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25TH DECEMBER 2010

(60-MINUTE EPISODE)

Over the last half decade we’ve all become accustomed to Doctor Who’s festive thrills and spills. The annual Christmas special seems to have developed its own identity and set of rules separate to those of the series that we watch as spring turns to summer. Cinematic set pieces, celebrity guest stars, even specially-written songs – these are all critical ingredients in a modern Who Christmas. But A Christmas Carol is the first Christ-mas Day episode of Doctor Who in forty-five years not to have been written by Russell T Davies and carried by David Tennant. This year we have a new writer and a new Doctor, and a brand new rulebook to go with them.

After the fireworks of last year’s spectacular specials, a more intimate yuletide yarn would have probably have been on the cards in any event, but particularly given the 2010 series’ fairytale feel, it’s not all that surprising that Steven Moffat’s first Christmas episode is more classical than colossal. An homage to Charles Dickens’ revered novel of the same name, A Christmas Carol isn’t about saving the Earth or even the lives of the four thousand and three passengers on a doomed space liner – it’s about saving a single soul.

“You shouldn’t [despise Christmas]. It’s very you – half way out of the dark.”

Moffat’s premise is inspired. The space liner on which Amy and Rory have been enjoying their honeymoon is about to crash on a fifth-millennium colony world. The Doctor can’t get the TARDIS to materialise on board the ship, and the only man with the power to prevent the crash is Kazran Sardick, a spiteful miser who refuses to assist. However, the Doctor notices something in Kazran’s manner that gives him an idea – a desperate, barmy and suitably Christmassy idea - to save the day. Kazran isn’t an evil man; like Christmas itself, he’s “half way out of the dark.” And so if the Time Lord were to assume the mantle of the Ghost of Christmas Past, he could not only show this Scrooge-like figure the error of his ways, but correct those errors too, making him more likely to value the lives on the liner.

I love how Moffat’s tale examines psychological cause and effect as the Doctor delves into Kazran’s past and seeks to subvert each of the formative experiences that would make him the misanthrope that we’ve just met. What’s even more fascinating though is how the Doctor goes about trying to improve upon these experiences - he introduces Kazran to swashbuckling adventure in the shark-filled clouds, as well as the much more jagged teeth of love. Seeing the effects of these changes catch up with the present, where Kazran is desperately trying to reconcile two conflicting sets of memories in his head, epitomises Doctor Who at its best, keeping the cogs in viewers’ brains furiously whirring whilst also giving their heart-strings an almighty tug. A Christmas Carol is not a ‘happy ever after’ story about love thawing a frosty soul; it’s a tragic tale of lost love and the compassion engendered by it.

“Have you ever seen Mary Poppins? No. Good, ‘cos that comparison would have been rubbish.”

Matt Smith effortlessly carries the entire episode, present in almost every scene and clearly having as much of a ball performing it as Steven Moffat had writing it. Despite the thoughtful subject matter, his Doctor is as much fun as ever he’s been. He comes down the chimney in a cloud of smoke, is on first name terms with Santa, and is uncharacteristically willing to proffer advice about the opposite sex – although having just married Marilyn Monroe, for once he might be speaking with a little authority. Yet beneath it all he’s a swaggering “Time Lord Victorious”, unilaterally rewriting the history of a man life’s for what he deems to be the greater good.

Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are allocated much smaller roles, which is a little ironic given Darvill’s overdue elevation to the opening credits, but they certainly burn brightly. Even after leafing through all her mucky pictures in Shortlist Magazine, Pond’s return to uniform is a welcome one (particularly when one considers why she’d have been wearing it on her honeymoon…), and her turn as the Ghost of Christmas Present is actually quite stirring. Darvill’s Rory, whilst not quite as imposing, is at least gifted a few wry witticisms (“Eyes off the skirt!”) which lend the story an extra little sparkle.

“This is what the Doctor did to me..”

The show’s supporting cast is extraordinary. Harry Potter star Michael Gambon is, as one would expect, absolutely marvellous as the old Kazran. He has all the grouchy gravitas that the Scrooge-like role requires, and what’s more he shares a wonderful rapport with Matt Smith. Perhaps more remarkably though, Laurence Belcher and especially Danny Horn are every bit his equals as the younger versions of the character. Horn’s moody performance is especially effective, particularly in his final scenes with Katherine Jenkins’ Abigail.

Katherine Jenkins, of course, has been the special’s most publicised performer, though in reality she’s its weakest link. To say that this was Jenkins’ first acting role, the Welsh songstress gives an impressive performan-ce, but it doesn’t quite measure up to those of her exceptional co-stars. Furthermore, at the risk of sounding like a Scrooge myself, I didn’t enjoy her crooning into that sonic screwdriver. I normally love an unassuming musical number in the Christmas special, but here Abigail’s Song feels strained and preposterously theatrical; more like a Classic FM music video than prime time drama. Kylie didn’t need to sing.

“As a friend of mine once took a very long time to explain, life isn’t fair.”

Nevertheless, I can’t fault Murray Gold’s soundtrack in itself. As ever, the composer does a sterling job of creating a suitably festive feel, whilst at the same time preserving and even furthering the series’ leitmotif. The seasonal reprise of I Am The Doctor as the snow falls at the end is particularly rousing, successfully whetting the audience’s appetite for adventures to come. The set design is equally inspiring, fusing apposite, Dickensian Victoriana with steampunk sci-fi and then contrasting it all with a gleaming white, Star Trekky space liner. Beautiful.

A Christmas Carol was billed as “Doctor Who meets A Christmas Carol… meets Jaws”, and it certainly lives up to its billing. Indeed, unless it ever tackles the Nativity, I can’t see the series ever producing a more Christmassy offering than this one. However, its fog-dwelling sharks notwithstanding, A Christmas Carol is probably the least dynamic of all the modern specials – at a first glance it might even seem more at home amongst the pages of a short story anthology than it would propping up BBC1’s Christmas Day schedule. It seems that the Christmas Days of robotic Santas, gigantic spiders, Cyber incursions and even Master races might have come to an end. But everything’s got to end some time, otherwise nothing would ever get started...