The Snowmen (TV story)

The Snowmen was the 2012 Christmas special. It reintroduced Clara, who first appeared in Asylum of the Daleks, albeit under the name 'Oswin', as well as Vastra, Strax and Jenny Flint, who all where last seen in a television episode in A Good Man Goes to War. The Doctor also encounters the Great Intelligence for the first time since PROSE: Millennial Rites, during which he was in his sixth incarnation.

Synopsis
After the deaths of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Doctor retires to Victorian England with Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra. The Doctor meets Clara, a young governess, but at the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding. A series of snowmen are appearing around London and they are growing in size and power. All they want is some human DNA to take over the world, and a drowned mistress is just what they need.

Plot
It is 1842. Children are playing outside. Standing away from the others is a little boy building a snowman. A woman asks him if he'd like to play with the other children. He says that he doesn't need anyone else. The woman tells a man that he's always so alone, and that it's unhealthy. As they leave, he says that he doesn't want to talk to them because they are silly. To his surprise, the snowman he is building repeats this. He runs away as it tells him not to believe anyone else. He starts to walk back to it and it tells him that it can help him.

to be finished

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Clara Oswin Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
 * Walter Simeon - Richard E. Grant
 * Vastra - Neve McIntosh
 * Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
 * Strax - Dan Starkey
 * Voice of the Snowman - Ian McKellen

Story notes

 * This episode is noteworthy for three big changes. The first of which is a new companion, Clara. The second of these is the change to the TARDIS interior and the final change is a update to the title sequence - which now includes the Doctor's face - the first to do so since Survival in 1989. To go along with the new titles, a new variation of the theme tune was used.

Ratings
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Continuity

 * Clara mentions baking Soufflees. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
 * Strax still has confusion over the difference between human females and human males. (PROSE: Devil in the Smoke)
 * The Great Intelligence have previously appeared in TV: The Abominable Snowmen, TV: The Web of Fear, HOMEVID: Downtime, and PROSE: Millennial Rites.

Home video releases
to be added