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Last Christmas (Doctor Who)

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253 – "Last Christmas"
Doctor Who episode
The Doctor, with Clara as an elderly woman. Jenna Coleman's reversal of her decision to leave the series determined the ending of the episode.
Cast
Others
Production
Directed byPaul Wilmshurst
Written bySteven Moffat
Script editorDavid P Davis
Produced byPaul Frift
Executive producer(s)
  • Steven Moffat
  • Brian Minchin
Music byMurray Gold
Running time60 minutes
First broadcast25 December 2014 (2014-12-25)
Chronology
← Preceded by
"Death in Heaven" 		Followed by →
"The Magician's Apprentice"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"Last Christmas" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on 25 December 2014. It is the tenth Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Paul Wilmshurst.

In the special, the alien time traveller the Doctor is reunited with his companion Clara Oswald as they try to save a North Pole science base from creatures called dream crabs that induce dream states whilst killing their victims, with the help of Santa Claus.

"Last Christmas" was viewed by 8.28 million in the United Kingdom and received positive reviews from critics, particularly for Capaldi and Coleman's performances, and for the "clever" spin on the usual Christmas atmosphere.

Plot

[edit]

On Christmas Eve, Clara finds Santa Claus stranded on her roof. The Doctor arrives to take Clara away. Santa tells the Doctor that he will need his help before the night is over. The Doctor and Clara arrive at a North Pole base where four of the crew in the infirmary are being devoured by Dream Crabs – blind aliens which induce dreams on their intended victims as a distraction whilst devouring the victims' brains and which use telepathy to see the surroundings of people thinking about a crab. More crabs attack the Doctor, Clara, and the unaffected crew, only for Santa to rescue them. Clara reveals that during their last meeting,[N 1] she lied to the Doctor about Clara's boyfriend Danny Pink coming back from the dead. The Doctor says that he lied about finding Gallifrey. The Doctor sends Clara to recover Santa's crab specimen, but Clara, thinking about the crab, makes it come alive and attack her.

The Dream Crabs, shown here at the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular.

Clara reunites with Danny in a dream. The Doctor willingly falls victim to another crab to enter the dream. Clara still resists willing herself to wake up, until Danny tells her that she can miss him while also moving on with her life. Clara and the Doctor wake up, which kills the crabs devouring them. The Doctor deduces that they are not awake, but in a different layer of a multi-faceted dream and have been since the initial crab attack. He explains that Santa is the manifestation of their subconscious minds fighting back. Santa wakes the group up.

Clara reminds the Doctor that they met Santa before arriving, proving that everything else has also been a dream and that none of the scientists are scientists. The affected personnel – manifestations of the Doctor, Clara, and the "scientists'" minds – attack and kill Professor Albert. The Doctor, Clara, and the "scientists" dream of Santa, who wakes them up to their real lives, one by one, until only Clara is left.

Upon waking, the Doctor traces the psychic signal linking their dreams back to Clara. He pulls the crab off, and learns that Clara is now an elderly woman. The Doctor regrets not coming back sooner, when Santa appears. Realising that he is still dreaming, the Doctor wakes up again. He frees Clara, still a young adult, from the crab. Offering her all of time and space, the Doctor implores Clara to join him. Clara accepts.

Production

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The scene where the Doctor visits the elderly Clara and helps her open a Christmas cracker mirrors a scene from "The Time of the Doctor", when he was too weak to pull a cracker open by himself, at the end of life of his previous incarnation.[1]

Casting

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In September 2014 announcements were made for a number of the guest cast, including Michael Troughton, Nick Frost, Nathan McMullen, Natalie Gumede and Faye Marsay. Michael Troughton is the younger son of Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor from 1966 to 1969, and the younger brother of David Troughton, who appeared in The War Games, The Curse of Peladon, and "Midnight".

There were numerous rumours circulating that the special would be Jenna Coleman's last on the show.[2][3] Coleman and lead writer Steven Moffat remained quiet on the issue and insisted that people watch the episode to see whether she would be continuing into the ninth series. During the episode's climax, Clara decides to continue travelling with the Doctor,[4] and Moffat revealed following the episode's airing that Coleman would appear in all of the ninth series.[5] According to Moffat, Coleman was "to-ing and fro-ing" over her future in the series before ultimately deciding to continue.[6]

In a 2015 interview, Moffat confirmed that he had initially written two endings for "Last Christmas". One of them would be Clara's exit from the show, and in the other she would stay for the next series. After Coleman decided to stay, Moffat kept the latter version of the script.[7] Marsay's character of Shona was considered by Moffat to be Coleman's replacement as the companion for the ninth series, though nothing was fully formed. With Coleman electing to stay on the show, this would mark Marsay's only appearance. Elements of Shona were later reworked into the character of Bill Potts, who was the companion when Coleman left after series nine.[8][9]

