The tragic story that inspired Christmas classic film The Snowman

Anyone who was brought up watching iconic Christmas film The Snowman will remember that it has an incredibly sad ending.

The festive classic tells the story of a little boy whose snowman comes to life and takes him on an adventure to the North Pole.

It has been a mainstay of the Christmas TV cycle since its release in 1982 – but its ending is far from cheery.

Creator Raymond Briggs’ own life served as a large part of the inspiration for the film, and he suffered a lot of tragedy.

Over the course of three years, Briggs lost both of his parents and then his wife, Jean, to leukaemia.

Raymond and Jean were childless when the latter died, after they had decided not to have kids because she suffered from schizophrenia.

Briggs later told The Telegraph: “That was a jolly time. That was when I contemplated suicide. Well, only theoretically.

“I didn’t do anything serious about it. I just thought, well, ‘what’s the point? You’ve got no mum, no dad, no wife. All gone... let’s get out.’

“You have a bit of good news, like being given a new job and the first thing you want to do is rush home and tell your mum and dad or wife, but you’ve got no one to tell."

Briggs pictured in 2016John Phillips/Getty Images for BFI

And it was his grief that caused Briggs not to give The Snowman a happy ending, instead having the character melt at the end of the film, leaving the boy alone.

He said: “It’s all a rather ghastly scene, with the snowman’s eyes and scarf lying there in the slush, rather horrific, all a bit odd.

“I don’t believe in happy endings. Children have got to face death sooner or later.

“Granny and grandpa die, dogs die, cats die, gerbils and… hamsters: all die like flies. So there’s no point avoiding it."

The author’s life remained touched by grief well into old age, after meeting his new partner Liz, who went on to die from Parkinson’s disease in 2015.

Briggs said in a later interview: “Everyone always says it’s such a family time. Well, that’s all right if you’ve got a family but a lot of people haven’t.

“If you’re my age then the whole generation ahead of you has gone, and if you’re an only child, as I was, you’ve got no brothers and sisters.

“If you’ve not had any children yourself then there’s nobody. Not a soul.”

Briggs died last year, aged 88.

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