Christmas Barrie

Rimmer actor adds voice to CGI flick.

18 October, 2013

You might think it's too early to be thinking about Christmas, but let's face it - the supermarkets have already got their jumbo boxes of Quality Street on the shelves, it's unavoidable, we're past the point of no return. And besides, while we might be fully two months away from the holiday, word reaches us of a Christmassy film being released next month that stars none other than Chris Barrie.

Well, his voice, anyway - as Saving Santa is a computer-animated family adventure, the first such film to be made by independent production company Gateway Films, previously known for films like Shank and Anuvahood. The film is described as "a Back To The Future meets classic Christmas tale about a clumsy elf who finds that he is the only one who can stop an invasion of the North Pole by using the secret of Santa's Sleigh, a TimeGlobe, to travel back in time to Save Santa - twice". Here's the trailer:

The film stars Martin Freeman as the elf in question, while Chris is playing the voice of Blitzen, the reindeer. Despite not actually having any lines in the trailer, we can only assume he'll talk at some point thanks to the rather unsubtly-referenced translation device thingy he's wearing.

Saving Santa also features Tim Curry, Joan Collins, Noel Clarke and former Doctor Who Tom Baker as the voice of Santa. It's slated for release on 12th November - although we don't yet know how wide a release it'll be, so we'll bring you more news as we have it.

Find out more at the Gateway Films website.