The Christmas Invasion was the first episode of Doctor Who to be broadcast on Christmas since "The Feast of Steven", the seventh part of the 1966 serial The Daleks' Master Plan. However, unlike that serial, The Christmas Invasion was specially commissioned by BBC One to be transmitted outside of the programme's normal broadcasting season. It was thus the first in the modern tradition of the "Christmas Special", and its sixty-minute runtime made it then the longest episode yet produced by BBC Wales.
Narratively, it was important for continuing the story of Harriet Jones, starting the Torchwoodstory arc, and involving UNIT in its first "major" appearance in the new series.
However, it was far more significant for being the first full story to feature the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant. Its initial, pre-titles sequence on the Powell Estate was later used to "bookend" the closing scenes of The End of Time, because its setting was both the first and last place on Earth the Tenth Doctor saw.
It's Christmas Eve and high above London, the alien Sycorax are holding the Earth to ransom. The Doctor must recover from his regeneration in time to save the human race from slavery.
Plot
It is Christmas Eve on Earth. As Jackie prepares presents and Mickey works in the garage, both of them hear the distinctive sound of the TARDIS' engines. Rushing out into the street of the Powell Estate, they see the TARDIS blink into existence above them, ricochet off a few buildings and a post van, then come to a crashing halt. A strange man stumbles out of the police box doors, greets them by name and wishes them a merry Christmas before collapsing. Rose follows and, in response to Jackie and Mickey's questions, identifies the stranger as the Tenth Doctor.
They bring the Doctor to Jackie's flat and dress him in pyjamas belonging to Howard, Jackie's current beau, who has the habit of keeping pieces of fruit in his pocket for snacks. While Rose discusses the Doctor's change of appearance and the fact he has two hearts with Jackie, they do not see a wisp of vortex energy emerging from the Doctor's mouth, which then floats into space. On television, Prime MinisterHarriet Jones and project director Daniel Llewellyn give a press conference about the Guinevere One space probe, which is about to land on Mars. In space, however, the probe is swallowed up by an island-like spaceship.
That evening, Rose and Mickey go Christmas shopping, but are attacked by a group of masked Santas armed with lethal musical instruments. Managing to escape when the tuba mortar brings a giant Christmas tree down on the Santas, Rose realises that the Santas must be after the Doctor. She and Mickey rush home. When they reach the flat, Rose notices an unfamiliar Christmas tree in the sitting room, which Jackie says was delivered to the door. As they realise that none of them purchased the tree, it comes to life, whirling around with razor-sharp branches.
The three retreat to the bedroom, the "Christmas tree" in hot pursuit. Rose places the sonic screwdriver in the still-comatose Doctor's hand and asks him to help her. Reacting instinctively, the Doctor rises as the tree bursts through the door and disintegrates the tree with the screwdriver. He then strides outside the flat to see who was remotely controlling the tree. From ground level, the Santas stare up at the Doctor, but transmat away when the Doctor points the sonic screwdriver at them. The Doctor calls them "pilot fish" and collapses in pain, saying that Rose woke him up too soon: he is still regenerating. The energy leaking from him has attracted attention, and if the “pilot fish” could trace it, then something bigger is coming. He then loses consciousness again.
PM Harriet Jones during the Sycorax crisis.
The first signal from Guinevere One arrives: a distinctly alien face, which is soon broadcast all over the world. Llewellyn is escorted by Major Blake to the Tower of London, which houses a facility run by the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. There, he meets the Prime Minister and her aide, Alex, who tells him that the cover story is that a student in a mask hacked into the television signal. Llewellyn is shaken to realise that extraterrestrial life does exist, and that both the British government and the United Nations are aware of this. A technician, Sally Jacobs, explains that the signal did not come from Mars but 5000 miles above the planet's surface, which means that there is a ship, and it is moving rapidly towards Earth.
As Rose and Mickey use his laptop to monitor UNIT's readings, the aliens send another signal. The aliens speak in their own language, but Rose does not understand it. Normally, the TARDIS would translate it for her, but it seems that with the Doctor unconscious, that function is not working.
At UNIT, Blake orders the use of translation software. With no sign of the Doctor, Jones asks Blake about "Torchwood". She knows that she is not supposed to know about them – not even the United Nations knows – but she wants them to be ready.
