Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol – Christmas special 2010

“That ship needs to land, and it can’t land unless a very bad man decides to turn good just in time for Christmas Day …” Back in the wilds of 2005, when it was by no means clear that the revived series would be a hit, let alone get a Christmas special, the Doctor Who production team might have missed a trick. In The Unquiet Dead, the third episode of series one, the Doctor and Rose met Charles Dickens, on Christmas Eve, and were visited by ghosts. It was the most perfect Who Christmas special you could imagine – except, of course, it wasn’t. Instead, we found ourselves on the road to the giant Cyberking stomping all over London. That is, until now. A Christmas Carol is so audacious that if it wasn’t done so well it might amount to blasphemy. On a human colony sometime around the year 4000, the Doctor must make Michael Gambon’s Scrooge-like miser Kazran Sardick mend his ways and prevent the crashing of the doomed starliner carrying Amy, Rory and 4002 others. Finding the obvious parallels irresistible, the Doctor decides to use the Tardis to play out his old mucker Dickens’ most famous story. And that, basically, is it. Moffat scripts are always ingenious, but A Christmas Carol is a remarkably small-scale caper. There’s no malevolent alien invasion force – just Michael Gambon perfectly cast as a lonely old man with a grudge against the world in general and Christmas in particular. Because we need a behind-the-sofa sequence there’s the flying shark, but “Clive” (as she was dubbed by the production team to ward off spoilers) turns out not to be a baddie after all. And while we don’t want to belittle the lives of 4004 people, the stakes are remarkably low – no threat of enslavement of a population, no nuclear Armageddon circling the Earth, no madmen flirting with the end of reality. Which feels right – because Christmas isn’t really about those things. It’s about the kind of warm and shameless sentimentality in which this episode deals, a time where it always snows and love always saves the day. A Christmas Carol riffs magnificently and faithfully on the beauty and simplicity of its source material. At Christmas people always talk about the Greatest Story Ever Told in other terms, but this is a sumptuous triumph from start to finish. “Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I call him, Jeff.” If you thought the Who specials were Christmassy in the past, then even discounting the Dickens stuff this was off the scale. The Doctor pops into Kazran’s house down the chimney. There’s a shark-powered sleigh ride through the chimneys of Sardicktown. There’s a wonderful peasants’ Christmas dinner where the Doctor proves himself hopeless at card tricks. And, of course, Father Christmas is real and our hero is mates with him. I just hope that for next year’s special we get to meet Jeff for ourselves. “Do you know, in 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.” The stunt casting sirens were sounded when Katherine Jenkins was announced as Abigail in her acting debut. And a wag would venture that all that was really required of her was to play a lovely Welsh girl with a wonderful voice, something she did beautifully. But the whole thing would have failed if the love story wasn’t credible. As Abigail was awoken every Christmas Eve – wowed by outer space, Egypt, Rome, Sydney, Paris, California and beyond, holding on to her terrible secret – Jenkins proved she had the chops to melt hearts. And the final payoff, as the mended Kazran admitted that it was now finally time for Christmas Day, was as effective a climax as the showy ones of the past. I watched this sober in a screening theatre in mid-December and was welling up. If you’ve just watched this drunk and high on chocolate, I pity your tear ducts, I really do. “Marilyn! Get your coat!” In a story heavy on romance, the Doctor once again proves himself hopeless with women, but still ends up inadvertently marrying Marilyn Monroe. Also fab: the moment in Young Kazran’s bedroom where the psychic paper is finally shorted by a lie – “I’m officially recognised as a mature and responsible adult!” Honeymoon Watch Are Amy and Rory Pond taking the universe’s longest honeymoon? In SJA story Death Of The Doctor they were off on a honeymoon planet (a planet on a honeymoon, it married an asteroid). Here they’re engaging in saucy WPC/Gladiator roleplay in the honeymoon suite of the doomed Starliner. And next the Doctor promises a moon made of honey (not made of real honey, and alive, and a bit carnivorous, but it has beautiful views). We trust they’ll be suitably rested in time for series six. Talking of which ... “I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool!” If there’s one thing more exciting than the Christmas special, it’s the coming-soon trailer – and here was a doozy. We got our first glimpse of the