A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic Reviews: What the Critics Say

A Christmas Carol has played at The Old Vic every Christmas since 2017, and the critics come back most years to see the new Scrooge. Season after season they give it four stars, often five, and the one doubt that keeps coming up is whether it's dark enough. These are the reviews of past years. The 2026 reviews, of Giles Terera's Scrooge, follow press night.

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The Critics' Verdict

Four stars is the usual verdict, with five from someone most years. In 2025, the first year In The Round, the Times, the Standard and the Arts Desk gave four stars, and City AM and BroadwayWorld gave five. The Times gave five in 2024, and so did the i and the Daily Mail in 2023.

The Telegraph is the paper that holds back. It gave three stars in 2017, 2022 and 2024, and four in 2018 and 2023.

Back in 2017, the Guardian's Michael Billington gave the first production four stars and called it "Dickens done with love and affection". By 2025, Theatre Weekly was saying "year after year, it earns its place as one of London's most enchanting festive experiences" (5/5).

What the Reviews Praised

The music and the look of it. Carols and handbells run through the whole show. The Standard praised "some beautiful arrangements of carols" (4/5, 2017), and the Observer's Claire Armitstead described a theatre "transformed by designer Rob Howell into a lofty cathedral of bells and lanterns" (4/5, 2017). Time Out was still calling it "the most glittering bauble on London's Christmas stage" five years later (4/5, 2022). Those reviews describe the show's original layout. Since 2025 it's been In The Round, with the music and the carols kept.

The warmth. The production leans into the cosy, idealised Christmas, and most critics like it for that. Metro said "the joy of Warchus's production is the way it knowingly indulges precisely that same idealised image of Christmas" (4/5, 2022), and the Independent found "everything you might want from a theatrical adaptation" (4/5, 2017). If a traditional Christmas is what you're after, this is it.

The Scrooge. Each year's Scrooge is reviewed as a new performance, and the leads have done well. The Times called Paul Hilton "one of its best Scrooges" (4/5, 2025), and the Arts Desk said he "rises magnificently to the challenge" (4/5, 2025). The year before, the Times said "John Simm is tremendous" (5/5, 2024), and the i called Christopher Eccleston's "the best yet" (5/5, 2023). None of that praise is about Giles Terera, whose reviews come after press night.

The company. The Standard found "the whole cast is luminous" (4/5, 2025), and BroadwayWorld said "the whole cast glow with enthusiasm and goodwill" (4/5, 2022). Most of the company changes from year to year.

Where Reviews Were Mixed

Is it dark enough? This is the reservation that keeps coming back. The Telegraph said "what's frustratingly elusive is a sense of engulfing dread" (3/5, 2017), and the Standard thought it "could do with more notes of darkness" (4/5, 2018). Time Out gave five stars in 2018 and still felt Warchus could have "upped the chilly spookiness". In 2024 the Telegraph found the "customary stabbing potency doesn't hit home soon enough" (3/5). If you want a ghost story that frightens you, this one's gentler, which suits a family with younger children.

Is it getting old? By 2023 the Telegraph felt the show was "starting to creak", though it gave four stars and said Christopher Eccleston redeemed it. Two years later the Times, also at four, said "Tremendous. Again." If you've seen it several times, the new Scrooge is the thing that changes.

How sentimental is it? In 2017 the critics split on this. Time Out thought Thorne and Warchus "have been reluctant to fully indulge the sentimentality" of the story (3/5), while The Stage liked that the adaptation "acknowledges the unconvincing rapidity with which Scrooge redeems himself" (4/5). In 2018 the Times found it "so sumptuously staged that I feel a bit Scrooge-like for liking it rather than loving it" (3/5). If you want it as sweet as it can be, Time Out thought it could go further.

Is A Christmas Carol Right for You?

Book it for a family Christmas trip. It's suggested for ages 8 and up, it's about 2 hours with an interval, and the critics' main complaint, that it isn't scary enough, works in a younger audience's favour.

Book it if you love carols and a traditional Christmas. The music and the warmth are what the critics praise most years.

Book it if you've been before and want to see a new Scrooge. Every year has been reviewed as a fresh performance.

Think twice if you want a dark, frightening Dickens. The Telegraph has been asking for more dread since 2017.

These are reviews of past seasons, with different Scrooges and mostly different companies. Since 2025 the show has been In The Round, and Giles Terera's 2026 Scrooge has yet to be reviewed.

Not sure which date to go for? Call us on 020 7193 9050 and we'll help you choose.

Book A Christmas Carol Tickets

At The Old Vic, The Cut SE1 8NB, from Tuesday 10 November 2026 to Saturday 9 January 2027. It runs about 2 hours including a 20-minute interval, it's suggested for ages 8 and up, and tickets start from around £40. All-in pricing, so the price you see is what you pay.

A Christmas Carol tickets • Call us on 020 7193 9050

Sources

The Times (4/5, 2025; 5/5, 2024; 3/5, 2018) · The Standard (4/5, 2025; 4/5, 2018; 4/5, 2017) · The Arts Desk (4/5, 2025) · City AM (5/5, 2025) · BroadwayWorld (5/5, 2025; 4/5, 2022) · Theatre Weekly (5/5, 2025) · The Telegraph (3/5, 2024; 4/5, 2023; 3/5, 2017) · i (5/5, 2023) · Daily Mail (5/5, 2023) · Time Out (4/5, 2022; 5/5, 2018; 3/5, 2017) · Metro (4/5, 2022) · The Guardian (Michael Billington, 4/5, 2017) · The Observer (Claire Armitstead, 4/5, 2017) · The Independent (4/5, 2017) · The Stage (4/5, 2017)