Filming

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Filming on "Last Christmas" was scheduled to start two weeks after the Series 8 World Tour Promotion.[10] Paul Wilmshurst, who had directed two episodes in the previous series, directed the special.[11] The read-through for the episode took place on 3 September 2014, and filming began on 8 September in the BBC Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff.[12][13] Scenes set at Clara's house were filmed at Vaendre Hall, a late ninteenth century house in the Cardiff suburb of St Mellons.[14] The scenes involving ice plains were filmed in a constructed set in RAF St Athan.[15] Filming took approximately four weeks, ending on 3 October.[16]

Promotion

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A preview was shown during Children in Need which featured The Doctor, Clara, Nick Frost as Santa Claus, and Dan Starkey (who also plays Strax of the Paternoster Gang) and Nathan McMullen as elves.[17] On 11 December 2014, the BBC released a 30-second trailer for the episode on YouTube.[18]

Broadcast and reception

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The episode was watched by 8.28 million viewers, the lowest Christmas Day rating since the show's return in 2005, and was the sixth most watched programme on BBC One for Christmas Day 2014.[19] The early figures for overnight viewing estimated that the episode was watched by 6.34 million viewers, making it the eighth most watched event on television for Christmas Day 2014.[20] However, it received a total of 2.62 million viewers on BBC America, beating the previous record established by "The Time of the Doctor", and became the most watched episode of the revived series in the channel's history.[21] It also got 1.07 million requests on BBC iPlayer for the nine-day period over Christmas.[22]The episode received an Audience Appreciation Index of 82.[23]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Rating)8.8/10[24]
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)92%[24]
Review scores
SourceRating
The A.V. ClubA[25]
SFX Magazine[26]
TV Fanatic[27]
CultBox[28]
IndieWireB+[29]
IGN8.8[30]
New York Magazine[31]
Radio Times[32]
Digital Spy[33]
The Daily Telegraph[34]

"Last Christmas" received positive reviews. 92% of 13 critics gave the special a positive review, and an average rating of 8.8/10, according to Rotten Tomatoes.[24]

Alasdair Wilkins from The A.V. Club awarded the episode the highest grade of the site, commending Moffat's script as "inordinately clever" in using the trappings of a "fluffy, silly Christmas special" to make the story scary. He also praised Capaldi's performance in the special for depicting the unabashed joy common in the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor eras but was "never really" seen in series 8.[25] Writing for Digital Spy, Morgan Jeffery found the episode to be an "absolute cracker" that refused to be "throwaway" or "light on substance". He believed the influences of Alien and Inception on the script provided viewers with "both food for thought and fuel for our nightmares".[33]

Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph called it "marvellously merry" and stated that it "had heart as well as head, so ended like a festive special should: happily, with a cockle-warming cosy glow".[34] Chris Pyke of the Daily Mirror also praised the "Doctor Who spin" the various film references had. He also expressed praise over Clara's continuation, saying it was "the icing on the cake".[35]

Radio Times's Patrick Mulkern thought the "storytelling is clever, if guessable – depending on how addled you've become on Christmas evening" and was "peculiarly touched by Clara's sentiment, 'Every Christmas is last Christmas' and her admission that the Time Lord is her very own Father Christmas".[32] IGN deemed the episode "Excellent", as Matt Risley labelled the episode "An entertaining and satisfying slice of Who that combines festive face-huggers with a Christmas miracle". He criticised the ageing Clara make up, but praised the episode as being both Doctor Who's most "festive and least yuletide-y" Christmas special.[30] Simon Brew of Den of Geek heavily praised the episode for its writing, acting, direction and music, and considered it an improvement over the previous Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor". He felt that "Last Christmas" capped off what he felt was "one of Doctor Who's strongest years in recent times".[36]

Home media

[edit]

"Last Christmas" was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 26 January 2015,[37] in Australia on 28 January 2015,[38] and in the United States on 17 February 2015.[39]

The ten Christmas specials between "The Christmas Invasion" and "Last Christmas" inclusive were released in a boxset titled Doctor Who – The Christmas Specials on 19 October 2015.[40]

Soundtrack

[edit]
Further information: Doctor Who: Series 8 (soundtrack)

Selected pieces of score from "Last Christmas", as composed by Murray Gold, were released on 18 May 2015 by Silva Screen Records as the third disc of the soundtrack covering series 8.[41]

Notes

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  1. ^ As depicted in the previous episode "Death in Heaven" (2014).

