Writer Richard Curtis sat down one Christmas determined to write something cheerful. "My family and I had just watched an Agatha Christie, during which two people were stabbed and one was forcibly injected with heroin," says the Blackadder creator. "By the end of it we were totally miserable."
Determined to provide something happier for Christmas 1991 he came up with the story of an out-of-work art dealer who polishes an antique lamp and finds himself face to face with a genie, played by Lenny Henry. "He doesn't do any of that 'Your wish is my command' cobblers," says Henry. "He's a mean genie who didn't want to go into the lamp in the first place." Watch out for appearances by Bob Geldof, Gary Lineker and Melvyn Bragg.
An Attaboy/Talkback production for BBCtv