Insomniacs and early risers might have asked themselves what Chris Evans was doing, whizzing around the town in his red sports car in the darkness of the small hours of Thursday 19th November, hotly pursued by a film crew — all fully socially distanced, of course!
He was surreptitiously switching on Marlow’s stunning Christmas lights, creating a rather different version of Marlow’s annual celebrity Switch On event. Chris announced his nighttime activities live on 19th November on his Virgin Radio breakfast show, to the surprise of the residents of the town, who were delighted to see the now-famous lights display that day.
A short film of the radio presenter, with his son, Noah, switching on the lights from various locations, can be seen here: https://we.tl/t-1NYB6RMpFC. In the film Chris talks of his love of the town and living here, and he and Mayor Richard Scott wish everyone a very Happy Christmas. At the close of the film, Marlow Bridge is briefly illuminated, thanks to lighting company Lumatech.
“We’re hugely grateful to Chris for helping us to switch on our renowned Christmas lights this year,” the Mayor said. “We were sorry to have to cancel the live event, but hopefully this will make up for it. The team has done a fantastic job in creating the film, and we very much hope people will enjoy the results.”
On behalf of the Council, the Mayor expressed his gratitude to Brand Events and their production team for their hard work in creating the film, and to all the very generous sponsors without whom the Christmas lights would not be possible.