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224 – "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Doctor
Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Production
Writer Steven Moffat
Director Farren Blackburn[1]
Executive producer(s)
Steven Moffat
Piers Wenger
Caroline Skinner
[2]
Series Specials (2011)
Length 60 min
Originally broadcast 25 December 2011[3]
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
"The Wedding of River Song" Series 7
"The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" is an episode of theBritish science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which theDoctor visits Earth and an alien forest. The episode was shown inthe United Kingdom on Christmas Day on BBC One,[4] BBC America inthe United States[5] Space in Canada,[6] and on ABC1 inAustralia.[7] It is the seventh Christmas special since the show'srevival in 2005.
The episode features Claire Skinner, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir andAlexander Armstrong. A sneak preview was aired on 18 November 2011for Children in Need.[8]
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
1.1 Prequel
1.2 Episode
1.3 Continuity
2 Production
2.1 Cast notes
3 References
4 External links
[edit] Plot
[edit] Prequel
On 6 December, a prequel to the episode was released online.[9] TheDoctor is seen on a spaceship holding a red button which, when helets go, will cause the space ship to explode. While holding thebutton, he has phoned the TARDIS to speak to Amy Pond asking her torescue him, although he does not have his co-ordinates. Amy cannotfly the TARDIS, and she is not on the TARDIS. The Doctor wishes Amya Merry Christmas before letting go of the button, and thespaceship explodes.[10]
[edit] Episode
During the Christmas season of 1938, the Doctor finds himself on adamaged alien spacecraft in Earth's orbit. He escapes the explodingship and the fall to Earth by rapidly donning an impact space suit,though in his haste, the helmet is put on backwards. On crashing toEarth, he is found by Madge Arwell, wife of Reg and mother of twochildren, Lily and Cyril. She helps the Doctor, stuck and unable tosee while in the impact suit, to his TARDIS, and the Doctorpromises to repay her for her kindness.
Three years later, during World War II, Reg is reported killed inaction when the Lancaster Bomber he was piloting disappeared overthe English Channel. Madge is told this via telegraph just beforeChristmas, but decides not to tell her children, hoping to keeptheir spirits up through the holiday. Madge and the childrenevacuate London to a relative's house in Dorset, where they aregreeted by the Doctor, calling himself "the Caretaker"; Madge doesnot recognise him from their previous encounter.
The Doctor has prepared the house specially for the children andthe holiday; though the children are pleased, Madge privatelyexplains about Reg's death to the Doctor and insists he notoverindulge the children. During the first night, Cyril is luredinto opening a large glowing present under the Christmas tree,revealing a time portal to a snow-covered forest. The Doctorshortly discovers Cyril's absence and follows him with Lily; thetwo eventually track Cyril down to a strange lighthouse-likestructure. Madge, finding her children missing, soon follows theminto the forest, but is met by three miners in space suits from theplanet Androzani Major.
At the lighthouse, Cyril is met by a humanoid creature made ofwood; it places a simple band of metal around his head like acrown. Lily and the Doctor arrive, followed by another woodcreature, but find that they have rejected Cyril as he is "weak",as is the Doctor. The Doctor concludes that the life forces of thetrees in the forest are trying to escape through a living creature,the crown acting as an interface. Meanwhile, Madge, holding theminers at gunpoint, is taken back to their excavation walker andtold that the forest of the planet they are on is scheduled to bemelted by acid rain within minutes, killing anything within it. Theminers are teleported away safely before the rain starts afterhelping Madge to locate where her children are.
Madge, using the little knowledge she knows of flying a plane fromReg, directs the walker to the lighthouse and safely reunites withher children as the acid rain starts. The wood creatures identifyher as "strong", and the Doctor realises they consider her the"mothership", able to carry the life force safely. Donning theband, Madge absorbs the life force of the forest, allowing her todirect the top of the lighthouse as an escape pod away from theacid rain and into the time vortex. To get them home, the Doctordirects her to think of memories of home, allowing Madge to revisither fond memories of Reg, shown on screens within the pod. Sherealises that she will have to recall the moment of Reg's death,but the Doctor forces her to continue to do so; Lily and Cyril cometo learn the truth as they witness his last moments aboard theLancaster bomber.
Soon, the escape pod safely leaves the time vortex, landing justoutside the house in Dorset, and the life force of the forest haveconverted themselves to ethereal beings within the time vortex. TheDoctor steps outside while Madge starts to explain Reg's death toLily and Cyril, but he returns to interrupt her and to tell her tocome outside. There stands Reg and his Lancaster; he had followedthe bright light of the escape pod into the time vortex and cameout safely along with the pod at Dorset. The family has a tearfulreunion as the Doctor watches.
