The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

"I found a spaceman in a field."

Writer: Steven Moffat

Format: TV

Broadcast: 25 December 2011

Series: 2011 Christmas Special

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor

Synopsis

Christmas Eve, 1938. Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel, the Eleventh Doctor, who promises to repay her kindness - all she has to do is make a wish. Three years later, Madge escapes war-torn London with her two children for dilapidated house in Dorset. Crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the English Channel, she wishes to give her children the best Christmas ever. The Arwells are greeted by the Doctor, who acts as their madcap caretaker. However, a mysterious Christmas gift from him leads them into a wintry, magical world. Madge must learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible... and that wishes can come true.

Verdict

The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was a decent episode to continue our modern rewatch! I must admit I wasn't exactly excited to get watching this Christmas Special for 2011 as I do believe it is comfortably the worst of the festive episodes within the modern era, but it's still not bad by any means as my rating reflects! I do think I enjoyed it more than I expected and whilst it's not ideal to be watching a Christmas story in the summer, I really did appreciate how well the theme was utilised. It felt festive and that was lovely! It does feel wrong that essentially for the second Christmas special in a row the Doctor is travelling without Amy and Rory, and the ramifications following on from The Wedding of River Song really are strong. He believes that his companions think him dead, but of course we know River revealed that isn't true. But still, here he is jollying about and I think Madge does a somewhat decent job of filling the role. I mean, there's only so much joy and enthusiasm a widow can bring to a story and it's clear that the impact of the Second World War is being felt. It's nice to get to know the Arwell family and whilst I wasn't a huge fan of Cyril, it's clear how much he loved his dad. The same could be said for Lily too but she was a little older and more mature which meant she was very much interested in the Doctor. I thought this introduction to the manor as the caretaker was good fun and the sheer joy he had in showing Lily and Cyril their room of wonder was magnificent. Hammocks! What wasn't to love? The moment he goes to jump on them and completely misses falling between them had me in stitches. They very much do seem to have developed a fault. I thought the open was a little strange and just unnecessary with the use of the impact suit seeing the Doctor fall to Earth from an impossible height, but it was a good introduction for Madge and the fact he had the suit on the wrong way around was good to preserve the fact they'd actually met already when we got to three years later. He recognised the driving too when in the Androzani vehicle as it was a little bumpy to say the least! Cyril going exploring through the dimensional door and into the world that was to be harvested was good, and the Doctor and Lily going after him was pretty fun if not a little long. I thought the design of the Wooden King and Queen was superb and my first reaction when seeing the King was disbelief that Eaglemoss never released a special figure! It seemed perfect for such a thing. Unfortunately, the design is where their successes seem to finish as they don't seem that great as part of the episode. Wooden people as avatars essentially and even the building being fake? It was a little much for my liking. It was a nice moment though for Madge to be the one strong enough to pilot as what could do such a job more than the mother ship? It bordered cheesy, but the power that came from her emotional reveal to her children that their father had died when we were seeing her memories was huge. We'd seen how he courted her to marriage but now we could potentially see him die. Except thanks to Madge piloting through the Time Vortex itself, she could be the light that Reg would follow and she brought him to safety and to the future of Christmas Day! It was an emotional ending that was really nice to see a family thought permanently broken apart brought back together. And it was nice for Madge to push the Doctor into telling his friends that he wasn't exactly dead. He'd been gone for two years as far as Amy and Rory were concerned, but neither was surprised to see him which surprised the Doctor somewhat. It was beautiful though to see the theme of happy tears carried full circle by the end of the episode when the Doctor learned that his companions always left a place for him at their table. Here he was ready for Christmas with the Ponds and that was just beautiful. Overall, a strong special as a whole! 

Rating: 7/10