band on stage to tell how this news frightened her, but how Gabriel reassured her and made her realise how honoured she was. Gabriel’s Soul Patrol (with Mary) then perform their Motown-inspired song ‘The One God’s Chosen’.

The hosts then introduce the next band, The Landlords. Chatting to Chris Cracker on stage, they tell how their home town, Bethlehem, had become very busy after lots of visitors arrived to sign a new census. Trade for these landlords and innkeepers was brisk, as all their rooms soon filled up. However, one innkeeper and his wife had found it a struggle to keep on top of the rush and were overwhelmed with requests for a room, leading them to fall out with each other in comical fashion. Events are retold in their vibrant folk song ‘The Streets Of Bethlehem’

After some studio chat and banter, the hosts introduce the act Don Kee & the Animals. In their on-stage chat with Chris Cracker, we learn how Mary (now expecting her baby) and her husband Joseph had travelled to Bethlehem. Unable to find a room, they had been allowed to stay in the innkeeper’s stable where, surrounded by the animals, Mary had given birth to her baby boy, whom she named Jesus. The details are explained in the bands 60s retro-styled number, ‘There Is A Stable’.

Following some more inter-host banter, it’s time for a bit of glam rock, as The Crooks, a band of platform-heeled shepherds, take to the stage! During their chat with Chris and in their song ‘Peace And Love To All Mankind’ we learn how an ordinary night on the hillside, counting sheep, became a little more eventful with the arrival of a heavenly host of angels! After that, the studio audience goes crazy with the arrival of boyband trio, The Wise Guys! Once the squealing and wolf-whistles have died down, we hear how these three had followed a bright star from the east, carrying special gifts for the baby they knew they would find at the end of their journey. Their 80s-inspired pop song ‘The First Christmas’ gives the audience a chance to swoon! There follows some big-band swing, with the arrival on stage of Herod & the King’s Swingers! Their brassy number ‘Bad King Herod’ tells a darker side to the story, as we discover to what lengths a king will go, just to hang onto his crown!

Once all the acts have performed, it’s time to find out who has reached the coveted top spot in the Christmas chart. Following a tense run down, we hear of a new entry in at number one; it’s The Yuletiders, a super group made up of all the acts we’ve previously heard from on the show. Their single ‘Everybody Sing Along’ delivers an important message about Christmas and brings the show to an up-beat, pop-tastic finale that will get your audience dancing in the aisles!