The trailer for this year’s Doctor Who holiday special has gone live.
As a new tradition, each holiday season, between series of Doctor Who, the character is given one light hearted adventure with no continuity. He’s away from his companions for a single adventure, usually in a snowy place.
The holiday specials have turned out to be some of the best episodes of the new run, including my personal favorite Doctor Who episode, A Christmas Carol, which was a take on the classic Dickens tale.
This year’s special is The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. If the title’s not enough of a clue, the trailer makes it clear that this is a Doctor Who take on the C.S. Lewis novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
It looks clever and exciting and touching, all the things a Doctor Who holiday special should be. It’ll be great to see an adventure contained within a single episode, and which The Doctor will get to solve on his own, without the added drama of Amy and Rory slowing him down.
The guest star you see there, playing the part of “the widow” Madge Ardwell, is Claire Skinner (known to UK audiences for Sense and Sensibility). She’ll likely play the part of a sort-of temporary companion, someone for the Doctor to bounce ideas off of as he attempts to save the lost child, and discover the secret of the snowy forest inside the TARDIS.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe will air on Christmas Day 2011.
