The most significant newcomer, and perhaps Mr. Merchant's biggest gamble, is the director, Mr. Callow, a stage director and actor who was still trying to establish himself as a screen actor.
On stage Callow made his name in the late 70s with performances in Brecht's Arturo Ui and Shaffer's Amadeus.
"It could push up global asset prices and commodities," which could fuel inflation, and "the E.C.B. is likely to be more concerned that the Fed could end up pushing the dollar down too far at this stage," Mr. Callow said.
Just like Dickens himself, who used to begin his legendary public readings with a version of A Christmas Carol, Callow is alone on stage from "humbug" to "God bless us, every one", conjuring along the way ghosts, the Cratchit family, the transformation of Scrooge, the prize turkey and all the rest.
It's a handsomely made film, with a very game lead performance from Johnson, hampered perhaps only by the fact that Lennon is really a rather callow figure at this stage; unlike, say, the more interesting, more grownup Lennon that Ian Hart played in Iain Softley's 1994 film Backbeat.
With the house lights still up, Callow wanders on to a stage that is cluttered with books and props, and begins to chat about Wagner.
Callow, J. A. & Callow, M. E. Biofilms in Antifouling Compounds.
But in effect the celebrations have already begun: this year Callow has performed two rarely staged Dickens stories, "Dr Marigold" and "Mr Chops", and is currently appearing at the Arts Theatre, London, in a stage version of A Christmas Carol.
Second, on foreign policy, Cameron is a Blairite, who underestimates how much we now mistrust callow politicians stomping around the world stage.
Callow had found his way to the stage after leaving school in London in 1967.
Acclaimed as an author and director as well as a stage, film and television actor, Callow is probably almost as well known now as Charles Dickens, from his touring one-man shows based on the novelist's own barnstorming readings.
