The Box of Delights is a strange and strangely charming series. It has something of the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe about it—not the major Hollywood productions of course, but the old BBC The Chronicles of Narnia series.

It doesn’t make a ton of sense. There’s something about a magic box that lets you travel through time (and picture frames) and someone immortal and some villains that fly around in a car with wings kidnapping vicars and burgling houses. And somehow, it all takes place around Christmas, making this a Christmas series in a bizarre way.

That fact that these things seem only vaguely related in the narrative of the series hardly matters though as each episode meanders from one unexpected event and odd character to another. It’s like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe if C.S. Lewis had written it while on an acid trip during his winter holiday.

The opening for the series certainly sets you up for some weirdness, but not to worry! The Box of Delights is neither as weird nor as scary as the video below.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you can get this series on DVD in the States. It’s a damn shame, because I’d certainly recommend buying it. But, fortunately or unfortunately, someone’s put the whole thing on YouTube, if you’re inclined toward the free option.

Final Rating: WATCH