The software rather imprecisely translates the message. The aliens are the Sycorax, and they are claiming the planet as their own, demanding surrender or "they" will die. Their word for "human" also appears to be similar to that of "cattle", temporarily baffling UNIT. Jones declines to surrender, warning the Sycorax that the planet is armed. As dawn rises over London, the Sycorax respond. With a wave of the leader's hand, blue energy sweeps over a third of the world's population, mesmerising them. The mind-controlled people, Sally Jacobs amongst them, climb to the highest spots they can find (primarily the roofs of buildings), and stand at the edge, poised to jump.
Checking the UNIT staff's medical records, Llewellyn discovers that all the affected people have A+ blood. The Sycorax found the sample of A+ blood that was sent with other materials on Guinevere One to identify the human race in case of alien contact, and are somehow using that as a control mechanism. Desperate now, Jones gives an emergency broadcast on television, pleading for the Doctor's help if he is out there. She also informs the public that the Queen's Christmas speech has been cancelled because the Royal Family are "on the roof".
Harriet Jones aboard the Sycorax's ship
Just then, the shockwave of the Sycorax ship entering the atmosphere shatters windows all over the city; the gigantic craft takes position above the centre of London as the frightened population watch. Rose, driven to despair by the Doctor's comatose state and not knowing what else to do, asks Mickey and Jackie to help move the Doctor to the safety of the TARDIS. Jackie gathers food and other supplies, including a thermos flask of tea.
The Sycorax transmat Jones, Alex, Blake and Llewellyn up to their ship. The Sycorax leader removes his helmet, revealing a skinless face surrounded by a mantle of bone. His hand hovering over a large glowing button, he demands immediate surrender, or he will order the controlled humans to jump. Llewellyn tries to reason with the Sycorax, but is reduced to a pile of bones by the leader's energy whip, as is Blake when he protests. Half of the world will be sold into slavery or a third will die; it is Jones's choice.
As Rose and Mickey move the Doctor into the console room, Jackie goes back to get more supplies. Rose, having apparently given up, broods by the console as Mickey tries to use the TARDIS scanner to tune into what is happening, but the time machine's advanced technology is detected by the Sycorax. Outside, Jackie watches helplessly as the TARDIS is transmatted up. Not realising that they are aboard the Sycorax ship, Rose steps out of the TARDIS, and screams when she sees the aliens. Mickey rushes out after her, dropping the flask of tea, which spills and starts dripping through the grilles at the base of the console next to the Doctor's unconscious form. The Doctor breathes in the fumes created as the tea sparks against various components.
Rose tries to bluff the Sycorax by quoting various things and races she has encountered on her travels, commanding them to leave, but is answered with laughter. The Sycorax leader taunts her attempts to pass off second-hand knowledge as authority, but as he gloats, his alien words start turning into English. Rose realises that the TARDIS translation is working again, and as the Doctor must be conscious for it to be active, that can mean only one thing: the Doctor is awake. On cue, the doors of the police box open and the Doctor stands there, smiling as he says, "Did you miss me?"
Easily deactivating the Sycorax leader's energy whip and breaking his staff, the Doctor bluntly tells the alien to wait while he gets more important things out of the way, namely, getting reacquainted with his friends. Disappointed at not being "ginger" (red haired), and somewhat annoyed at Rose's speed in giving up on him, he tells them that all he needed was a "good cup of tea; a superheated infusion of radical (chemistry) free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses." As the Sycorax leader demands to know who he is, the Doctor blithely strides across the ship's floor, nattering on cheerfully and still working out what his personality is like in this new incarnation. He walks up to the glowing button, discovers that it is powered by A-positive human blood, and quickly deduces that the Sycorax are using blood control - they're controlling all the humans with A-positive blood. The Doctor tells the leader that in his unstable state, when he sees a large glowing button he just cannot help himself – and to everyone's shock, he pushes it.
However, instead of sending the possessed crowds on Earth to their deaths, it simply releases them from the Sycorax control. The Doctor explains that blood control is like hypnosis: you cannot hypnotise a person to death as the survival instinct is too strong. The Sycorax were bluffing, and the Doctor merely called them on it. The leader says that they can still conquer Earth with an armada, but the Doctor demands that the humans be left alone (quoting part of "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King in the process), challenging the leader to single combat for the planet.
