Christmas 2014 special: ‘Last Christmas’

Written by Steven Moffat.

Directed by Paul Wilmshurst.

Air date: Thursday 25 December 2014.

Filming: From Monday 8 September 2014 until Friday 3 October 2014.

Main cast: Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara.

Guest cast: Nick Frost as Father Christmas, Dan Starkey as Ian, Nathan McMullen as Wolf, Michael Troughton as Professor Albert, Natalie Gumede as Ashley Carter, Faye Marsay as Shona, Maureen Beattie as Bellows.

Official synopsis: “The Doctor and Clara face their Last Christmas. Trapped on an Arctic base, under attack from terrifying creatures, who are you going to call? Santa Claus!”

Peter Capaldi: “There’s something quite profound that happens to [Clara] in this story… but of course I can’t go into that.”

Steven Moffat: “It’s certainly the strangest bloody thing I’ve ever written.”

Peter Capaldi: “It’s both really scary and really festive. It manages to be quite frightening and still have Santa Claus in it. It is extremely Christmassy but there is a plot line in it that is quite dark and I think Steven has done a brilliant job at balancing those two things.”

Steven Moffat: “The buddy movie you’ve always wanted. I keep describing it as Miracle on 34th Street meets Alien.”

Jenna Coleman: “She’s just really glad to be back with him. She’s dealing with the death of Danny Pink but happy to be back in the arms of the TARDIS again, and meeting Santa. A lot of the episode is about telling that adventure, and it’s about the Doctor and Clara resolving what they’ve just been through.”

Steven Moffat: “Santa is written in properly, in a science-fiction way, into Doctor Who. Nick is ideal. He’s what Santa should be in Doctor Who land.”

Nick Frost: “My Santa is cross, mean and curt as well as cheery and funny. He’s got a little bit of Robert de Niro in Mean Streets. And he has a history with the Doctor, it’s not talked about explicitly but they have a beef with each other from way back.”

Steven Moffat: “[Michael Troughton] doesn’t play the son of Doctor Who or anything, he plays a scientist.”

Nick Frost: “I wanted to make [Father Christmas] slightly edgy and cross at times and a bit like a gangster. I want viewers to be kept in the dark as to his intentions, so you don’t know if he’s good or if he’s evil.”

TV & Satellite Week: “The Doctor and Clara are called into action when the crew of a polar base come under attack from a mysterious band of new villains known as the Sleepers and the Dream Crabs.”

Steven Moffat: “Santa could never be evil, for heaven’s sake! Santa is both real and a Christmas hero. No no, don’t worry any parents who were worried about that. Santa is presented, as he is in real life, as a great Christmas hero.”

Jenna Coleman: “It’s written in sections and it’s about dreaming – what is real and what is not.”

Natalie Gumede: “It was a completely new realm for me and I kind of sat at the sidelines in awe of all the special effects. Normally you’re on a set and you’re on a street or in a kitchen in a house but this time we were on a spaceship!”

Paul Wilmshurst‏: “And that’s a wrap on the Doctor Who Xmas Special. Been a lovely experience – fab crew, fab cast, fab script, fab sets.”

Nick Frost: “I’m so thrilled to have been asked to guest in the Doctor Who Christmas special, I’m such a fan of the show. The read-through was very difficult for me; I wanted to keep stuffing my fingers into my ears and scream “No spoilers!” Every day on set I’ve had to silence my internal fan boy squeals!”

Steven Moffat: “[Nick] Frost at Christmas – it just makes sense! I worked with Nick on the Tintin movie many years ago and it’s a real pleasure to lure him back to television for a ride on the TARDIS.”

Jenna Coleman: “People don’t have any idea [if I’m staying or going]. I think people can watch the show, not knowing whether I am [going] or not, and I think that’s exciting … there’s a surprise we’ve got coming, it’s much better that nobody knows which way it’s going to go.”

Peter Capaldi: “I’ve read she may be leaving at Christmas, but I don’t even know if she’ll get to Christmas, you’ll have to watch it and see what happens.”

 

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