Nativity! 2: Danger in the Manger
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Debbie Isitt
Written by	Debbie Isitt
Produced by	Nick Jones
Starring	David Tennant Joanna Page Marc Wootton Pam Ferris Ian McNeice Jason Watkins Jessica Hynes Rosie Cavaliero Grace Hollis
Cinematography	Sean Van Hales
Edited by	Nicky Ager
Music by	Nicky Ager Debbie Isitt
Production companies	Mirrorball Films Moviehouse Entertainment Media Pro Six Premiere Picture
Distributed by	Entertainment One[1]
Release date	23 November 2012 (2012-11-23)
Running time	105 minutes[2]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£3 million

Nativity! 2: Danger in the Manger is a 2012 British Christmas comedy film written and directed by Debbie Isitt, an improvised Christmas comedy and the second instalment in the Nativity film series.^[3] The film focuses on Donald Peterson, an anxious primary school teacher, who embarks on a wild and heartwarming adventure with his class and teaching assistant, the childlike Mr Poppy, as they travel to Wales to perform in a Christmas singing competition.

The film stars David Tennant playing the dual role of twin brothers,^[4] with Joanna Page as the wife of one of the brothers and Ian McNeice as the father of the brothers. Pam Ferris and Marc Wootton reprise their roles from the first film.^[5]

The film, which was the official Children in Need film of 2012, had its first public screening on 11 November 2012, when 42 Cineworld cinemas in the United Kingdom held one-off charity screenings with all proceeds going to Children in Need. The film's official premiere was at the Leicester Square Odeon on 14 November 2012. It went on a wide release on 23 November 2012.

Plot

Three years after the first film, it's revealed that Mr Paul Maddens (Played by Martin Freeman) who taught the children in the first film, has left for the United States; leaving Mr Poppy in charge of the class while the school's headmistress, Ms Bevan (Pam Ferris), finds a new teacher. However, Mr Poppy's cheeky antics and lack of any discipline with the children causes any trial teacher Ms Bevan has found, to leave. The class wants to enter a competition called "A Song for Christmas" presented by Angel Matthews (Jessica Hynes), in which each school produces their own Christmas song, with the winning song earning its school £10,000 and the chance at being a Christmas number 1. However, Ms Bevan refuses the class permission due to the lack of school funds and the class not having a qualified teacher, and worries that her nephew, Mr. Poppy's, behaviour is so inappropriate that no teacher will ever stay in the job.

Meanwhile, Donald Peterson (David Tennant) is an anxious teacher who has just moved to the area with his pregnant wife Sarah (Joanna Page). He lives in the shadow of his domineering father (Ian McNeice), and his estranged, 'name in lights: star child' identical twin brother Roderick (also played by Tennant), who is a 'world-famous' composer and conductor. He is soon interviewed for a teaching job at St. Bernadette's primary school and on his arrival is appalled at the behaviour of 'class clown' Mr Poppy and his badly behaved class. After being promised to be made headteacher when Ms Bevan leaves, he accepts the job and takes over the problematic class.

Mr. Poppy soon persuades Mr Peterson to sign the entry forms for the National 'Song for Christmas' competition which he soon retracts due to Ms Bevan's disdain for the idea and the realisation that his brother Rodrick is also competing with his choir. This leaves Mr Poppy and the class to fake attendance, with the help of some of his students who stay behind to ensure the plan isn't foiled, and kidnap Mr Peterson for a roadtrip to Castell Llawen ("Merry Castle", not a real place) in Wales, where the competition is being held. Mr Poppy uses a Duck Bus for the school bus (more specifically DUKW Desdemona from the London Duck Tour fleet), and ends up in a lake after making a wrong turn, orchestrated by rival school, Oakmoor who are also competing, and reveals the bus's secret ability to swim. Unfortunately, the Duck Bus runs out of fuel after exiting the lake leaving the class to go on foot.

Mr Peterson and Mr. Poppy then take their class through the wilds of Wales, where they get past obstacles such as exhaustion, rivers and baby nappies (for a baby that one of the children smuggled into the group) and end up faced with a mountain, which they have to climb over to reach the Castle in time for the show. Meanwhile, Ms Bevan, Rye and the parents find out about Mr Poppy's plan resulting in her and the remaining students, as well as Donald's father and Sarah, going to look for the class at the Castle but they aren't there; causing further panic. At the castle, Sarah berates Donald and Roderick's father for his treatment of Donald and goes out to find her husband and the class by any means necessary. Back at cliffside, the children are dangled down the edge to reach the bottom but the rope breaks just as, 'quiet kid' Tommy is descending, resulting in him teetering on the edge of a thin ledge. Mr Peterson in a heroic effort reaches him just as a helicopter carrying Sarah and Rye approaches, who subsequently rescue Tommy and the other children.