The swordfight goes from inside the ship to its exterior, but the Doctor is clearly disadvantaged, and in the midst of it, the leader cuts the Doctor's hand off. However, the Doctor is still in the first 15 hours of his regeneration cycle, and regrows his hand, which allows him to gain an advantage over the Sycorax leader and triumph. Holding the leader at sword point at the ship's edge, the Doctor extracts an oath from the leader to leave the planet and never return, in return for the Doctor sparing his life. As the Doctor walks back, celebrating his victory with Rose, the leader tries a final attack whilst the Doctor's back is turned, but the Doctor calmly bounces a satsuma he finds in Howard's dressing gown off a control button, opening a section of the ship's wing beneath the leader, sending the alien plunging to his death. The new Doctor is not a man willing to grant second chances.
The Doctor sends the other Sycorax on their way with a reminder that the planet Earth is defended. They are transmatted back to London, and Jones asks if there are more aliens out there. The Doctor notes that there are thousands; the human race is being noticed more and more. As Jones ponders this, visibly troubled, Alex receives a telephone call and quietly informs Jones that Torchwood is ready. Jones seems reluctant, but nevertheless gives the order to fire. Five green beams converge as one over London, and the resulting energy burst destroys the Sycorax ship as it heads into space.
The Doctor glares at Jones, furious, but she tries to justify the use of the weapon (engineered from a crashed spaceship ten years previously) as defending the planet, especially since the Doctor cannot be there all the time. The Doctor bitterly says he should have warned the Sycorax to run, as the real monsters, the humans, are coming. When Jones asks if she should consider the Doctor another alien enemy, the Doctor warns her that he can bring down her government with just six words. He whispers them in Alex's ear: "Don't you think she looks tired?"
Jackie, Mickey and Rose serve Christmas dinner in the flat. The Doctor looks through the TARDIS wardrobe, finally settling on a brown pinstripe suit and a long brown coat. He joins the others for dinner, and they watch Harriet Jones on the television, fending off rumours about her ill-health and a pending vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. Outside, what looks like snow is falling over London, accompanied by shooting stars, but the Doctor points out that it is, in fact, ash – the remains of the Sycorax spaceship. It is a new start for Earth, however; with so many people seeing the Sycorax ship, there is no covering up the existence of aliens this time.
But there are new worlds to see and explore. With a now-trusting Rose by his side and eager to continue their travels, the Doctor looks up into the sky to choose a star for their next destination, assuring her that it will be, in the words of his previous incarnation, "fantastic".
Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
With The Christmas Invasion came an explosion in the number of people regularly credited on Doctor Who. In particular, the art department got much more specific crediting than had ever been the case in series 1. This trend of expanding the number of art department personnel credited would continue right through to series 5, with each series regularly crediting a few more positions.
The Time Lordregeneration process can take up to fifteen hours to complete. During this time, a Time Lord can regrow severed appendages from the residual regeneration energy. This explains why Romana was able to change her appearance several times before finally setting on the form of Princess Astra in Destiny of the Daleks. This also explains why River Song could survive several bullets to her body and could expell excess regeneration energy. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
Before this episode was broadcast, a fictional tie-in website for the Guinevere One project was created and launched by the BBC. The site includes an introduction by Harriet Jones and an interview with the project director, ProfessorDaniel Llewellyn. The site claims that the probe was developed by the British Rocket Group. The organisation's logo partially appears in this episode, in the televised press conference with Professor Llewellyn. The name of the organisation was first mentioned in Remembrance of the Daleks and is a reference to the British Experimental Rocket Group from the Quatermass science fiction serials of the 1950s. David Tennant had previously starred in the 2005 BBC live remake of The Quatermass Experiment as Doctor Gordon Briscoe, and Quatermass' first line to Briscoe was changed by actor Jason Flemyng during the broadcast from "Good to have you back, Gordon" to "Good to have you back, Doctor" - Tennant's casting as the Doctor was announced two weeks after Quatermass went to air, and his castmates would have been aware of the speculation during rehearsals.
Just before the opening credits sequence, Jackie says the line "Doctor? Doctor who?", continuing a long-running in-joke.
The Tenth Doctor speaks with an accent similar to Rose's but unlike the Ninth Doctor's Northern one. In a radio interview broadcast on 23 December 2005, Tennant explained that a line of dialogue had been scripted for this episode which explained that the newly regenerated Doctor had imprinted on Rose's accent, "like a chick hatching from an egg", but the line was deleted from the final episode.
