Now we've digested our turkey, it's time to take stock of the
annual Doctor Who Christmas Special, once again written by Steven
Moffat - and this year featuring a glut of knowing references to
the World's Greatest Detective…
Please note that while this review contains no explicit plot
spoilers, there is discussion of characterisation and thematic
material.
Following the pattern of the eleventh Doctor's previous
Christmas specials, this year's entry once again draws inspiration
from a festively tinged tale from another author. Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol provided the basis for the special of
the same name, while C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe was reconfigured as The Doctor, the Widow and the
Wardrobe. This year, Steven Moffat takes a perennial British
animated favourite and lends it a malevolent science fiction twist.
Raymond Briggs' The Snowman was published as a book in
1978, and screened its animated form for the first time in 1982 -
with the sequel airing in the UK on December 24 2012, the day
before this Doctor Who special. However, The Snowmen takes
the initial conceit of a lonely boy building a snowman that comes
to magical life and spins it to far darker ends…
Graced with a new and pleasingly retro main title but
intentionally slow to start, the episode finds The Doctor (Matt
Smith) segregated in self-imposed exile after the loss of Amy and
Rory, Scrooge like in his manner, and in quite notable contrast to
the special of two years ago. Perhaps more whimsical than we've
ever seen him, the TARDIS - complete with a newly redesigned
interior - is parked on top of an artificial cloud above Victorian
London, accessible only by a winding metal spiral staircase. The
Doctor has retreated to be near the only friends he has left - the
Silurian detective Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her human
companion Jenny (Catrin Stuart), and the Sontaran medic Strax (Dan
Starkey); all veterans of the Battle of Demon's Run in Series Six's
A Good Man Goes to War - but the Time Lord has little
interest in engaging with them. It's only the appearance of Clara
(Jenna-Louise Coleman) that brings him fully out of his shell again
to face the growing number of mysterious living snowmen that are
appearing in the British capital.
The period setting is suitably and classically Christmas, and
has already seen several of the previous Doctor Who specials take
place in it. But this one in particular, set in 1892, allows the
huge Sherlock Holmes fan within Steven Moffat to plant his tongue
very firmly in his cheek, and drop in a bounty of Holmes
references. Almost from the off, it's noted that Holmes is
fictional, but in the reality of Doctor Who Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
has based both him and Doctor John Watson off a real life pair of
detectives - it's just that they're actually a lizard lady from the
dawn of time and her wife! Later on The Doctor pays a visit to the
home of the antagonist Dr Simeon (Richard E. Grant), gaining entry
to the premises under the identity of Sherlock Holmes and decked
out in full Basil Rathbone regalia, dropping references in the
dialogue all while Murray Gold's score pays explicit homage to
David Arnold and Michael Price's work on our beloved modern day
incarnation of the detective. As an aside, Raymond Briggs and Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle aren't the only authors to take a nod in the
script, with a repeated reference to the Stark family mantra
"Winter is Coming" from George R.R. Martin's fantasy series
Game of Thrones being made in Dr Simeon's dialogue.
Steven Moffat gives us a twisting narrative that is oddly light
on actual plot, instead placing his focus on the aftermath of
previous events from the main series while also - just about -
allowing the hour to stand alone as a Christmas special. It's
suitably festive but also slightly complex, with an unexpected
plunge at the mid-point picking up the thread left at the beginning
of Series seven with Oswin's appearance in Asylum of the
Daleks, and then deepening it come the close. As is often the
case with stories that feature The Doctor alone, it is also a story
about rumination and focusing on things and people you have lost,
something that often happens amongst the merriment of Christmas Day
- and aptly it is always a community or family that can shake you
out of such a mind-set, especially if you unexpectedly find
yourself with a new addition to the crowd. While Doctor Who is
never a series that could ever stagnate, the arrival of
Jenna-Louise Coleman gives the hour a different kind of spark than
previous companions, and we're definitely looking forward to seeing
Steven Moffat explain her existence going forward. The exact nature
of Clara Oswin Oswald remains as mysterious as ever, and will
clearly form the backbone of the remainder of series seven, airing
in spring 2013.
Read our Sherlock related review of Doctor Who Series
7.0.
