A boy called Christmas (Henry Lawfull)

(Amazon UK link)

We usually like watching Christmas films during December, and I’m always interested in recommendations for films we haven’t previously seen. I expect the reason I came across the 2021 film ‘A boy called Christmas’ at some point last year is that Maggie Smith was in it. I probably heard of it around the time she died in the Autumn of 2024. I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas last year.

However, we didn’t get the opportunity to watch any films in the last week of December 2024, and by January had decided we would return to non-Christmas films.  And now, nearly a year later, we finally sat down to watch it. I had entirely forgotten any descriptions or blurb that I might have read, so we had no idea what to expect.

The film opens with the elderly Aunt Ruth (a typical Maggie Smith character) walking through a snowy street to a house where she is going to be babysitting. There are three children, and their father has to go out to do some important work. Their mother died just a few months earlier, and they have decided not to celebrate Christmas at all this year. Only the youngest acknowledges that he’s still grieving.

Doctor Who: Revolution of the daleks (Jodie Whittaker)

(Amazon UK link)

Apparently it’s just over two years since we finished watching the excellent 12th series of Doctor Who with Jodie Whittaker. It ended with a dramatic episode where the Doctor’s origins were discovered. Her companions returned to Earth, but the doctor, right at the end, was put in a space jail by the Judoon. 

I had forgotten all this in the intervening period when I was hoping that we might acquire the thirteenth season. We did have the New Year special episode - ‘Revolution of the Daleks’ - but I’m not a huge fan of daleks, and decided we would wait until we had the following season on DVD too. They were a gift at Christmas, and since we just finished watching the first four seasons of ‘Father Brown’, it was time for another Doctor Who series. 

So, last night, we watched ‘Revolution of the daleks’. It opens with the Doctor’s companions, Yas (Mandip Gill), Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) doing a lot of research. Yas can’t quite believe that the Doctor won’t return, but it’s been a long time since they last saw her. Ryan has been getting back with friends, and trying to make a career for himself. 

And then the new Prime Minister (Harriet Walter) announces new security drones. To the horror of the Doctor’s companions, they look like daleks. There are some scenes with a wealthy, unscrupulous American businessman (Chris Noth) clearly in cahoots with the Prime Minister - but it appears that his only motivation is financial exploitation. He has no idea what daleks were. 

A young and enthusiastic scientist (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is pioneering the project, ensuring everything works, and perhaps all would have been well if he hadn’t discovered a remnant of dalek DNA which he was able to clone…

At least, that’s my understanding of the opening scenes, which happen with such rapidity that it was difficult for me to keep up. The Doctor, who is very bored in space jail, is released unexpectedly after the appearance of Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). I didn’t follow that subplot at all, but wasn’t surprised that the Doctor (with Jack in tow) arrive in the Tardis in Graham’s living room while the team are discussing the new dalek-like machines.

It’s a fast-paced episode but there are some excellent interludes of discussion: the Doctor with Ryan, and - later - the whole group. I very much like the depth of characterisation of the companions which has been such a feature of the ‘new’ Doctor Who series that began when the show was reborn in 2005 (in checking that date, I’m astonished to find that it was nearly twenty years ago!). 

It’s the characters and their stories that have kept me watching; science fiction and fast action are not generally my preferred genres of film. I used to watch the ‘old’ Doctor Who, as a child, behind the sofa. It took the persuasion of both my sons to start watching again - and we didn’t do so until 2011, although we then quickly acquired DVDs of the next few series until we had caught up. There are interesting story arcs, and the acting is good, with odd unexpected humour here and there to balance the tension. 

And while I loathe daleks (who epitomise violence and hatred), they weren’t actually too stressful in this episode. The Doctor comes up with risky ideas to vanquish them, which (inevitably) are successful; but while they’re still on earth although we see random ‘exterminations’ they’re done with random people in a variety of places, most of whom have not been introduced. Not that it makes it any better, but I knew it was visual effects - modern graphics and CGI somehow make them less threatening than the very scary daleks of the 1970s. Or perhaps it’s just that I’m fifty years older. 

I’m glad we’ve finally watched this DVD which has been sitting in our to-be-watched drawer for over a year. It’s not my favourite episode, but it was well worth seeing, and is useful from the continuity point of view, bridging Series 12 and Series 13 (which we will start watching next week). 

Our DVD came with some 'art cards' (which we put straight in the paper recycling, not wanting to collect yet more clutter), and has a couple of brief 'extras' on it: one is from the point of view of the Doctor and her three companions, and was very interesting. The other featured John Barrowman trying to recall lines from his time on the series, and was a bit weird. 

Recommended if you’re a fan of the series. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews