What makes a great 'Scrooge'?

By Miles Parks,

Elena Burnett, Barrie Hardymon

Published December 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM EST

Elena Burnett and Barrie Hardymon on why Ebenezer Scrooge keeps returning to the screen, and what makes a great Christmas Carol adaptation endure.

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All Things Considered

Miles Parks

Miles Parks is a reporter on NPR's Washington Desk. He covers voting and elections, and also reports on breaking news.

See stories by Miles Parks

Elena Burnett

Barrie Hardymon

Barrie Hardymon is the Senior Editor at NPR's Weekend Edition, and the lead editor for books. You can hear her on the radio talking everything from Middlemarch to middle grade novels, and she's also a frequent panelist on NPR's podcasts It's Been A Minute and Pop Culture Happy Hour. She went to Juilliard to study viola, ended up a cashier at the Strand, and finally got a degree from Johns Hopkins' Writing Seminars which qualified her solely for work in public radio. She lives and reads in Washington, DC.