British Embassy releases annual Christmas message to Britons in the UAE

Festive video based on A Christmas Carol and starring Lego encourages visitors to acquaint themselves with local laws and celebrate respectfully

Mr Beaver-Rouge meets the ghost of Christmas Present in Dubai who shows him how all nationalities celebrate the festive season together. British Embassy

The British Embassy has released its annual Christmas message to Brits reminding them to respect UAE customs over the festive period in the form of a stop motion animation version of Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.

The video, titled A Consular Christmas Carol and staring Lego figurines, was posted to the embassy's Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels. It tells the tale of Edward Beaver-Rouge – a name loosely rhyming with Ebenezer Scrooge – a Lego Briton who is about to spend his first Christmas in Dubai.

Mr Beaver-Rouge, who previously lived a life of excess in the UK, is visited by three ghosts who take him on a journey through both the UK and Dubai to show him the consequences of his behaviour, should he decide not to respect local rules.

“Edward, your Christmases have been full of excess. The laws and customs are different in the UK, but even there you took it too far,” he is told by the Ghost of Christmas Past. Mr Beaver-Rouge then witnesses himself on a previous night out that involves being rebuffed by a Lego woman, before falling over in the street and eventually sleeping in a doorway.

The Ghost of Christmas Present then shows the young Briton how people of all nationalities celebrate Christmas in harmony in the UAE, before the Ghost of Christmas Future – played by Darth Vader – breathily alludes to a dark future should he not reform.

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British Ambassador to the UAE, Philip Parham said: “With more than 100,000 British people living here and another 1.5 million visiting each year, there are likely to be a significant number planning to enjoy Christmas and the New Year in the UAE. It has become a tradition for the embassy to find a fun and festive way to remind everyone that … it is important to familiarise ourselves with the different laws and customs.”

Previous Christmas messages from the UK embassy have included a desert-based mannequin challenge and a poem containing travel advice released in installments and based on another seasonal classic, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.