Christmas Television

Somewhere in my head I have a Dickensian image of a family Christmas spent playing games around a log fire whilst the snow gently wafts past the window settling on a crystalline landscape. Instead of that, it rained mercilessly and I found myself in a house of excessively hyperactive and exceedingly noisy children, throwing wrapping paper around like confetti, whilst I slumped like a stranded walrus onto the living room sofa with a glass of whisky in one hand and a grudgingly accepted mince pie in the other. Of course, this is where the real fun starts as there is a wealth of entertainment to be had with the simple use of a personal video recorder and the television volume control “set to stun” to drown out the kids.

There seem to be a few things that we watch every year. For some reason we always end up watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation which is far more in line with my reality of family Christmas rather than the Dickensian idyll that I summoned up in a pipe dream. I also like to catch a film version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: I went for the Disney Motion-Capture version with Jim Carey this year which seems to be specifically designed to scare the bejesus out of everyone (rated PG – my arse). I’ll go with the Muppet one next time. I also managed to find the old episode of The Vicar Of Dibley in which Dawn French eats so much Christmas dinner that she explodes. Christmas Eve gave us the last ever episode of Merlin which predictably turned out to be a complete tear-fest. Well, there is always Doctor Who on Christmas Day – it’s not as if Steven Moffat has a penchant for killing his lead characters off, is it?

I’ve been looking forward to this years Christmas Doctor Who for a while as we finally get to see, properly, the new assistant in the form of Jenna Louise Coleman’s Clara. Or, at least, I thought we would. It looks like we are being led a merry dance on that subject again but if her performance in this episode is anything to go by we are in for a treat. Being set in the Victorian era I was wondering whether Clara might be modelled on the 2nd Doctor’s Victoria Waterfield: a pretty, sweet girl that should have come with a set of earplugs to muffle out the screaming. Clara certainly has the looks but personality wise she is a world away: smart, cheeky, bright and with wits to a match the Doctor. Pity that she didn’t make it to the closing credits then…

Aside from Clara, The Snowmen had much to offer – the grumpy Doctor was a nice twist and his banter with Strax and Lady Vestra raised a smile but if I had to make one criticism it’s that I did lose the plot somewhat. In fact The Snowmen appeared almost as a MacGuffin to give the Doctor and Clara some reason to interact. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the episode but it was only when I read some of the online reviews that I realised that the Great Intelligence was harking back to the 1968 story “Web Of Fear”. Well, give me a chance; I may be a Doctor Who nut but I’ve only ever seen one episode of that story and I’m unlikely to se the rest as the BBC wiped them. Still, it’s nice that things can tie back that far but is that actually distracting for those without this inside knowledge? Possibly, but I felt that this was ultimately Clara’s story.

We have now seen Oswin/Clara in two episodes and have seen her demise in both. Does this make her the new Rory? I think there is actually more of a clue on her headstone in that she was born on 23rd November and died in December, 26 years later. Is Clara a metaphor for the series as a whole? The year of her birth (1866) would also be the year that the 2nd Doctor met Victoria Waterfield. Or am I just looking for patterns where they don’t exist? As it’s the 50th Anniversary year I suspect that there will be quite a few nod’s to the obsessive fan (me, for example) so it wouldn’t surprise me if there are a few more references like this. I just hope it doesn’t get in the way of the story telling. As it is, the revamped title sequence and the new TARDIS interior are already harking back to the series’ past.

Back in January I wrote a blog entry called “Something For The Dads” which was a jokingly lascivious assessment of the Doctor’s female companions over the years. This has actually had more hits than any other posting I’ve made all year which either shows how popular Doctor Who is or that the internet is populated by filthy minded old men (I suspect a combination of the two). However, if this was done in a year or so I would imagine that Clara will be up there. I don’t think it’s just cute looks either as I’ve really warmed to the character already. The rest of the series should be back on in the Spring with the anniversary in November. Better hold on for the ride…