Doctor Who Christmas Special

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Some news about the Christmas Doctor Who Special . . .

The BBC has confirmed veteran actor Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledor of Harry Potter Fame) and opera diva Katherine Jenkins will guest star in the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas special.

The Christmas episode will be set on a Victorian planet (some filming scheduled today until the 23rd July at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff) and loosely follows the Christmas Carol story with some extra twists and turns. Apparently there is a Yeti which will be making an appearance and the story will feature a 'Doctor' of christmas past, though which one is being maintained a tightly-guarded secret.

Production starts today (Monday 12 July) on the 2010 Doctor Who BBC One Christmas Special in which the thrilling adventures of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and newlyweds Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) will continue in a fun-filled and heartfelt festive story.

In the grand tradition of Doctor Who Christmas specials, this year the show has once again attracted stellar guest stars as veteran actor Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, The Singing Detective) and opera diva Katherine Jenkins, in her first acting role, join the Time Lord for what might be his most Christmassy adventure yet!

Arriving on set for her first day of filming, Katherine Jenkins said: "I'm over the moon to be involved in the Doctor Who Christmas Special – I can't quite believe it as it's a part of the family tradition at the Jenkins household. I heard the news that I got the role on my 30th birthday and it was the best birthday present ever!"

About the series, lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, commented: "Oh, we're going for broke with this one. It's all your favourite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters and the Doctor and a honeymoon and – oh, you'll see. I've honestly never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April. My neighbours loved it so much they all moved away and set up a website demanding my execution. But I'm fairly sure they did it ironically."

The Christmas special follows on from Matt Smith's first series as The Doctor, which attracted huge critical acclaim for Smith, his companion, Gillan, and lead writer Moffat, from press and legions of fans alike.

Filming on the Christmas special will continue until August 2010.

The Big Bang reviews

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That episode was most entertaining and did wrap up the season with a big bang. It starts as the universe is gone with only a remnant of Earth left at it’s core. The Doctor is locked within the best prison ever built, Amy is gone and River is trapped in a dying TARDIS. Can the Universe be restored?


It starts with the young Amelia saying a prayer to Santa, similar to the first episode of this series. A quick shift in gear and some discussions about the stars not really existing at all except in Amelia's imagination and artwork. Amelia finds some mysterious notes directed to her, which instructs her to see the Pandorica exhibit at the National Museum. So she does, and and finds another note telling her to stick around. One sees some Dalek artifact displays by-the-way in the museum. Anywhoos, when everyone’s left the museum, the most amazing thing happens. The Pandorica opens and out comes ... the older (current?) Amy! wait, what?


Cut back 1894 years, to 102 AD. Rory is talking to Amy’s corpse when the Doctor appears, tells Rory to get him out of the Pandorica, and then disappears and reappears multiple times. What the heck is going on? So after Rory helps the Doctor out, the Doctor puts Amy in the Pandorica, where it will revive her in 1894 years time. Aaaah, right. After Rory saying he won’t go with the Doctor to the future, there’s another jump cut back to 1996. Amy discovers that Rory is probably dead, after protecting the Pandorica all those years. Random Dalek encounter, and the Doctor jumps into action and hides the Amys behind the Pandorica, when suddenly the Dalek gets shot. By who - yep - plastic Rory who ditched his centurion garb for the museum security uniform - he's still alive after all this time !



The plot after this takes quite a few crazy tuns. After time travelling various times using River's time vortex manipulator timey-wimey thingy, he meets his dying self who passes along a message. Then he rescues River, who is stuck on a time loop in the TARDIS (smart machine is trying to save itself and occupant. The random Dalek shoots the Doctor after the rescue and he travels back in the past to meet himself and give a warning, and then River kills the Dalek while Amy and Rory check on the Doctor. His corpse is gone. He wasn’t really dead at all, apparently, and was using them as a diversion so he could get to work to effect the second Big Bang happen to recreate the universe.















After lots of discussion, he lifts off in the Pandorica into the TARDIS, and is starting to be wiped from existence. The Doctor then travels through to the past several times and finishes with meeting young Amy and tucking her in bed. The Doctor now enters the quickly closing crack and is popped from existence. The scene now shifts to Amy and Rory's wedding, where suddenly, several things assist her memory of the Doctor. She now quite amazingly imagines him back into existence. Not sure how this really happens but we're certain fans liked it anyways.

The episode ends with Amy and Rory joining the Doctor in the TARDIS, there is a call from the Queen and then they prepare to investigate an issue with a Sphinx (?) on the Orient Express in Space.

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