As Madge and her family turns to celebrate Christmas, the Doctorattempts to slip away, but Madge catches him, and as she sees theTARDIS realises that he is the man in the space suit from threeyears back. She insists on him staying for Christmas dinner, butwhen the Doctor reveals he has other friends out there that believehe is dead, Madge convinces him to go to see them at Christmas. TheDoctor offers Madge his help if she ever needs it again.
Later, the Doctor arrives outside Amy and Rory's home, two yearssince he left them there. Amy pretends to be angry at him forleaving them the way he did, but explains that River Song told themabout his faked death, and Rory reveals that they have been settinga place for him at their Christmas dinner table every year. Havingremarked earlier in the episode how "humany-wumany" it is to crybecause of happiness, the Doctor finds himself shedding a tear ofhappiness in reaction to Rory's remark, and grins in wonder, andthen steps inside to join them for dinner.
[edit] Continuity
The three tree harvesters are from AndrozaniMajor in the year 5345, a planet already featured in the serial TheCaves of Androzani.
The Doctor also mentions the Forest of Cheem,which appeared in the Ninth Doctor episode The End of the World. Healso mentioned that one of them fancied him, which was Jabe CethCeth Jafe, who sacrificed her life for him.
Amy Pond tells the Doctor that two years havepassed since Lake Silencio ("The Impossible Astronaut"/"The Weddingof River Song").
[edit] Production
The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre's preserved Lancasterbomber Just Jane, used in the programme
The BBC announced in September 2011 that production had started forthe special and filming was due to be complete by mid October2011.[11] However, filming was disrupted on 30 September due to a24-hour protest at BBC Wales because of compulsoryredundancies.[12] The story is partly inspired by The Lion, theWitch and the Wardrobe (from The Chronicles of Narnia) by C. S.Lewis.[13] C. S. Lewis died the day before the very first episodeof classic Doctor Who aired. Filming of some scenes involvingAlexander Armstrong took place in and around the Lancaster bomber'Just Jane' at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre on 3October 2011.[14] External footage of the lighthouse building tookplace in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.[15]
[edit] Cast notes
Alexander Armstrong previously appeared in Doctor Who episodes "TheStolen Earth" and "Journey's End" as the voice of Mr Smith, analien computer, his character from The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Arabella Weir previously appeared as an alternate incarnation ofthe Third Doctor in the Doctor Who Unbound audio dramaExile.[16]
Claire Skinner is placed in the opening titles instead of KarenGillan and Arthur Darvill, whose appearance in the episode was notreported before broadcast. Gillan and Darvill are, however,credited above Skinner in the episode's end credits.
[edit] References
^ Golder, Dave (21 September 2011). "UPDATE:Doctor Who Christmas Special Director Revealed". SFX. Retrieved 15December 2011.
^ "Steven Moffat on the New Exec". BBC. 21 July2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
^ Seale, Jack (29 November 2011). "Christmas TV:scheduling confirmed for Doctor Who, Strictly and Downton". RadioTimes. Immediate Media. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
^ "Doctor Who: Christmas Day at 7:00pm". BBC. 29November 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
^ "Doctor Who Christmas Special" (Pressrelease). BBC America. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
^ "Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow and theWardrobe - December 25th at 9pm ET!". Space. Retrieved 28 December2011.
^http://www.abc.net.au/tv/doctorwho/christmas2011/
^ Golder, Dave (27 October 2011). "Doctor WhoChristmas Special Clip During Children in Need". SFX. Retrieved 29October 2011.
^ "Adventure Calendar 2011". BBC. 1 December2011. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
^ "The Prequel to The Doctor, The Widow and TheWardrobe" (Video). BBC. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 15 December2011.
^ "Christmas Special: The Stars! The Story!".BBC. 20 September 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
^ Jeffery, Morgan (30 September 2011). "'DoctorWho' Christmas special filming disrupted by BBC Wales strike".Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
^ "Doctor Who Christmas special cast to includeBill Bailey and Claire Skinner". Metro. 21 September 2011.Retrieved 22 September 2011.
^ "Doctor Who Christmas Special role forLincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre". Skegness Standard.Retrieved 30 November 2011.
^ who "Look what's landed for Dr Who Xmasspecial!". The Forester. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 26 December2011.
^ "Doctor Who Unbound — Exile". Big Finish.Retrieved 25 October 2011.
