Matthew Bourne's Christmas

TX: Sunday 25th December, 9pm, More4

For 25 years, Matthew Bourne has been setting theatres and audiences around the world alight with his adaptations of some of the world's best-known and loved ballets and operas. From Bizet's Carmen, imaginatively reset as a dance piece in an American garage - The Car Man - to the dazzling, award-winning Swan Lake, he has a string of critically-acclaimed hit shows that continue to tour worldwide.

This new Christmas ballet film, starting More4's Around the World in Dance Special on Christmas Day, is conceived by Bourne himself and directed by his long standing film collaborator and award-winning dance film director Ross MacGibbon. The film celebrates Bourne's power to imaginatively transform ballet, taking dance and dancers off the stage into studio, bringing together projections, animation, and an intimate shooting style to produce a distinctive new way of presenting dance on screen. For those who know Bourne's stage work there will be a chance to spot extracts from many of his biggest hits but for audiences less familiar with his work this is simply a journey through a series of magical worlds where stories are told through dance.

Featuring extracts from many of Matthew's award winning productions including; Swan Lake, Nutcracker!, Cinderella and The Car Man - there are also dances taken from iconic early works Infernal Galop, Spitfire and Town and Country. Featuring literary and big screen nods too with a duet from the sexy Olivier award winning Play Without Words (based on Joseph Losey's The Servant) produced for the National Theatre; Edward Scissorhands - adapted for the stage in collaboration with Tim Burton and the film's composer Danny Elfman, as well as a glimpse into the contorted, cursed world of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray.......

Executive Producer: Fiona Morris
Director: Ross Macgibbon
Prod co: Leopard Films