'Doctor Who Christmas Special' Review: Story Sentimental, Festive, Creepy - And Jenna Coleman Is Staying!

REVIEW: Doctor Who Was Festive, Sentimental And Creepy - And Clara's Staying!
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'Doctor Who' fans have had a double treat this Christmas - a fine special edition of the show, all creepy, sentimental and festive in one - and news that actress Jenna Coleman has been persuaded to stay for another series as the Doctor's companion Clara.

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Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi were joined by Nick Frost as Santa Claus for this year's Christmas special

In the Christmas Day feature, Clara joined the Doctor in a race to the North Pole, where they encountered a group of scientists stuck in a dream within a dream, dying all the while, courtesy of some dream crabs' stuck to their faces, as references to 'Inception' and 'Alien' abounded - as well as an enigmatic Santa Claus, played by a perfectly-cast Nick Frost. Clara's fate seemed doomed - or at least made normal - as viewers saw her becoming a pensioner, until the Doctor had other ideas and swept her back in time to join him in other adventures.

Jenna had been hinting that she would be off at the end of this year, after Peter Capaldi's first full season as the Timelord, but was apparently persuaded by bosses to stay, because she "couldn't bear to walk away" at Christmas.

She reveals now: “It’s wonderful, I get a whole another series of stories with the Doctor and I think for me, I couldn’t walk away with the story being unresolved.

"There is so much more to do.

"I think they have finally reached a point where they really understand each other."

"The arrival of the 12th doctor has just kind of dropped this whole bombshell and allowed the dynamic to totally change, so I think just when Clare was feeling more comfortable in the relationship, it has suddenly thrown something new up."

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Jenna Coleman has been persuaded to stay with the show, for another series at least

As well as the catalogue of knowing film references and sharp asides in the script, keen fans of the series will have particularly enjoyed the final encounter between pensioner Clara and the Doctor. It was a neat reversal of the episode where the pair first met, when she was disappointed by his looks compared with those of the fresh-faced Matt Smith, and this new Doctor begged her to see him for who he really was.

This time around, it was Clara's turn, and the Doctor did not let her down. Nick Frost was perfectly cast, too, as an enigmatic Santa Claus, in an instalment that offered the chance for Stephen Moffat to do for dreams what he previously did for statues and blinking.

Doctor Who Companions
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British actress Carole Ann Ford (centre, right) makes a horn sign at a Dalek from the BBC television science fiction series 'Doctor Who', at the Daily Mail Schoolboys' and Girls' Exhibition at Olympia, London, 28th December 1964. In the series, Ford plays Susan Foreman, the companion of the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell. (Photo credit: Victor Drees/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Dr Who encounters the ancient Aztecs in an episode of the famous TV series in 1964. From left to right, the actors are John Ringham, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, William Hartnell (1908 - 1975) and Keith Pyott. (Photo credit: Moore/Fox Photos/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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British actors Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen pose in 1974, who star in the new BBCTV series 'Dr Who'. (Photo by Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Tom Baker as the new Dr Who in 1974. He is shown here with a Cyberman and his assistant Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, at the BBC television centre. (Photo credit: Frank Barratt/Keystone/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Dr Who (actor Peter Davison) and female companions of the Doctor's past and present pose in 1983. (l-r) Louise Jameson, Carole Ann Ford, Caroline John, Sarah Sutton, Elisabeth Sladen and Janet Fielding. (Photo credit: PA) (credit:PA)
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Paul McGann (as The Doctor) and Daphne Ashbrook (as Dr. Grace Holloway) in Doctor Who, shown in 1996. (Photo credit: WENN.com) (credit:WENN)
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Actress Catherine Tate arrives at the press launch of 'Dr Who' series 4 at the Apollo West End in 2008 in London. (Photo credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Doctor Who, played by Sylvester Mccoy, poses with his companion Melanie, played by Bonnie Langford, in 1987. (Photo credit: Photoshot/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Doctor Who, played by Colin Baker, with companion Peri, played By Nicola Bryant in 1986. (Photo credit: Photoshot/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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20th November 1980: Tom Baker, who plays Dr Who in the childrens TV series, is to marry Lalla Ward, who plays his assistant Romana in the series. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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1980: Actress Lalla Ward, Dr Who's assistant in the BBC television series, riding K9, the doctor's robotic 'dog', in a park (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Actor Jon Pertwee, a former Dr Who, and actress Elisabeth Sladen, who played his companion in the series, at Heathrow Airport where they departed to Miami to attend a Dr Who convention (PA) (credit:PA)
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Tom Baker, as Doctor Who, and Mary Tamm as his companion, Romana, on the set of the BBC television science fiction series 'Doctor Who', at BBC TV Centre, London, 25th April 1978. (Photo by Fred Mott/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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English actors Jon Pertwee (1919 - 1996) and Elisabeth Sladen (1946 - 2011) outside BBC TV Centre, London, 26th June 1973. Pertwee and Sladen play Doctor Who and his companion Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series 'Doctor Who'. (Photo by William H. Alden/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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Peter Purves
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DR Who: Billie Piper, Christopher Eccleston (credit:WENN)
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Bernard Cribbins (and David Tennant collect the award for best Drama received for Dr Who during the National Television Awards 2010.
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Dr Who (credit:BBC )
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The eleventh Doctor Who, actor Matt Smith, and his companion Amy Pond, actress Karen Gillian, arrive at the screening of an episode of the new Doctor Who series at Cineworld, Cardiff (Ben Birchall/PA Wire) (credit:PA)
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James Corden and Matt Smith take a break from filming the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who Penarth, Wales. Photo: WENN.com
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