A Ghost Story for Christmas (webcast)

A Ghost Story for Christmas is the title of a three-minute webisode uploaded to the BBC Doctor Who Adventure Calendar website on 24 December 2009. Narrated by John Barrowman (as Jack Harkness), the mini-story tells of the Weeping Angels (last seen in DW: Blink) and depicts their abduction of a young woman named Julia Hardwick.

The actual title of the story is not presented on screen. This title is the one given on the original website.

Synopsis
Jack Harkness narrates an account of the Weeping Angels and their origin, as a young woman named Julia Hardwick examines clues suggesting that she, in her future, would find herself living in the 1880s under the name Julia Baker. Julia's investigations eventually lead her to a cemetery where, moments after finding a gravestone reading "Julia Baker: 1987-1949" she is touched by a Weeping Angel.

Cast

 * Jack Harkness (narrator) - John Barrowman
 * Julia Hardwick (aka Julia Baker) - uncredited

Flashback footage from Blink

 * Sally Sparrow - Carey Mulligan
 * Kathy Nightingale - Lucy Gaskell
 * The Tenth Doctor - David Tennant

Production crew
To be added

Story notes

 * This is a sequel of sorts to DW: Blink by Steven Moffat.
 * The story's title is the same as that of a popular annual series of BBC Christmas specials that aired through the 1970s.
 * The webisode is presented in a similar format to Captain Jack's Monster Files, but with original footage of the character Julia Hardwick added. It is generally considered to be an instalment of the Monster Files but stands apart from the rest of the series, with no reference made to it being part of the Monster Files. In particular, unlike other Monster Files instalments, the webisode contains no footage of Captain Jack in the Hub (which would be consistent with the Hub having been destroyed in TW: Children of Earth: Day One).
 * The identity of the narrator as Captain Jack is established when he makes a joke about how the Angels would handle his immortality.
 * Julia's original last name is visible in a newspaper article shown on screen; her later name appears on a tombstone.
 * Like the other videos created for Captain Jack's Monster Files, this clip was technically viewable only from within the UK, though it immediately was reposted to other video sharing sites.
 * Despite its title, the story makes no reference to Christmas - or to ghosts - whatsoever.
 * Running just over three minutes, A Ghost Story for Christmas stands as the shortest filmed storyline ever produced for the Doctor Who franchise (a mini-episode of similar length made for Tonight's the Night doesn't count as it is a non-canonical spoof).

Ratings

 * Not applicable as this story was never televised.

Filming locations
to be added

Myths and rumours
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Given that the story incorporates footage from Blink, it is unclear whether or not the abduction of Julia Hardwick actually occurs within canon, although there is nothing in that part of the story to suggest that it does not. Since she examines a gravestone dated 2009, Hardwick's disappearance must take place over a year after the events of Blink (whose principal setting can be dated to 2007, again by a gravestone), suggesting that the Angels may have escaped their predicament at the end of that story. As a later televised episode, DW: The Time of Angels, establishes the Angels continue to exist into the 51st century, there is nothing to suggest the incident with Julia could not have occurred within continuity.
 * The story implies that Julia somehow becomes her own ancestor due to the time shifting.

Home video releases
No home video release has been announced as yet. As of 2011 none of the Captain Jack's Monster Files instalments have received home video release. The most likely venue for this webisode would have been in the Complete 2009 Specials set, but this did not occur.