#caroltown

PREMISE: Welcome to Caroltown. It’s a place where the merry gentleman you see on the corner will stick a knife in your back, the ringing you hear in the distance isn’t silver bells, it’s police sirens, and heaven and nature refuse to sing because they ain’t stool pigeons. In a city populated entirely by characters from Christmas carols, you can never be sure who to trust, and everyone has a nice list, a naughty list, and a hit list. Dive deep into the seamy underbelly of the city they call “The Big Figgy Pudding” in this dark and gritty Claymation series.

CHARACTERS: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has a very shiny nose… that he keeps sticking into trouble. Rudolph quit the sleigh team to become a detective, but the job has taken its toll. Now he’s a burnout with a belly full of wassail, and the only thing rockin’ around his Christmas Tree is his obsession with one unsolved case that he can’t make go down in history: the mysterious disappearance of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve five years ago.
         Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen… for clues. He was Rudolph’s partner and best friend before being gunned down in the street by some tiny tots with their eyes all aglow with murderous rage. His last words as he died in Rudolph’s arms were, “I’ll be home for Christmas… If only it could be” (S06.E11 – “Don We Now Our Guns and Badges”).
         All Commissioner Mariah Carey wants for Christmas is you…. Behind bars. So go ahead, make her wish come true, punk.

NOTABLE EPISODE: On the first day of Christmas, Mr. Partridge is found dead in his pear tree. The next day, Ronnie and Rita the Turtledoves turn up in an abandoned warehouse missing their heads. A serial killer known only as True Love is on the loose, and Caroltown is in a panic: The three French Hens have boarded themselves up in their coop with automatic weapons, the five anthropomorphic golden rings have skipped town, and the ten Lords are a-leaping too much to be brought into protective custody. It’s a race against time before the killer strikes again, and the only way Rudolph will be able to crack the case is if he can get his best informants, Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan, out of the drunk tank and keep them from bickering long enough to spill the beans about the murders (S04.E24 – “12 Days Of Killmas”).

CATCHPHRASE: “Forget it, Rudolph. It’s Caroltown.” / “Bag and tag these merry gentlemen.” / “Merry Christmas!”

TRIVIA/MISCELLANY: Viewers complained that Caroltown was not particularly Christmas-y.