Out of the Doctor Who loop? Here's a spoiler-free guide to what you need to know for the Christmas special, tangerines and all....
Doctor Who Christmas special: what you need to know
Peter Capaldi stars in his first Doctor Who Christmas special Photo: BBC
By
Catherine Gee
19 Dec 2014
The Telegraph
Steven Moffat's "Whoniverse" can seem an awfully dense place to the average outsider. All this talk of Tardises, sonic screwdrivers, Cybermen and Master/Mistresses is a lot to wrap your head around. But the Christmas special tends to mean an episode that the casual post-dinner channel-hopper might try.
Unfortunately for both fans and novices alike, last year's special,
The Time of the Doctor, made very little sense at all, leaving more viewers flummoxed than applauding. As well as seeing the departure of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, and the arrival of the now-lauded Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth, there were enough self-referential mentions to enable a game of
Doctor Who bingo.
We can only hope that this year's offering, Last Christmas, will be an easier to digest affair. However, the last episode of series eight,
Death in Heaven, left a tangled web of loose ends.
We last saw the Doctor and Clara (Jenna Coleman) walking their separate ways, having both told a big lie so that the other could be free to explore their own path. According to Clara, she and boyfriend Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) were going to live happily ever after as he had successfully found his way back from the dead. According to the Doctor, he had found the missing planet Gallifrey and was going to return to his long-lost home.
In fact, Danny was just dead and the Doctor had not found Gallifrey at all. So both were just alone – although not entirely alone in the case of Clara. Though it has not yet been mentioned in the programme,
clues point to her being pregnant with Danny's child (she met a time-travelling descendent of a currently childless Danny in an earlier episode, how else could he exist if she's not?).
So this is how we arrive at Last Christmas. It's set in a bleak, futuristic landscape covered in the ubiquitous Christmassy snow. Shaun of the Dead star Nick Frost is playing Santa Claus – the real Santa Claus, although that doesn't exempt him from the Doctor's withering looks.
In fact, it’s the first time in the TV programme’s 51 years that the Doctor and Santa have come face to face. And, amid persistent rumours of her departure, Coleman is back for now. What we don't yet know is if she will be leaving on Christmas Day or if we'll be seeing more of her in 2015.
The episode is an oddball mix of Santa Claus and the film Alien, with the group finding themselves pitted against face-sucking aliens called the Dream Crabs. Speaking at a special screening earlier this week,
Steven Moffat said that the episode includes some really scary scenes but that children live in a scary world anyway ("Imagine living in a world where everyone was taller than you") and find being scared fun.
After last year's disappointing festive special, Moffat needs a win here. And 2014 has certainly been an excellent year for Doctor Who.
But if it does turn out to be another head-scratcher, then we recommend seeking out last year's 50th anniversary special
The Day of the Doctor, which was a much more satisfying – and at times emotional – slice of a sci-fi fun.
Five things to look out for:
• The episode guest stars Michael Troughton, son of Patrick who played the Second Doctor from 1966 to 1969 – so keep the eyes and ears open for some potential early Who nerdery there.
• Many of the publicity pictures from the episode show the characters holding a tangerine, which may or may not prove to be significant.
• Dan Starkey, who plays the recurring character Strax, is guest starring in a different role that doesn't require any prosthetics, instead appearing as one of a pair of elves.
• As suggested by the publicity pictures, poor Clara does actually spend the whole episode in her nightie.
• Moffat has stuffed numerous film references, both Christmas and otherwise, into the episode. See how many you can spot.
Doctor Who: Last Christmas is on BBC One on Christmas Day at 6.15pm
Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Jenna Coleman stars in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Nick Frost as Santa Claus in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Nathan Mcmullen and Dan Starkey as Wolf and Ian in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Michael Troughton - son of Second Doctor, Patrick - guest stars in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Maureen Beattie guest stars as Professor Fiona Bellows in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Faye Marsay in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Coronation Street actress Natalie Gumede guest stars in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Nick Frost and Peter Capaldi star in Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Doctor Who Christmas special: what you need to know - Telegraph
