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Doctor Who - Last Christmas - Advance Preview + Dialogue Teasers

25 Dec 2014

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Don’t be fooled by the photos of Nick Frost’s cuddly Santa with his cheeky elves. This year’s Christmas Day offering from Moffat maintains the same scary atmosphere that much of season eight provided. Naturally, like all Christmas Specials, it functions perfectly well as a standalone episode for those who are settling down for their evening viewing after a day of feasting and merriment. Yet it also manages to smoothly tie up those last few dangling threads that were left at the end of Death in Heaven without distracting from the main plot.

Peter and Jenna are fabulous back together again as the Doctor and Clara - and no, I’m not going to spoil and say how long it’s been for them. ..or if Clara leaves/stays by the end of the episode. I can tell you that she has missed the TARDIS though, and that she believes Santa Claus is real. Paul Wilmshurst returns to directing chair after helming one of the best received episodes of last season (and Kill the Moon - which did at least look good!). It quickly becomes evident that he is a good choice as he mixes tense scenes with a touch of surrealism or good old fashioned horror, much as he did in Mummy on the Orient Express.

There are some impressive guest stars this year; much has been made of Frost’s Santa and Natalie Gumede as Ashley the Polar Station’s head science officer, for example. Both are wholly suited to their roles I feel, turning a performance that you more or less expect to see from them. Dan Starkey (sans his Strax prosthetics) and Nathan McMullen are the bickering and sassy elves, who with Santa provide much of the humour in the episode.

Maureen Beattie and Michael Troughton are a little less fleshed out, but being the consummate professionals they are you still get a good sense of their motivations. The standout though has to be someone I haven’t seen mentioned a great deal, Faye Marsay. I’ve only seen her fantastic portrayal as Anne Neville in The White Queen before this, but Shona is a very different character- as long as you don’t look too deeply that is. Marsay plays on her wide-eyed, inquisitive nature and forthright mannerisms from the start, making her an instantly likable. Only as the story progresses do you get to see the vulnerable woman beneath the exterior, and you realise what a superb actress she is.


Last Christmas airs on 25th December at 6.15pm on BBC 1 and BBC 1 HD in the UK, and at 9pm on BBC America. Below are a few dialogue teasers to see you through until then. Don't forget to come back to vote in our poll after the episode and let us know what you thought.


“Am I next, is it me now?”

“Your mum and dad wanted me to get you a toy one, but sometimes, take a chance”

“Here comes your earworm”

“That’s really offensive, no wonder everyone keeps invading you!”

“Don’t you dare say that”

“Time travelling scientist dressed as a magician”

“The North Pole isn’t an actual pole”

“In case it’s a lie?”

“We’re going to be with you every step of the way Shona”

“We’ve got ghosts! It’s a skeleton man and a girl in a nighty”




About the Author - Sandi
Sandi is part of the Senior Staff at SpoilerTV having been a contributor from back in the Lost days of DarkUFO, and who now writes previews for Banshee, The Musketeers, Atlantis, and other BBC shows. She also enjoys watching and commenting on other shows such as Sons of Anarchy, Hannibal, Game of Thrones and Elementary.
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8 comments:

  1. Hmmm... Really starting to wonder if Faye Marsay's character Shona is the new companion and the "Magician's Apprentice" from the first episode of Series 9.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll take as much Capaldi and Coleman as I can get.


    Clara missed the TARDIS, But did the TARDIS miss Clara ?
    "and she believes Santa Claus is real" , you wrote. Does that mean Santa Claus isn't real

    ReplyDelete
  3. You're welcome Suzana :)


    I dunno, I think Doctor/Widow/Wardrobe got a bit cheesy at times XD But no, this one is certainly more like the last season than the general fluffy Xmas affair. It's scarier and has more depth to it imo. But the laughs are still there too, as are the feels, which is what I wanted to get across in the teasers ;)


    Santa is most definitely real, the bumpf that accompanies the episode actually says that I am allowed to reveal that he is a true Christmas hero too! Some parents have been concerned that the show may reveal that Father Christmas is a fairytale and ruin Xmas Day for children, and I think the BBC want to put that idea to bed before it airs. That is not going to happen in the story, they just wouldn't do that in a family show when you really think about it, especially on such an important day.

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  4. I wouldn't complain if Faye Marsay was to become a companion in the future at all. She's only got a small role in this but boy does she blow the rest of the guest stars out of the water with what she does have. She makes her character feel far more multifaceted and believable than any of the others, has great comic timing - which is something that always helps from my point of view - and portrays a vulnerability that none of the others seem to be able to do. The other guests, to be quite frank, are very bland in comparison...and I say this as a fan of Michael Troughton and Nick Frost!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am laughing my head off ! I didn't think about the little kid watching. XD
    Indeed, it would be a bummer for them to find out that way, especially on Christmas Day; I don't think that's something they would ever do either. Although It's not the worth way to find out either. Just not on Christmas Day. ><

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha yeah, it's not something I thought of either, not being a parent myself, until it came up elsewhere. Twitter was full of it after the CiN clip cos of what was said in it, which is why I think the beeb want to reassure parents, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So, I take it Faye doesn't become the new companion in this episode?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nope, she's just one of the scientists at the Polar Base. I hadn't read any other previews before writing mine so hadn't seen that others had praised her too. But I'm not too surprised tbh as she is a very talented actress, I loved her as Anne Neville too. She's very good at showing multiple layers to a character, and gives it her all in the comedy stakes too. I will be watching out for her name in whatever she appears in the future, she going to have a bright career I think.

    ReplyDelete

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