Doctor Who - The Christmas Special!

The Christmas Special - The Next Doctor? Well, 1850's London looked eerily similar to 2008 Cowbridge, a little town about 20 minutes drive from here (a very expensive one, too!) - but in spite of the unexpected familiarity, the Christmas special really did live up to all of the hype & production promises!

A great show - probably the best Xmas plot in ages, and a real bad villain, in the form of Irish actress Derla Kirwan. Terrifying with those black contacts!

Thought David Morrissey played a very sad 'Doctor'. He'd been zapped by the cybermen sometime before, and his memory had been confused & frazzled with the Cyber database on The Doctor. Morrissey's character therefore thought he was actually the Doctor, and played out the role as best he could. Sadly, he was no timelord, just a rich business man with some of the Doctors implanted memories. His 'sonic screwdriver' was - a screwdriver and his 'TARDIS' - a balloon he thought would take him into space.

I'm not sure he would have made 'The Next Doctor' - his character was eccentric, disturbed & pained, just like a timelord should be, but somehow - he would never have been a replacement for Tennant.

Great show, fantastic characterization, superb plot and some good guest actors. shame it was only an hour long - expected ninety minutes. Still, made Xmas bearable - but no more Who until Easter - when we get.. wait for it.. THE EASTER SPECIAL!

Can't Wait!

Huzzah! The Christmas Special approaches!!

David Tennant returns to our screens in one of his final appearances as the immortal Timelord on Christmas day, at 6pm on BBC Wales.

Also appearing as the Doctor, well, possibly not 'the' doctor, but certainly 'a' doctor is David Morrissey, who plays the part of a future regeneration of the Timelord. The BBC have stated that Morrissey is not going to take over from Tennant, when his reign as the 10th Doctor comes to an end next Christmas, in the last of four specials to be shown throughout 2009. Apparently, this will become obvious during the show.

Both Doctors (each equipped with a TARDIS and sonic Screwdriver) battle their arch enemies the Cybermen, who are as evil and as menacing as ever. In reality, there are only 6 cybermen - they're very expensive to make, as are the animatronic kits which control some of their 'parts'. Clever technology is used to multiply the cybermen, to give the illusion of their appearance en masse. This was the same technique used in Torchwood: where there were only two fully functioning Weevils, and 4 'simple mask' version. On set - there were often dozens!

The plot to this year's show is fairly typical of some earlier Xmas specials, with a few laughs & a lot of 'tongue in cheek' stuff. The show also has its dark moments, though. One minor criticism - unless this has been changed post-production, the arrival of the Tardis in London (or really, Cowbridge, S. Wales) looks pretty naff... and is obviously a fairly clumsy overlay. Let's hope this is sorted prior to transmission!
  

The picture shows Doctor Who cast & crew, who I saw when they were filming this year's Xmas special some months ago.

This was actually filmed on a warmish day in July, and no, this is not 1850's London, it's really 2008 Cowbridge - a smart village in the Vale of Glamorgan, about 15 miles from Cardiff.

The snow looks real enough, but in reality, it was a kind of foamy stuff which actually stuck to, and marked your clothes. It constantly had to be re-sprayed throughout the take.

So, remember... Doctor Who, Christmas Day, 6pm on BBC Wales, and on BBC 1 in the rest of the UK. It'll be worth a watch!! 

Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/ for more info, games, downloads & video.