This is an episode that implores its audience, no matter their age, to just believe for one more time, which works really well. He is also careful and aware of Doctor Who’s status as a family show, making sure that he never definitively comes down on either side of the existence question mark, although the tangerine on Clara’s windowsill and the slightest hint of sleigh bells at the end of the episode are a lovely touch. Whilst Mark Gatiss made Robot of Sherwood into a light-hearted romp, Moffat goes in a different direction: this is quite a spooky and dark story for a Christmas special, with Santa Claus acting as a function of the subconscious to allow the victims of the Kantrofarri to realise that they are still dreaming. It’s the show’s approach to the latter that is probably more relevant here, as both Robin of Locksley and the man who Santa Claus is based on, Saint Nicholas of Myra, have had more added to their legend as time has gone on.
Arguably, Moffat’s era as showrunner saw the show use figures that other writers may have been wary to touch, for instance, Adolf Hitler in Let’s Kill Hitler and Robin Hood in Robot of Sherwood. For all the talk of Doctor Who being a show that a writer can do anything with, there are certain things that can be seen to be off-limits. The strength in Steven Moffat’s script for Last Christmas is that it realises how ridiculous it is to put Santa Claus into a Doctor Who story. I really enjoy Last Christmas and I think that my appreciation has been enhanced by the lockdown last Christmas – I certainly found this re-watch more moving than previous ones, but part of this story have always worked for me on an emotional level anyway.Įvery Christmas is last Christmas.
Peter Capaldi’s first Christmas special manages to combine wrapping up some of the dangling plot threads from the series preceding it with a compelling and creepy story. Something sinister lurks in an arctic base at the North Pole, and it’s beyond even the most terrible, nightmarish creatures the Doctor has faced before.
Reunited with the Twelfth Doctor, she faces what could potentially be her last Christmas.
Do you really believe in Santa Claus? The Twelfth DoctorĬlara Oswald is in for one Christmas that’s she’s never going to forget. There’s something you have to ask yourself, and it’s important.