 Written by head writer, Steven Moffat, this one hour-long festive story is the sixth story of Season Thirty Three (New Series 7) and is the eighth Christmas special since the show’s revival in 2005. It stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman as his new companion, Clara Oswald, following the departure of Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) in the previous story.
Like the previous two Christmas specials, this story takes its name and some of its themes from a famous piece of literature, albeit altering the title slightly.
This story, set in the Victorian era, reintroduces Clara, who first appeared in "Asylum of the Daleks", albeit under the name 'Oswin'. The production team requested that the press and fans who attended advanced screenings keep Jenna-Louise Coleman's appearance a secret until "Asylum of the Daleks" was broadcast; the effort was ultimately successful.
Jenna-Louise Coleman was cast because of her chemistry with Matt Smith. She auditioned for the role of Clara, not Oswin from "Asylum of the Daleks". The concept of the two characters being the same only occurred to Steven Moffat whilst casting for Clara. Matt Smith has said that Clara was different from her predecessor Amy Pond, which allowed the audience to see a different side of The Doctor. Steven Moffat felt that the introduction of a new companion made ‘the show feel different’ and brought the story to ‘a new beginning’ with a different person meeting The Doctor.
This is the first full-length story since the Tenth Doctor’s era not to feature Karen Gillan. But familiar faces include: The sword-wielding Silurian Madame Vastra (Neve Mclntosh), her capable young friend Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), and penitent Sontaran nurse Strax (Dan Starkey). The Doctor’s three friends were previously seen in the 2011 story "A Good Man Goes to War".
All three, who also reprised their roles in the prequels, were considered popular characters from "A Good Man Goes to War" with some fans hoping for a spinoff series, but while Steven Moffat stated then he had no time to work on such a show, instead, he decided to bring them back in the main series.
This story guest stars Richard E Grant and Sir Ian McKellen as the villains. Richard E Grant, who plays villain Dr Simeon, is best known for his role as Withnail in the 1987 film Withnail and I, opposite Paul McGann (who played the Eighth Doctor). Richard E Grant has also previously played The Doctor on two occasions; as an alternative Tenth Doctor in the Comic Relief spoof charity special "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death" in 1999, and as an alternative Ninth Doctor in the animated story "Scream of the Shalka" in 2003 which had been intended to be a continuation of the show before it was revived in 2005. "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death", which was also written by Steven Moffat, also starred Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent as other alternative Doctors. Matt Smith has commented that Richard E Grant was ‘born to be a Who villain. He pitches it on that perfect level and tone’.
Sir Ian McKellen provides the voice of The Great Intelligence, the disembodied malevolent force The Doctor first encountered in the 1967 Second Doctor story The Abominable Snowmen and he previously encountered in the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Web of Fear". This later confrontation is referenced in this story.
Also appearing in this story is Tom Ward, who plays the part of Captain Latimer, previously played Harry Cunningham in BBC One's Silent Witness. He also starred in the BBC's adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World in 2001 and played science-fiction author, HG Wells in the 2001 TV mini-series The Infinite Worlds of HG Wells.
Liz White, who plays the part of Alice, was a regular in both series of BBC One drama Life on Mars in 2006 and 2007, in which she played Annie Cartwright. The following year she starred in the series The Fixer as Jess Mercer and more recently she could be seen as Jennet in the chilling The Woman in Black.
Captain Latimer’s son and daughter - Digby and Francesca - were played by real-life brother and sister Joseph and Ellie Darcey-Alden. This is also the second Christmas special in a row with a character named Digby, after the unseen Uncle Digby in the 2011 Christmas special "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe".
This is the third story that has been directed by Saul Metzstein for this season. He previously directed "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", that was written by Chris Chibnall, and "A Town Called Mercy", that was written by Toby Whithouse.
Writer Steven Moffat has stated that he wanted an ‘epic’ quality to this Christmas special. He compared the withdrawn Doctor seen at the onset of the story to that of the first appearances of the First Doctor (played by William Hartnell) in 1963 and the Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) in 2005. He also attributed the idea of a retired Doctor to a plot proposed by Douglas Adams in the 1970s, but rejected by the production team at the time.
This Christmas Special was originally intended to be produced in the fourth production block of the series and be the first story Jenna-Louise Coleman shot as her character; however it did not begin filming until the week of 6th August 2012 after Jenna-Louise Coleman had worked on later stories while Steven Moffat was writing this story. The read-through took place on the 2nd August 2012.
