The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)

The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was the 2011 Christmas special of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
It’s Christmas Eve, 1938, when Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel as she cycles home. He 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 a dilapidated house in Dorset. She is crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the English Channel, but determined to give Lily and Cyril the best Christmas ever. The Arwells are greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical, wintry world. Madge must learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible and that wishes can come true.

Plot
A spaceship approaches Earth. 1938 and prepares its weapons to open fire on it. However, it begins to explode thanks to the Doctor, who is currently running for his life. Sealing off the part of the ship that is exploding, the Doctor soon finds the end he's in has fallen apart and the vaccum of space is pulling him out. Seeing a space suit near him, the Doctor tries reaching for it, but causes it to fall out of the ship. Taking advantage of his Respiratory bypass system, the Doctor lets go of the ship and falls after the suit, barely missing getting caught in the explosion. Grabbing hold of the suit, the Doctor attempts putting it on as he enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Elsewhere, in England, a woman named Madge Arwell is riding her bike home. Something galls out of the sky and impacts in the near by park. She goes to see what fell and finds the space suit inside a crater. Worried that someone may be hurt inside it, Madge opens the visor to find the Doctor inside, but with the helmet on backwards. Dazed, the Doctor asks for assistance in finding a police box. Madge returns home to retrieve the keys to her car and takes the Doctor to a police box. She wonders why he hasn't taken off his suit and he explains it's a Impact suit; it's healing him from the fall. Madge picks the lock as the Doctor cannot get to his key, making him joke he may not have been as safe as he thought. The Doctor tells Madge that he will repay her kindness, all she has to do is make a wish. However, he finds she found the wrong police box; it's not the TARDIS. He asks her if they can try again.

A few years later, in the Second World War, Madge's pilot husband, Reg is flying his plane, blind, and looking for a lead to help him navigate his way. Seeing nothing, Reg looks and a picture of Madge and appologises before noticing a bright light ahead of him. Soon after, Madge receives a telegram, infroming her that Reg was lost at sea. Deciding not to tell her chidlren, Cyril and Lily about what happened to keep them happy at Christmas. Because of the bombing, she and her children are soon to leave for Uncle Digby's country estate. She makes a silent wish to the Doctor (a view through Cyril's telescope shows the TARDIS).

They arrive at Digby's estate, where, unknown to Madge, the Doctor is their caretaker. He shows them around the estate, which he has upgraded with delightful gizmos. Madge tells the Doctor in private that he should not be spoiling them so much as she will have to soon tell them the truth about their father. The Doctor agrees until the sound of surprise from Cyril and Lily leads them to a room where the Doctor has set up an elaborate tree with a large gift from himself. Madge is shocked by the numerous toys the Doctor has put in the room and tries asking him why he did this, but finds that he has walked out.

That night, Cyril decides to sneak out and open the Doctor's present before Christmas and finds that it contains a portal to another world, covered in snow. He finds one of the trees sprouting what appears to be ornaments and grabs one from it. Cyril notices a face on it and drops the ornament, running back into the portal. Something hatches from the ornament and walks off.

Back in the house, Lily has grown worried about Cyril and wile looking for him notices lights coming from the attic. Investigating, she finds the Doctor inside, working on the electics, with the TARDIS next to him. Lily quetions the Doctor as to why he has a police box in his room and he lies, saying it's his wardrobe, painted to look like one. In midconversation, the Doctor realizes that Cyril may be peeping at what's in his gift to them and quickly runs with Lily to find Cyril re-entering the portal with a torch.

They arrive, oddly, a few minutes after him due to the temporal nature of the portal. The Doctor explains that this gift was supposed to be a supervised trip for them to one of the safest planets he knows because of the beautiful natural Christmas trees. In the meantime, Cyril has traced footprints left by the creature that hatched to a tower-like structure.

Back in the house, Madge feels uneasy and looks around for Cyril, Lily and the Doctor, only to find that they are not there. She decides to investigate the present and finds the portal, entering the forest herself. Soon there, Madge meets three Harvest Rangers, who inform her that she's in the future after discovering she time traveled via a scan and explain that acid rain will come down soon to melt the trees into a fuel source. Madge is less than willing to believe them and pulls a gun out, demanding to know the truth.

Elsewhere, Cyril has entered the structure and makes his way to the top; inside are wooden statues of a king and a queen. As Cyril sits on a throne in the top of the tower, the Wooden Queen comes to life and puts the crown on him. At the same time, the Doctor and Lily have arrived and begin acceding the stairs. However, the Wooden King comes to life and follows them up. Frantically trying to open the door, the Doctor succeeds and finds Cyril inside. He asks the Queen and King what they are trying to do and learns that they are trying to evacuate the life force of the entire forest before the Androzani Trees are melted. That's why they lured Cyril to them, but he is too weak to carry their life force off the planet. To the Doctor's chagrin, he is also too weak. Lily, is strong, but too young.

In the meantime, Madge has been taken to the Harvest Rangers vehicle, where they try re-explaining things and that they will be evacuated soon. One of the rangers is sympathetic to Madge wanting to find her children, but is teleported away with the others when the order is given for the acid rain to begin falling. Madge then hears Cyril over the radio, saying that he will wait at the tower until she comes as she always comes.

The Doctor tries explaining to Cyril that the portal that they used to get to this planet will close soon and that they have very little time. However, the child remains adamant about staying. Everyone then notices that the ground is shaking and look outside; the rangers' vehicle, a giant robot, is being poorly piloted towards the tower. The Doctor recognises the driver; Madge. Madge tells the Doctor that he is fired as caretaker before crashing the robot next to the tower.