As soon as they arrive at the castle, Mr. Peterson is properly reunited with Sarah and Ms Bevan (Aunt Pat). However, Roderick is determined to win the competition and steals a segment from Oakmoor's song as well as the baby from St Bernadette's to sway the judges. He then locks his brother, Mr. Poppy and the class in a giant snow globe and gets St Bernadette's disqualified. But the vengeful Mr. Shakespeare and his class help them out by having Mr Peterson's class stand in for Oakmoor due to Oakmoor's song being ruined by Rodrick. Mrs. Bevan retrieves the baby and St. Bernadette's sing two successful songs while pretending to be Oakmoor. When Mr. Peterson's father and brother come to find Mr Peterson backstage, they belittle him once again but Mr. Peterson brings up the courage to tell Roderick and his father how he really feels and tells them to shut up, which leaves them both gobsmacked. Angel hears the commotion backstage and confronts the group but gets told to shut up by Mr Peterson. She threatens to call security and have them ejected from the building, but Mr. Peterson leaves the building of his own accord with Mr Poppy and Sarah.

As they leave, Sarah suddenly falls into labour and they place her on a donkey they found on the way to the castle and take shelter in a barn (which homages the actual birth of Jesus Christ) where Mr. Peterson helps her give birth to twin boys. Mrs. Bevan and the rest of St. Bernadette's join them, along with Mr. Peterson and Rodrick's father who finally admits he is proud of Mr. Peterson. Back at the castle, Oakmoor wins the 'Song for Christmas' though it should have been St. Bernadette's.

In the barn Mr. Poppy and the class sing another Christmas song, while, in a moment alone with his brother, Roderick places his half of a childhood locket alongside Mr. Peterson's half, before wishing him a Merry Christmas.

Cast

• David Tennant as Donald Peterson/Roderick Peterson, estranged twin brothers
• Marc Wootton as Desmond Poppy, a primary school assistant and Mrs Bevan's nephew
• Jason Watkins as Mr. Shakespeare, a teacher at rival school
• Rosie Cavaliero as Ms. Rye, main teaching assistant at St Bernadette's Primary

Oakmoor

• Joanna Page as Sarah Peterson, Donald's wife
• Ian McNeice as Mr. Peterson Snr., Donald and Roderick's father
• Jessica Hynes as Angel Matthews, an opera singer and presenter of 'A Song For Christmas'
• Pam Ferris as Mrs. Bevan, the school headteacher and Desmond's aunt

Mr. Peterson's Class Appeared as Mr. Maddens' class in the first movie:

• Ben Wilby as Bob
• Brandon McDonald as Olly
• Caitlin Cronin as Lucy
• Dominic McKernan as Dan
• Ellie Coldicutt at Beth
• Faye Dolan as Jade
• Joe Lane as Edward
• Joshan Patel as Bill
• Maeve Dolan as Sam
• Michael McAuley as William
• Milly Webb as Neve
• Morgan Brennan as Charlotte
• Reece Stowe as Fraser
• Sydney Isitt-Ager as Sadie
• Brandon Chambers as Tyrese
• Tomas Ferris as Charlie

New children:

• Jesse Donohoe as Jesse
• Pixie Davies as Pixie
• Joseph West as Joseph
• Kyle Johnson as Tommy
• Louise Blunt as Little Lucy
• Mason Daw as Mason
• Mason Simpkins as Mason
• Brogan McLeish as Advent Calendar phenom

Mr. Shakespeare's Class

• Adrianna Bertola as Adrianna
• Eleanor Grant as Eleanor
• Ethan Smith as Ethan
• Freddie Watkins as Sebastian
• Grace Hollis as Grace
• Jessica Horton as Jessica
• Jessica Mogridge as Jessica
• Olivia Chu as Gracie
• Cerys Glover as Megan
• Samuel Waters as Sam
• Samuel Young as Samuel
• Scott Folan as Scott
• Shannon Maguire as Shannon

Release

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger was theatrically released on 23 November 2012 by Entertainment One, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 November 2013 by Entertainment One.

When the film was released in the United Kingdom, it opened on #3, behind The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and Skyfall.^[6]

Production

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! was filmed over the course of six weeks in October and November 2011, being filmed in England and Wales.^[7]

Prior to filming starting, writer/director Debbie Isitt and actor David Tennant spent a week in Coventry,^[8] spending time in real classrooms and with school choirs and plays, and helping with the auditions for the child roles. Filming began in Coventry on 15 October 2011 and filmed there for a fortnight.

On 29 October, the production moved to north Wales^[9] for another fortnight, filming in various rural locations, including at Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Pistyll Rhaeadr and Lake Vyrnwy. The stable scenes were filmed at Avoncroft Museum in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.^[10] The production then moved to its final location in Warwickshire, where they filmed at Warwick Castle (standing in for St. Cuthbert's College) and in Stratford-upon-Avon.^[11]

The film was originally going to be called Nativity 2: The Second Coming, as of January 2012 but the title was changed later the same year to Danger in the Manger!

The competition scenes were filmed in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre. Filming ended on 29 November 2011. The film was shot in the improvised style, with no proper script, and the actors not being told the narrative ahead of time, but having the plot revealed to them bit by bit as filming progressed.^[3]

Reception

Sequel

A third film in the series began filming in November 2013, entitled: Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?. It was released on 14 November 2014 and starred Martin Clunes.^[12]

See also

• List of Christmas films

References

External links

• Nativity 2 at IMDb
• Official website