The opening shot of this episode, in which the Earth and its moon appear, is reused footage from the opening shot of DW: Rose.
According to press reports[source needed] released before this episode was broadcast, producer Russell T Davies stated that he believed Christmas specials should include traditional Christmas items such as sleigh bells, snow, reindeer, and Santa.
Another song featured in this episode is "Song for Ten", an original composition by Murray Gold sung by Tim Phillips. The next two Christmas specials included an original song on the soundtrack. The Phillips version of the song was very brief, and when the time came to compile a soundtrack album, new lyrics were written for the song (reflecting the events of Doomsday) and it was recorded by Neil Hannon. "Song for Ten" is the first original song commissioned for Doctor Who since the untitled rap song heard during the 1988 story DW: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
The original choice for the role of the Tenth Doctor was an unknown (and unnamed by the BBC) English actor who spoke in cockney accent, he didn't get the role because he moved with his family to Australia.[source needed]
One of the outfits considered by the Doctor in the wardrobe is the costume worn by David Tennant in his previous role as Casanova.
When the Doctor is leaving the wardrobe near the end of the episode, a long coat and long (perhaps 6 feet long?) yellow and red scarf (possibly Tom Baker's infamous scarf) can be seen hanging from the very hat rack that appeared in the TARDIS in the Tom Baker years.File:Vlcsnap-15242.png
The hatrack
The laser weapon used to destroy the Sycorax spaceship was similar to the one used by the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
This marks the first time in the new series that any room in the TARDIS other than the console room is seen on-screen.
Some early reports suggested that the enemy would be the Cybermen. Tabloid newspaper The Sun reported that Shaun Dingwall would return as Rose's father, Pete Tyler, and that this episode would be set on an alternate Earth. However, all of these claims were proven to be incorrect when the episode was broadcast, and appear to refer to Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel. Coincidentally, the Cybermen were later announced as the enemies in the later 2008 Christmas special.
After the announcement that Christopher Eccleston would leave after the first series, there were erroneous reports that the regeneration was to take place during the Christmas special, not during The Parting of the Ways. This may have been an intentional red herring in order to maintain at least some element of surprise for the series finale given that the BBC had accidentally blown Russell T Davies' plan for a surprise regeneration.
Influences
Besides being the name of the invading aliens, Sycorax is also the name of the witch in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. In the later series 3 episode, The Shakespeare Code, the Doctor accidentally gives Shakespeare the name "Sycorax" when he sees an animal skull which reminds him of one of the aliens.
The Sycorax, with their curse-like blood control technology and bone-motif costumes, are slightly similar to Faction Paradox, a time-travelling voodoo cult created by Lawrence Miles that were recurring villains in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels.
Harriet Jones's decision to destroy the Sycorax spaceship, despite the fact it was leaving Earth, echoes Margaret Thatcher's decision to sink the Argentinian ship HMS Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War, even though evidence suggests it was actually leaving British waters.
Guinevere One, the name of the probe that Earth sends to Mars, references the myths of King Arthur. In those stories, Guinevere was Arthur's Queen Consort. Her name is an old French form of the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar, which can be translated as "white shadow". Her adulterous affair with Arthur's chief knight, Lancelot, and betrayal of her husband lead to the downfall of their kingdom. In DW: Battlefield, it is revealed that a future incarnation of the Doctor will become Merlin, Arthur's advisor.
When speaking to the Sycorax of the great potential humans possess, the Doctor realises he is quoting from The Lion King.
Harriet Jones's response to the American President's message, namely that she "is in control of the situation and doesn't want him using this as an excuse to start a war", may be an in-reference to the Iraq War and Tony Blair, whose critics have accused him of being a puppet of George W. Bush.
