It’s Christmas Day and there’s a Doctor Who Special on TV again this year. Written by ex-Showrunner, Steven Moffat, we’re promised a proper festive-themed episode. The Christmas Day Special was revived last year when Russell T Davies took over from Chris Chibnall as Showrunner (who always preferred New Year’s Day to showcase the latest episode).
As usual, here in the UK, it was shown on BBC1 whilst under the new global arrangement for DW distribution, Disney+ handled the rights everywhere else. It went out here at 5.10pm and ran for longer than usual for Who episodes – 60 minutes.
Synopsis
“When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs
…and the Doctor! But a deadly plan is unfolding across the earth, just in time for Christmas”.
First Trailer
After a short video tease on this year’s Children in Need…
…the official Trailer was released a few weeks later online on Thursday, 5 December.
Official Trailer
Starring…
Ncuti Gatwa – The Doctor
Nicola Coughlan – Joy (above)
Steph de Whalley – Anita
Jonathan Aris – Melnak
Joel Fry – Trev
Peter Benedict – Basil
Julia Watson – Hilda
Niamh Marie Smith – Sylvia
Any Good?
I didn’t get around to watching this until Friday, the 27th, where I’d successfully managed to avoid any Reviews online or in print. With Steven Moffat on script-writing duties, I expected a complex plot and perhaps more talking than action. And that’s just what I got! The premise of a Hotel where the rooms can lead to any point in time was a good one to base this story around, but although it started well for me, it went ‘off the boil’ at around the halfway mark.
There’s no doubt that actor Nkuti Gatwa has fully embraced the role of the Doctor, but a little like Jodie Whittaker in the role, this interpretation of my childhood hero is not gelling for me, and he’s a little too emotional for this longtime super-fan.
The story moved at a frantic pace meaning no time for loo breaks for fear of missing something important. There was a lot going on and it really needed a lot of concentration (or, was that just me?) 😕
So, with far too much talking and not enough ‘oomph’, it soon became a bit of a snorefest. The final scenes were so overly sentimental and cheesy, it all felt a bit too ‘forced’ simply linking it to the ‘Christmas Story’. I’m also not sure the (completely unsubtle) dig – on more than one occasion – at the then Government about Covid restrictions was appropriate either. Since when did this TV show try and score political points through its script?
More positively, the special effects from the off were top-notch, where the extra budget, courtesy of Disney, was clear to see. Every actor was at the top of their game in this outing, although I do feel that Joel Fry (as ‘Trev’) deserved a bit more screen time. Also, the growing relationship between our titular hero and Steph de Whalley (playing ‘Anita’, the Hotel Receptionist) deserved expanding.
Thankfully, there were (almost) no scenes in this one where the Doctor was crying (a behaviour that was often commented on in his first series – and not in a good way!) I ‘get’ that these days it’s important for male characters to show their vulnerability, but c’mon, the Doctor is over 1000 years old and had saved mankind humankind on many, many occasions – now he’s often seen as overly-emotional and indecisive, and I don’t like this ‘direction of travel’.
All-in-all then, it started well, but ended in disappointment for me. So, one for completists and collectors! (Oh, that’s me!) 😉😯. I really do hope that things pick up in series 2.
What’s next for ‘Who’?
The next series begins in 2025 and the excerpt below (shown post-credits) doesn’t give much away!
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