The doctor, the widow and the wardrobe (Matt Smith)

(Amazon UK link)

Most of the Doctor Who series start with a Christmas special. It's usually broadcast as a kind of starter to the series, sometimes a month or more before the rest of the series gets going. In general, they don’t have much to do with the rest of the series; they also tend to be a bit longer (perhaps an hour rather than forty minutes). And usually they’re included in the DVD sets. 

However, series seven does not include the 2011 Christmas special - I don’t know why. When we realised this, the first time we were viewing the ‘new’ Doctor Who DVDs, I ordered it specially. And I am extremely glad that I did. We first watched it in January 2014, and loved it. 

It doesn’t add anything much to the ongoing story arcs, but it’s my absolute favourite Christmas special. We watched it as a standalone with one of our sons in December 2021, but I was eager to see it again after we finished watching series six at the end of March.

The title, ‘The doctor, the widow and the wardrobe’, immediately suggests a connection with the first of the Narnia books by CS Lewis - and there are, indeed, several nods to Lewis within the episode. Some of them could easily be missed, but the most obvious one is a land of snow and ice, with Christmas baubles growing on trees.

However, that’s to jump ahead. The first scenes (which I had totally forgotten) involve the Doctor (Matt Smith) on a spaceship that’s about to explode. We don’t really know what’s involved there, although there’s a short prequel which suggests that he’s saving the earth, once again. It looks as though he’s going to blow himself up too, but he manages to escape, and ends up face down in a pit, wearing an astronaut’s suit backwards. The year is 1938, and he’s rescued by a resourceful woman called Madge (Claire Skinner), who is cycling past and hears his cries.

Three years later, Madge’s husband has been called up to war, and she receives a telegram saying that his plane went down, and he is presumed missing. It’s just before Christmas and she decides not to tell her children Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril (Maurice Cole) so as not to spoil their enjoyment of Christmas. They’re going to stay in a mansion that belonged to a great uncle, and there should be a caretaker to look after them.

Instead, the Doctor is there; we never learn what happened to the real caretaker. There’s plenty of light humour as the Doctor demonstrates all the games and treats he has provided for the children, going somewhat over the top. By the tree is a large box, which he tells them must not be opened until Christmas Day…

Unsurprisingly the younger child finds his way into a strange world, and explores, only to find himself in danger… so the Doctor and the older child follow, and the adventure unfolds. It’s nicely done, PG-rated so there’s nothing too stressful. I had remembered the outcome (or some of it) but had forgotten most of the detail. There’s good rapport between the Doctor and Madge (who also follows). 

There’s a strongly environmental theme to this episode, there’s also a lot of character-driven dialogue and plot. I thought Madge was excellent, as were the children, and the idea was a clever one. I understand that some Doctor Who fans consider this rather light-weight and silly; but once again I loved it. It still ranks as my all-time favourite Christmas special; possibly my favourite ever Doctor Who episode.

Highly recommended. Since it’s not part of any series as such, it could stand alone and could make a very good introduction to the series to anyone interested. Having said that, the DVD is quite highly priced, given that it's a single hour-long episode, and the 'extras' are basically compilations of scenes from the sixth series. 

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