This was the first Christmas special to be filmed in BBC Wales' new Roath Lock studios. The scenes featuring Jenna-Louise Coleman and several guest stars in a Victorian setting were filmed in Newport, Wales, while Jenna-Louise Coleman and Matt Smith were also spotted filming in Bristol. The park and Georgian buildings featured are in Portland Square, Bristol, where filming took place overnight on 21st – 22nd August 2012. Other locations for filming include Treowen Manor, which was used for filming in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Tooth and Claw".
Clara Oswald's introduction to the TARDIS introduced two novel effects for the show. The first was a single-shot camera tracking from Clara's point of view, from a few feet away from the TARDIS to its interior, with the implication of the TARDIS's trans-dimensional nature shown to the audience. This was a shot that has been postulated throughout Doctor Who's production history, as documented in the Doctor Who: Thirty Years in the TARDIS special, but only first to be realised in this story. In the following shot, the camera does a complete circle of the TARDIS console, an effect not seen since the early days of the show. Director Saul Metzstein wanted to include this shot to further emphasise the ‘bigger on the inside than the outside’ nature of the time machine.
However, upon first entering The Doctor's TARDIS, Clara is heard to describe it as being ‘smaller on the outside’ rather than ‘larger on the inside’ - which The Doctor describes as being a first. Clara then asks if it has a kitchen (another first). Clara is then heard to mention her fondness for soufflés puzzling The Doctor as Oswin Oswald, who The Doctor encountered in "Asylum of the Daleks", also talked about making soufflés.
Clara is given a test by Madame Vastra to ask The Doctor why he should help in one word. She chooses ‘pond’ – referring to the frozen pond in the front of Captain Latimer’s mansion – not realising that this is in fact the surname of The Doctor’s former companion Amy Pond. It was this that convinced The Doctor to finally investigate the snow. In order to convey the emotional effect this word has on The Doctor, during the scene in which he hears it he is wearing the reading glasses Amy left him with at the close of "The Angels Take Manhattan".
It therefore appears that The Doctor has kept Amy Pond's reading glasses, and he seems to use them as his ‘brainy specs’, as related between the Fifth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor in the 2007 Children in Need special scene "Time Crash".
As well as the obvious reference to Amy Pond this story contains several other signs that could be interpreted as more oblique allusions to former companions. The pub where we discover Clara is called The Rose and Crown which brings to mind Rose Tyler and Donna Noble (where ‘Crown’ being suggestive of ‘nobility’) and the Ironmongers that is glimpsed is called J.P. Jameson & Sons. Leela - the Fourth Doctor’s companion - was played by Louise Jameson.
Strax's death, in the Battle of Demon's Run that occurred in "A Good Man Goes to War", is stated by The Doctor as having been reversed (‘He gave his life for a friend once. Another friend brought him back’), but the circumstances of how this occurred are not explained in full.
Strax still has confusion over the difference between human females and human males as he did in "A Good Man Goes to War". Another Sontaran, Linx, was initially confused when he encountered Sarah Jane Smith in the 1973 Third Doctor story "The Time Warrior".
It is revealed that Madame Vastra has a telephone that can connect to the phone in The Doctor's TARDIS.
The Second Doctor previously encountered The Great Intelligence in the 1967 story "The Abominable Snowmen", that was set in the 1930s, and the 1968 story "The Web of Fear") which may have been set in the 1960s or 1970s (depending on one's view of the UNIT dating controversy). In both these stories, The Great Intelligence uses robot Yeti as its physical presence.
The events of "The Web of Fear" are alluded to by The Doctor in "The Snowmen" when he is seen showing The Great Intelligence a lunchbox with a map of the London Underground, circa 1967 (and so an anachronism in 1892). In "The Web of Fear", which was filmed in 1967 and 1968, The Great Intelligence lures The Doctor to a trap in the London Underground.
However, in this story The Great Intelligence, on seeing the London Underground map design on the tin, is heard to state ‘I do not understand these markings’. The Doctor is then heard to remark that the London Underground is a ‘key strategic weakness in metropolitan living’, referring to (and possibly setting in motion) the future Yeti attack on London via the Underground. In this respect from The Great Intelligence's perspective, "The Snowmen" occurs before the two Second Doctor Yeti stories and several elements from this story could be seen as establishing the origin for the Intelligence and explains its knowledge of the London Underground.
The Great Intelligence has also previously appeared in the Reeltime Pictures direct-to-video films Downtime and the Virgin Books' The Missing Adventures novel "Millennial Rites".
Dr Simeon posits that Doctor Doyle is basing his stories in The Strand Magazine on the exploits of Madame Vastra, a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes. The Doctor later uses the alias 'Sherlock Holmes' to gain entrance to Dr Simeon's house, bearing the deerstalker and magnifying glass associated with the character. Steven Moffat is also the co-creator of the BBC series Sherlock, a contemporary update of Arthur Conan Doyle's works, for which Matt Smith auditioned for the part of Doctor Watson. The New Adventures novel "All-Consuming Fire" features the Seventh Doctor sharing an adventure with Sherlock Holmes.
