jc-osms The first scenes of the annual Dr Who Christmas Special introduce the viewer to Nick Frost's guest turn as Santa Claus, complete with sledge, reindeer and two lippy elves but from there the story gets progressively darker, exploring the darker psyche of humanity as the Doctor, pleasingly reunited with Clara, lands at an Arctic scientific outpost where along with its four inhabitants, they find themselves in a waking dream scenario which threatens to kill them all.Writer Steven Moffat nods at various sci-fi / horror classic films of yesteryear, notably "Alien", "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Inception" even "Ghostbusters" as well as Christmas films "A Christmas Carol" and "The Santa Clause" and weaves a densely layered tale which takes a bit of following, but like Santa on Christmas Eve, gets there in the end.As one would imagine Santa Frost and his two impish assistants get the majority of the funny lines (when asked how he can deliver so many Christmas presents from a single sled, he knowingly counters "Bigger on the inside" and otherwise becomes the seasonal focus of the group's thought processes to thwart the Dream Crab's life-threatening menace. There were some neat touches in the story like Clara's death-prophesying blackboard and the way the Doctor uses random book-reading to alert them to their danger although some other devices were unnecessary in my opinion, most notably the "return" of Danny Pink into Clara's life and the once too often used collective resistance to break the monsters' spell.With barely any day-light shots and being even more set-bound than usual, this Dr Who tale effectively builds up its claustrophobic atmosphere of life-threatening dread until the bearded weirdie in red comes along to save the day. There's an interesting diversion near the end as the Doctor visits a much older Clara from 60 years in the future to play out a blame-and-redemption tete-a-tete before he saves the (Christmas) day and hooks up again with Clara in the TARDIS, just in time for the next series.This wasn't the best Dr Who Christmas special I've seen but had its moments and definitely deserved its prime-time slot on the Christmas schedules.

Dr Moo My summary says it all really. This is the tenth Christmas special since the show returned in 2005 and as of yet this is the best. After the last two years' more plot-based specials ("The Snowmen" & "The Time Of The Doctor") we needed something more accessible and "Last Christmas" delivers.The story is a clever one: Not many writers can get away with the whole It Was All A Dream ending but Moffat does exactly that with great success in a script that goes with a Base Under Siege story (akin to many Second Doctor serials; Two's son has a guest role) while also throwing in scenes straight out of the offensively titled "Alien" (as Troughton Junior points out) and "Inception". Since this is Doctor Who through and through, it doesn't become pure rip-off as Moffat puts his trademark timey-wimey spin on things from start to finish.It does all that without ever letting you forget that this is a Christmas special and that is an impressive feat indeed. It also takes time out to conclude some loose ends from "Death In Heaven" also, such as the true fates of Gallifrey and Danny Pink, without alienating the casual Christmas viewer.Though Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman (who it turns out is not leaving - HOORAY!!!) are both wonderful here it's the guest cast who steal the show, none more-so than Nick Frost as Santa Clause. He shows up in the opening scene and several times throughout even managing to get his name into the titles alongside Capaldi and Coleman. He deserves the titles credit because he is spectacular.This is a moving episode and an extremely festive one too. The scene when the Twelfth Doctor is given the chance to control Santa's sleigh as the group fly over London is sure to be remembered as one of his incarnation's finest moments with the look of pure joy on his face as he does so being something we'll never forget. It's a genuinely moving episode too, such as when Clara seems to be an old woman who is about to die (Spoilers: It's still a dream) or when Shona (Future companion? MAKE IT HAPPEN STEVEN!) doesn't want to leave before promptly leaving and setting out to forgive Dave. What should she forgive Dave for? Is it to forgive David Tennant for leaving Dr Who almost five years ago? That seems too meta, even by Dr Who standards! Maybe she will become a new companion and we'll get to find out?Previously the best Dr Who Christmas episode was 2010's "A Christmas Carol" but that crown has now been stolen by this work of brilliance. This is a great episode of Dr Who in all ways: Excellent one-off characters, unbelievably creepy monsters, clever timey-wimeyness and even a reindeer with a nose like a car door-lock. All this and it's Christmas too! An absolute must. Not as good as "Listen" but otherwise the best Twelfth Doctor episode yet.

alex (doorsscorpywag) just woeful and the worst part is that Clara will be back to stink the series out next year.The threadbare plot involved the head crabs from Half-Life the computer game and some ridiculous dream sequences designed to bring the god-awful Pink back for an encore.And as it was Xmas Santa had to turn up with some caustic elves and a red nose reindeer.Another episode that was mainly about Clara rather than The Doctor and if this continues it will kill a great series. Let's have some Clara less episodes for 2015 (preferably all of them) and get to know The Doctor a bit.As Xmas episodes go this was no better or worse than the rest as they all are pretty awful but this had Clara and that dragged it down a lot. She is one of the worst companions but unlike the rest she is taking over the programme. The plots always seem to revolve around her until her side-kick Peter Capaldi turns up to play second fiddle for her.The Doctor needs a companion as that's the point of the programme but not one so overwhelming. Just somebody to scream a bit and move the plot along.The plot here was an Arctic ice station being invaded by Half-Life head crabs and half of the crew battling to stay alive when Clara and her companion turn up. But nothing is as it seems as cleverly Santa arrives to fill in the blanks and Clara saves the day by getting her companion to do something that resolved the episode.Then a ridiculous ending as Santa allows Clara's companion to find her again and she will be off on a new series of adventures in 2015.If we get Pink back as a ghost then I fear for the future of this great British institution. Capaldi is really good but he can't get a shoe in for bloody Clara. She started well but has overstayed her welcome and needs to sacrifice her life to save some kittens or something.

Theo Robertson I had rather low expectations for this story . The Christmas specials have always been very hit and miss with an attitude of " Oh well it's Christmas therefore the audience won't be expecting much " . Add to this some stunt casting with Nick Frost as Santa and my expectations weren't high , especially when the pre-title sequence seemed to go on for ever , tried and failed to be amusing and by this point I was more interested in what I was drinking rather than what I was watching on screen To be fair once the story gets to the North Pole it does pick up greatly and becomes similar to a base under siege story meets ALIEN . For those middle aged fans this is what DOCTOR WHO has always been about , a sort of family friendly horror show that appeals to the dark , vivid imagination of children . Okay it's not original and there is a strong element of post modernism where characters name check the Ridley Scott horror movie but these are by far the most effective parts of the special and is very enjoyable The problem is Moffat loses focus and there's a very uneven and disjointed aspect to all this and every time Santa appears he took this viewer out of the drama involving the dream crabs . In fact I often found myself thinking that the television had miraculously switched channels and one moment I was watching a childish fantasy then I was watching a horror movie . This can only be described as a failure of sorts . Some people have mentioned INCEPTION and like Nolan's film the storytelling feels the need to constantly tell the audience what is happening and why it is happening . I suppose the one thing in its defence about the dream within a dream plot is that it doesn't appear from nowhere , but at the same time it is bludgeoned over the audiences head in much the same way as the incidental music tries to tell the audience as to what they should be feeling In conclusion this isn't the worst Christmas special the show has come up with . But by the same token it's not the best one either . It's overlong , disjointed and the tone veers all over the place . It's very good in parts but as a consistent whole it's unsatisfying