The Doctor rushes her inside and the Wooden Queen and King decide that Madge is strong and old enough. The Doctor then realises that they are using a base translation, saying that all life comes from the "mother ship". The forest's life force enters Madge and the Doctor makes sure that she's well as the room they're all in separates from the tower and launches itself into the time vortex. On the Queen's instructions to simply think of her destination, Madge thinks of home and the happy memories she has there. However, she then sees an image of her husband about to crash to his death. Her children realise she's been keeping a secret from them.

In a flash of light, everyone is transported to Digby's backyard. The Doctor reveals that the life force of inside Madge and inside the Wooden Queen and Wooden King have left and are now out in space. Madge tries hugging her kids, but they ask what she meant about their father dying; the Doctor excuses himself. However, when the Doctor exits, he finds a surprise and tells Madge to come out. Despite Madge telling the Doctor to let her continue, he takes them outside, where Reg is revealed to have landed right behind them. The Doctor explains that her love for Reg lead him into the time vortex and he used the light given off from the escape pod as a guide. Reg wonders what happened until he is told it's Christmas, causing him to put aside the thought and enjoy the holiday with his family.

Later, the Doctor prepares to leave just as Madge enters the attic. Seeing the TARDIS, she realises that the Doctor was the spaceman she helped years earlier. Madge offers the Doctor the chance to stay with her family and enjoy Christmas, but he tells her that he cannot. Thinking he must have a family of his own to spend Christmas with, Madge is corrected when the Doctor says they think he's dead. Madge tells him that it's wrong for them to think he's dead at Christmas, urging him to go and see them. However, just as he enters the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Madge that if she ever needs his help again, she just needs to make a wish Just as the Doctor leaves, Reg enters, wondering what the TARDIS was. Madge calmly explains the Doctor returned to the time vortex; she thinks it's a lovely place.

The Doctor arrives at Amy and Rory's, surprising Amy when she answers the door, thinking it was Christmas carolers again. He greets her awkwardly, wondering how long it has been since they last met him, to which Amy tells him two years, making it 2013. Amy reveals to the Doctor that River told them the truth and says she's not applogising first. However, she then smiles and invites the Doctor in, calling Rory to see who's at the door. Rory tries pretending to be shocked, but Amy tells him that they've been past that. The Doctor asks if they have room for one more, to which they tell him that they've been setting a place for him every Christmas since 2011. As Amy and Rory head in, the Doctor starts to have tears of sentiment before he closes their, joining his in-laws for Christmas dinner.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Madge Arwell - Claire Skinner
 * Cyril Arwell - Maurice Cole
 * Lily Arwell - Holly Earl
 * Reg Arwell - Alexander Armstrong
 * Co-Pilot - Sam Stockman
 * Wooden King - Spencer Wilding
 * Ven-Garr - Paul Bazely
 * Droxil - Bill Bailey
 * Billis - Arabella Weir
 * Wooden Queen - Paul Kasey

Planets

 * The Doctor says that the planet is one of the safest planets he knows.
 * According to the Doctor Fairyland doesn't look anything like the planet they're on.

Story notes

 * Alexander Armstrong (Reg Arwell) previously supplied the voice of Mr Smith throughout the run of The Sarah Jane Adventures and in the Doctor Who story The Stolen Earth / Journey's End.
 * Arabella Weir (Billis) previously played an alternative, female version of the Third Doctor in BFDWU: Exile.
 * Spencer Wilding (The Wooden King) previously played the Minotaur in DW: The God Complex.
 * This is the first Doctor Who story of the Matt Smith era where neither Karen Gillan nor Arthur Darvill's names appear in the opening credits. Claire Skinner's name appears instead.
 * At seven words, this episode has the longest title of any Doctor Who episode.

Ratings

 * UK Overnights: 8.92m (34.2% share)
 * UK Final: 10.77m
 * UK Live+7: 12.88m

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * The plane Reg was flying is an Avro Lancaster, which didn't see active service until 1942, but the episode is set in 1941.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions the Magna Carta. (DW: The King's Demons)
 * The Harvest Rangers are from Androzani Major. (DW: The Caves of Androzani)
 * The Doctor refers to a tree from the Forest of Cheem fancying him, referencing Jabe. (DW: The End of the World)
 * The sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood. (DW: Silence in the Library, The Hungry Earth)
 * The Doctor's respiratory bypass system has previously let him survive briefly in the vacuum of space. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
 * Madge Arwell aims a Webley revolver at the Harvest Rangers. The same type of revolver has been carried by Jack Harkness and Wilfred Mott.
 * The Doctor describes crying when happy as being "humany-wumany", much like he described time as "a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...stuff" to Sally Sparrow. (DW: Blink)
 * It has been two years since the Doctor last met Amy and Rory, suggesting the closing scene takes place at Christmas 2013. If so this marks a return to the "one year after the real world" dating for present-day Doctor Who, which had been dropped after the end of Series 4, only now it appears the gap is two years.
 * Reg says "I'm sorry, my love" much as River Song said to the Doctor. (DW: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang)

For the Doctor

 * This story occurs after: WC: Prequel (The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

For Amy and Rory

 * This story occurs after: DW: The Wedding of River Song
 * This story occurs some time before they wave at their past selves in: DW: The Hungry Earth

Home video releases

 * The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe has been released on a standalone DVD and Blu-ray on 16 January 2012.