References

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  1. ^ "BBC One - Doctor Who, Last Christmas - Last Christmas: Fact File". BBC.
  2. ^ Armstrong, Stephen (23 December 2014). "Has Clara Oswald got a future in Doctor Who?". Radio Times.
  3. ^ Phillips, Chaka (13 December 2014). "'Doctor Who' Season 8 Christmas Special: Will Clara Oswald Die in 'Last Christmas'? [Watch]". Latin Post.
  4. ^ "Doctor Who: Jenna Coleman staying in series". BBC News. 25 December 2014.
  5. ^ Jones, Paul (25 December 2014). "Jenna Coleman to stay for the whole of Doctor Who series nine". Radio Times.
  6. ^ McEwan, Cameron K. (25 December 2014). "Jenna Coleman was 'to-ing and fro-ing' on Doctor Who series 9". Metro.
  7. ^ McEwan, Cameron K. (21 November 2015). "Doctor Who Series 9: Steven Moffat talks Clara's exit [SPOILERS]". Blogtor Who. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  8. ^ Lee, Jess (7 August 2018). "Doctor Who originally planned for this character to replace Clara as Peter Capaldi's companion". Digital Spy.
  9. ^ Fullerton, Huw (31 January 2018). "Steven Moffat had plans for another Doctor Who companion between Jenna Coleman and Pearl Mackie". Radio Times.
  10. ^ "Capaldi & Coleman Back For 2014 Christmas Special". Doctor Who TV. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  11. ^ Ainsworth 2018, p. 18.
  12. ^ "Last Christmas: Fact File". Doctor Who. BBC One. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  13. ^ Paul Jones (8 September 2014). "Doctor Who Christmas special begins filming in Cardiff". Radio Times. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  14. ^ Ainsworth 2018, p. 28.
  15. ^ Ainsworth 2018, p. 33.
  16. ^ Ainsworth 2018, p. 37.
  17. ^ Gardiner, Tom (14 November 2014). "Doctor Who Christmas Special – Children in Need Sneak Peek". ThreeIfBySpace. Archived from the original on 27 November 2014.
  18. ^ "Last Christmas Trailer – Doctor Who – BBC". YouTube. Doctor Who. 11 December 2014.
  19. ^ "BBC News – BBC's Mrs Brown's Boys dominates festive viewing". BBC News. 2 January 2015.
  20. ^ "Queen tops combined Christmas Day viewing figures". BBC News. 26 December 2014.
  21. ^ Crow, David (5 January 2015). "Doctor Who Season 8 Breaks U.S. Viewing Records". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  22. ^ Plunkett, John (7 January 2015). "Top Gear topples Doctor Who from top of BBC's iPlayer Christmas charts". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  23. ^ Ainsworth 2018, p. 51.
  24. ^ a b c "Doctor Who: Last Christmas (2014 Special)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  25. ^ a b Wilkins, Alasdair (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who: "Last Christmas"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  26. ^ Golder, Dave (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who Last Christmas Review". SFX Magazine. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  27. ^ Pavlica, Carissa (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who Season 8 Episode 13 Review: Last Christmas". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  28. ^ Smedley, Rob (25 December 2014). "'Doctor Who' Christmas special: 'Last Christmas' review". CultBox. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  29. ^ Welsh, Kaite (25 December 2014). "Review: 'Doctor Who' Special 'Last Christmas' Sees Clara Kissing Santa Claus". IndieWire. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  30. ^ a b Risley, Matt (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who: "Last Christmas" Review". IGN. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  31. ^ Ruediger, Ross (26 December 2014). "Doctor Who Christmas Special Recap: Dream a Deadly Dream of Me". Vulture.com. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  32. ^ a b Mulkern, Patrick (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who Last Christmas review". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  33. ^ a b Jeffery, Morgan (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who review: Inception meets Alien in festive fright-fest". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  34. ^ a b Hogan, Michael (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who Christmas special, review: 'marvellously merry'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  35. ^ Pyke, Chris (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who Christmas special review: A good nightmare before Christmas but with added Inception". Daily Mirror.
  36. ^ Brew, Simon (25 December 2014). "Doctor Who Christmas special: Last Christmas review". Den of Geek.
  37. ^ "Last Christmas DVD / Blu-Ray". Doctor Who TV. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  38. ^ "Doctor Who: Last Christmas". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  39. ^ "Doctor Who – 'Last Christmas,' the 2014 Christmas Special, on DVD and Blu-ray". TVShowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  40. ^ "Doctor Who News: Doctor Who – The Ten Christmas Specials". Doctor Who News. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  41. ^ "Doctor Who: Series 8". Silva Screen. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.

Bibliography

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Ainsworth, John, ed. (2018). "Last Christmas and The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar". Doctor Who: The Complete History. 80. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks.

[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Twelfth Doctor.
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