 This is the seventh Christmas special since the show was revived in 2005 and features Claire Skinner, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir and Alexander Armstrong. It is set during World War II and is about a family of blitz refugees, Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, who have to relocate to Dorset, where they meet The Doctor.
The storyline is partly inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis died the day before the very first episode of Doctor Who aired.
This is the first Doctor Who story for Bill Bailey who played Droxil. He starred as Manny in the, BAFTA-award-winning Channel 4 comedy series Black Books and is a regular on comedy panel shows such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You and QI.
Claire Skinner, who played the part of Madge Arwell, is best known as the long-suffering mum in hit BBC sitcom Outnumbered. Among her many credits she has also appeared in the film Sleepy Hollow, and the television series Trinity, Agatha Christie's Marple and Poirot, and the BBC's 2008 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, as Fanny Dashwood, the wife of John Dashwood who was played by Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss.
Claire Skinner is placed in the opening titles instead of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. This is the first time the cast names in the titles have changed since Arthur Darvill was added in the 2010 Christmas special "A Christmas Carol" and the first time Karen Gillan has not appeared in the titles since playing the part of Amy Pond.
Television presenter and actor Alexander Armstrong, who played Reg Arwell, is best know for his partnership with Ben Miller in a series of comedy sketch shows. He also fronted the Saturday evening game show Epic Win. Although this Christmas Special marks the first time that Alexander Armstrong has been seen in Doctor Who, his voice will be instantly recognisable as that of Mr Smith, the super computer belonging to Sarah Jane Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Mr Smith also made an appearance in the 2008 Doctor Who story "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End".
Comedy actress and writer Arabella Weir, who played Billis, is best known as a member of the regular team in the popular BBC sketch comedy The Fast Show. She also once played The Doctor! When, back in 2003 she stared in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who: Unbound, audio series which cast different actors as alternative versions of the Time Lord. This series featured David Warner, Derek Jacobi and David Collings, while Arabella Weir played an alternative, female version of the Third Doctor in "Exile" - that also featured future Tenth Doctor David Tennant as a Time Lord.
Rounding off the cast are young actor Maurice Cole as Cyril Arwell, 2010/2011 Casualty regular Holly Earl as Lily Arwell, and Benidorm and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides star Paul Bazely as Ven-Garr. Spencer Wilding, who played the Minotaur in the last season's "The God Complex" also appears (as the Wooden King), as does regular monster performer Paul Kasey (as the Wooden Queen). Paul Kasey previous roles have included a Cyberman in "Closing Time", Nephew in "The Doctor's Wife" and Ood Sigma in the 2009/10 Tenth Doctor story "The End of Time".
Director Farren Blackburn is a newcomer to the world of Doctor Who. She is an experienced television director, having worked on Waterloo Road, Holby City, Silent Witness and Vera. Her most recent work has been on The Fades which is produced by Doctor Who's incoming executive producer, Caroline Skinner. This is the first Doctor Who story for Executive Director Caroline Skinner.
Production started in September 2011 and filming was due to be complete by mid October 2011. However, filming was disrupted on 30 September due to a 24-hour protest at BBC Wales.
The read through took place in Cardiff on the afternoon of the Monday 5th September 2011.
At seven words, this story has the longest title of any Doctor Who story or episode.
The stunning opening sequences in the spaceship corridors were filmed, on the 20th September 2011, in Uskmouth Power Station. Conditions were so noisy that the crew wore ear protectors throughout the shoot.
The plane that Reg pilots is a Lancaster Bomber. The sequences involving the aircraft were shot on the 3rd October, 2011 in and around the Lancaster bomber 'Just Jane' at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, East Kirkby, Lincolnshire. The plane used is a genuine bomber that flew during the war. External footage of the 'lighthouse' building took place in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
The Doctor has previously survived briefly in the vacuum of space in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Four to Doomsday".
The sequence where The Doctor shows the Arwells around the refurbished house originally included a scene featuring a 'haunted' coal cellar!
The decorative ducks on the wall of the Arwell's sitting room find a visual echo in the house they stay at in Dorset - three planes on one of the walls in the children's bedroom.
The sets for the Arwells' sitting room and the Androzani Harvester were right next to each other in the BBC's Upper Boat studios, so when Maurice Cole peered through the telescope, he was actually looking into the Harvester's control room!
A reference is made again that the sonic screwdriver does not work on wood (see "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" and "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood").
The Doctor is heard to refer to a tree from the Forest of Cheem fancying him, referencing Jabe in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The End of the World" and who sacrificed her life for him.
The Doctor mentions the Magna Carta, a 13th Century charter that helped established crucial areas of English civil liberties. In the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "The King's Demons" The Master tried to prevent it being signed but The Doctor managed to defeat his plan!
Madge Arwell aims a Webley revolver at the Harvest Rangers. This is the same type of revolver that has been carried by Jack Harkness and Wilfred Mott.
The three tree harvesters are from Androzani Major in the year 5345, a planet in the Sirius System that was introduced in the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "The Caves of Androzani".
Two of the Harvest Rangers' names - Ven-Garr and Billis - might sound vaguely familiar. Piers Wenger and Beth Willis were two of the Executive Producers alongside Steven Moffat during the first two years of the Eleventh Doctor's era...
Reg is heard to say ‘I'm sorry, my love’ much as River Song said to The Doctor in the 2010 story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang".
At the end of the story, Amy Pond is seen pointing a water pistol at the Eleventh Doctor when he shows up on her doorstep. Previously, she has twice aimed a gun at her daughter, River Song ("The Impossible Astronaut/A Good Man Goes to War") and at The Silence ("The Wedding of River Song"). Additionally, the Tenth Doctor once protected Donna Noble by bluffing the Soothsayers with a water pistol ("The Fires of Pompeii"). Incidentally that story was the first that Karen Gillan ever appeared in, as a Soothsayer.
Amy Pond is heard telling The Doctor that two years have passed since Lake Silencio (see "The Impossible Astronaut/The Wedding of River Song"), placing the epilogue scene taking place on the 25th December 2013.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: Sound does not travel in space but despite this The Doctor can be heard as he heads towards Earth; the plane Reg was flying is a model which did not see active service until 1942, but this story is set in 1941.
As well as being shown in the United Kingdom on Christmas Day, on BBC One, it was also shown on BBC America, in the United States, and on ABC1 in Australia.
A sneak preview of this story was shown on the 18th November 2011 during Children in Need.
On the 6th December 2011 a prequel to this story was released online. In this prequel The Doctor is seen on a spaceship holding a red button which, when he lets go, will cause the space ship to explode. While holding the button, he has phoned the TARDIS to speak to Amy Pond asking her to rescue him, although he does not have his co-ordinates. Amy cannot fly the TARDIS, and she is not on the TARDIS. The Doctor wishes Amy a Merry Christmas before letting go of the button, and the spaceship explodes. The televised story follows on immediately after this sequence with The Doctor desperately trying to escape as the spaceship breaks apart.
| |
|
The Firsts:
Though not technically part of Season Thirty Three (New Series 7) this is the first real story of this season.
The first time the cast names in the titles have changed since Arthur Darvill was added in the 2010 Christmas special "A Christmas Carol"
The first time Karen Gillan has not appeared in the titles since playing the part of Amy Pond.
Caroline Skinner's first involvement in the show as Executive Producer.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Farren Blackburn.
Edward K. Gibbon's first involvement in the show as Costume Designer.
Space Digital's first involvement in the show providing the visual effects.
|
|
(Position = 10 out of 13)
(Position = 229 out of 241)