Though the Tenth Doctor was able to erase Donna Noble's memories using just his telepathic abilities, the Eleventh Doctor attempts to use a Memory Worm to erase Clara's memory.
Clara’s gravestone indicates her birthday was the 23rd November. The same day and month as Doctor Who’s birthday as the show’s very first episode was transmitted on that day in 1963.
The words on her gravestone read:
Clara Oswin Oswald
Remember Me
For We Shall Meet Again |
This story features several major design changes for the show – namely a redesigned TARDIS Console Room, a new title sequence and a new variation of the theme tune (although the closing credits still use the previous version of the tune).
The new look Console Room was designed by Michael Pickwoad. It is the third one used by the Eleventh Doctor if you count fleeting appearances of the older version in "The Eleventh Hour", "The Doctor’s Wife" and during the final moments of the second part of "The End of Time".
The reason for the redesigned TARDIS has been revealed by Steven Moffat who had noticed that the TARDIS' design was getting ‘progressively whimsical’ and resembled more of a ‘magical place’ rather than a machine.
The new title sequence now includes a brief glimpse of The Doctor's face - the first to do so since the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Survival" and like all previous opening titles of this season’s stories the Doctor Who logo texture matches with the theme of the story – This time the letters appear to be made of ice and snow.
This story also includes a major change to The Doctor's costume, tying in to the purple colour scheme, which Matt Smith has described as ‘a bit Artful Dodger meets The Doctor’. Steven Moffat has described The Doctor’s new outfit as a ‘progression’ as The Doctor was in ‘a different phase of his life now’ and felt more ‘grown-up’ and father-like. Talking about his Victorian attire, Matt Smith has commented, ‘Howard Burden has done marvellous work.
The Doctor repeats his belief, first declared in the 2010 story "The Eleventh Hour", that, ‘Bow ties are cool!’ and at one point he wistfully muses, ‘Those were the days…’. He delivered the same line in a similar fashion in "Closing Time", when responding to Craig’s belief in his ability to ‘always win’. It is also implied that he has not worn bowties for a while.
The Doctor previously dressed in Sherlock Holmes type attire in the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" that was set in 1889.
As is routine for the Christmas specials, a "COMING SOON" trailer, containing clips, for the following stories is shown after the credits.
This story was first broadcast on Christmas Day in 2012 at 5.15pm on BBC One and BBC One HD. It was also broadcast on the same day on BBC America, in the US, and Space in Canada. In Australia it aired on 26th December 2012.
In the programme information for the BBC iPlayer, "The Snowmen" credits Ian McKellan as ‘Voice of the Snowman’ rather than ‘Voice of The Great Intelligence’ and Sophie Miller-Sheen's character as ‘Girl’ rather than ‘Clara’s Friend’.
Continuing the long relationship between Doctor Who and Children in Need, the BBC's annual charity telethon - which took place on Friday 16th November 2012 on BBC One - a specially recorded teaser scene, titled "The Great Detective" that was written by Steven Moffat was shown. In this prequel, Silurian Madame Vastra, her human assistant Jenny Flint, and Sontaran Strax describe a number of strange phenomena to a shadowed fourth detective. The fourth detective is revealed to be The Doctor but he tells the group that he has retired.
There was also an exclusive trailer for the festive story, providing the first glimpse of the Eleventh Doctor alongside his new companion.
A second prequel, titled "Vastra Investigates", was released online on 17th December 2012. At the end of a case, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint converse with an officer from Scotland Yard, apologising for Strax's violent wishes for the culprit's punishment. Madame Vastra explains Strax's alien origin as well as her own to the officer, much to his astonishment. She was awoken by an extension to the London Underground and initially disliked humans, though that changed when she fell in love with Jenny, which leaves the officer flabbergasted. On the carriage ride home, during a discussion about The Doctor's retirement, Jenny notices it is beginning to snow. Madame Vastra voices that the snow is impossible due to the fact that there are no clouds in the sky.
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The Firsts:
The first appearance of the The Great Intelligence, in the revived television series, and for 44 years - since the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Web of Fear".
The first time the TARDIS has been described as being ‘smaller on the outside’ rather than ‘larger on the inside’.
The first Doctor Who story, since "The Eleventh Hour", to have a new title sequence and a new variation of the theme tune.
This story is the first to include The Doctor's face in the opening titles since the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Survival".
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(Position = 2 out of 9)
(Position = 68 out of 241)