Filming locations
Tredegar House, Newport
Brandon Estate, Kennington, London (The Powell Estate)
Palace of Westminster, Westminster, London
Tower of London, London
Landmark Place, Churchill Way, Cardiff
Hayes Island, Cardiff
Clearwell Caves – Ancient Iron Mines, Coleford, Gloucestershire
Barry Docks, Barry Island, Cardiff
NCP Tredegar Street (also known as St Davids 2), Cardiff, Wales
Wallis House, Great West Road, Brentford
Trafalgar Square, London
30 St Mary Axe (also known as "The Gherkin"), London
Baltic House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff
Wharton Street, Cardiff
Broadstairs Road, Leckwith, Cardiff
Brian Cox Motor Engineering, Bromley Road, Ellwood (Clancy's garage where Mickey is working when the TARDIS arrives in the teaser sequence)
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Unit Q2, Imperial Park, Imperial Way, Newport
HTV Wales Studios, Culvershouse Cross, Cardiff
BBC Kendal Avenue, Kendal Avenue, Acton
BBC Broadcasting House (C2 Studio), Llantrisant Road, Llandaff, Cardiff
Production errors
If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
When the TARDIS is being abducted by the Sycorax, it has already gone, but when Jackie notices it the TARDIS returns and then leaves.
After the Doctor changes his clothes and looks in the mirror, the TARDIS doors are behind it leaving a possible indication that they used the same set as the TARDIS console room.
After Blake is killed, it is the same charred remains as Danny Llywelln.
Continuity
The Doctor's speech to PM Harriet Jones about how "Earth is drawing attention to itself" recalls a similar statement made by the Brigadier in DW: Spearhead from Space. Jones's destruction of the Sycorax ship and the Doctor's angry reaction are similar to the conclusion of DW: Doctor Who and the Silurians, in which the Brigadier uses explosives to seal off the Silurian hibernation chambers even as the Doctor departs to begin peace negotiations.
This is the first Doctor Who episode clearly labelled as a Christmas special. However, the seventh episode of DW: The Daleks' Master Plan, titled "The Feast of Steven", was also written as a Christmas episode and was first broadcast on 25 December1965. In addition, the 2005 episode DW: The Unquiet Dead was set at Christmas time, although it was not broadcast at that time of year.
Martians have previously landed in London in NA: The Dying Days. The Ice Warriors were also said to come from Mars.
The Doctor regrows his severed hand, establishing a notable new twist to the mechanics of regeneration and, in part, suggesting a rationale for Romana II's ability to change her appearance several times during regeneration in DW: Destiny of the Daleks. The Doctor's severed hand, last seen falling to earth in this episode, is later retrieved by Jack Harkness. (TW: Everything Changes, DW: Utopia) Much later, it would return to the Doctor. (DW: Last of the Time Lords) After the Doctor used it as a receptacle for regeneration energy, something compelled Donna to touch the hand, enabling it to grow into the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor (and also turning Donna into the Doctor-Donna). The real Tenth Doctor subsequently took the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor to the parallel universe, leaving him to live out his life there with Rose Tyler. (DW: Journey's End)
The ramifications of the destruction of the Sycorax vessel, including the impact on a group of female (and presumably related) Sycorax, is explored in DWM: The Widow's Curse.
This is one of the few instances in which the TARDIS isn't stationary as it materialises, due to the Doctor speeding it up to breakneck speeds in the time vortex; (DW: Children in Need Special) in most other episodes, the TARDIS stays in one spot as it de- and rematerialises. A similar "materialisation in motion" occurs on two occasions during the next Christmas special, DW: The Runaway Bride.
Jones' statement regarding the Doctor not always being available to help the planet touches on a theme that is revisited in TW: Children of Earth: Day Five. Such an event also comes to pass in DW: The Stolen Earth.
When the Doctor collapses the first time and Mickey questions who he is, the Doctor's position mirrors the position of the Fifth Doctor in DW: The Caves of Androzani.
In a scene filmed for the episode, but deleted before broadcast (though included on the DVD), the Doctor attempts to utter his predecessor's catchphrase, "Fantastic!" but due to his "new teeth" (ref. his comments at the end of The Parting of the Ways) finds it initially impossible to do so. This scene was intended to set up the final scene of the episode in which the new Doctor finally utters the word, "Fantastic!"
When The Doctor regenerates into the Eleventh Doctor in DW: The End of Time, he complains again when he notices that he's "still not ginger", as he does in this story.
A panoramic shot of London reveals construction girders around the Clock Tower of Big Ben, indicating that repair work is still being done following its collision with a spaceship in DW: Aliens of London.
Harriet Jones introduces herself to everyone as "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister" to which whomever she is talking to replies, "Yes, I know who you are", a reference to DW: Aliens of London and World War Three in which she introduces herself to everyone as "Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North". A similar line would also be used in DW: The Stolen Earth.