US two-parter, with the Doctor in the Oval Office and a gun-toting River Song (yes!) queening through the boulders of Utah. Then there was a chained and bearded Doctor, a glimpse of an Ood, what looked like a Clockwork Robot, and Suranne Jones in the Neil Gaiman episode. All ludicrously exciting. But for now: well done everyone, well done, we’re halfway out of the dark. Season 2 Episode 1: The Robot Revolution Episode 2: Lux Episode 3: The Well Episode 4: Lucky Day Episode 5: The Story and the Engine Episode 6: The Interstellar Song Contest Episode 7: Wish World Episode 8: The Reality War Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2: Space Babies / The Devil's Chord Episode 3: Boom Episode 4: 73 Yards Episode 5: Dot and Bubble Episode 6: Rogue Episode 7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday Episode 8: Empire of Death Christmas special: Joy to the World 60th anniversary specials Special 1: The Star Beast Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder Special 3: The Giggle Christmas special: The Church on Ruby Road Flux / Series 13 Chapter one: The Halloween Apocalypse Chapter two: War of the Sontarans Chapter three: Once, Upon Time Chapter four: Village of the Angels Chapter five: Survivors of the Flux Chapter six: The Vanquishers New Year's Special: Eve of the Daleks Spring special: Legend of the Sea Devils BBC centenary special: The Power of the Doctor Series 12 Episode 1: Spyfall part one Episode 2: Spyfall part two Episode 3: Orphan 55 Episode 4: Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror Episode 5: Fugitive of the Judoon Episode 6: Praxeus Episode 7: Can You Hear Me? Episode 8: The Haunting of Villa Diodati Episode 9: Ascension of the Cybermen Episode 10: The Timeless Children New Year's special: Revolution of the Daleks Series 11 Episode 1: The Woman Who Fell to Earth Episode 2: The Ghost Monument Episode 3: Rosa Episode 4: Arachnids in the UK Episode 5: The Tsuangra Condundrum Episode 6: Demons of the Punjab Episode 7: Kerblam! Episode 8: The Witchfinders Episode 9: It Takes You Away Episode 10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos New Year's special: Resolution Series 10 Episode 1: The Pilot Episode 2: Smile Episode 3: Thin Ice Episode 4: Knock Knock Episode 5: Oxygen Episode 6: Extremis Episode 7: The Pyramid at the End of the World Episode 8: The Lie of the Land Episode 9: Empress of Mars Episode 10: The Eaters of Light Episode 11: World Enough and Time Episode 12: The Doctor Falls 2017 Christmas special: Twice Upon A Time Series 9 Episode 1: The Magician's Apprentice Episode 2: The Witch's Familiar Episode 3: Under The Lake Episode 4: Before The Flood Episode 5: The Girl Who Died Episode 6: The Woman Who Lived Episode 7: The Zygon Invasion Episode 8: The Zygon Inversion Episode 9: Sleep No More Episode 10: Face The Raven Episode 11: Heaven Sent Episode 12: Hell Bent 2015 Christmas special: The Husbands of River Song 2016 Christmas special: The Return of Doctor Mysterio Series 8 Episode 1: Deep Breath Episode 2: Into The Dalek Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood Episode 4: Listen Episode 5: Time Heist Episode 6: The Caretaker Episode 7: Kill The Moon Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express Episode 9: Flatline Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night Episode 11: Dark Water Episode 12: Death In Heaven 2014 Christmas special: Last Christmas Series 7 Episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy Episode 4: The Power of Three Episode 5: The Angels Take Manhatten 2012 Christmas special: The Snowmen Episode 6: The Bells of Saint John Episode 7: The Rings of Akhaten Episode 8: Cold War Episode 9: Hide Episode 10: Journey to the Centre of the Tardis Episode 11: The Crimson Horror Episode 12: Nightmare in Silver Episode 13: The Name of the Doctor 50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor 2013 Christmas special: The Time of the Doctor Series 6 Episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut Episode 2: Day of the Moon Episode 3: The Curse of the Black Spot Episode 4: The Doctor's Wife Episode 5: The Rebel Flesh Episode 6: The Almost People Episode 7: A Good Man Goes To War Episode 8: Let's Kill Hitler Episode 9: Night Terrors Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited Episode 11: The God Complex Episode 12: Closing Time Episode 13: The Wedding of River Song 2011 Christmas special: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe Series 5 Episode 1: The Eleventh Hour Episode 2: The Beast Below Episode 3: Victory of the Daleks Episode 4: The Time of Angels Episode 5: Flesh and Stone Episode 6: The Vampires of Venice Episode 7: Amy's Choice Episode 8: The Hungry Earth Episode 9: Cold Blood Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor Episode 11: The Lodger Episode 12: The Pandorica Opens Episode 13: The Big Bang 2010 Christmas special: A Christmas Carol