“C’mon it’s Christmas! At the North Pole! Who ya gonna call?”
I am guessing not the Ghostbusters team, despite the insistent bouncy hum off the iconic theme song in my head, but rather one Santa Claus, played with swagger and brio and just the right amount of Santa-ness – hard to measure but trust me he has it in snow shovels full – by English comedian Nick Frost who looks to be having a ball filling the much-loved red suit and black boots of everyone’s favourite North Pole resident.
But if the words of Peter Capaldi who plays Doctor Who incarnation #12 prove true, it’s not all Rudolph and elves in Last Christmas, described by showrunner Steven Moffatt as “Miracle on 34th Street meets Alien“, which contains some dark, festive fare, including it is rumoured, the departure of Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) from the show:
“It’s both really scary and really festive. It manages to be quite frightening and still have Santa Claus in it. It is extremely Christmassy but there is a plot line in it that is quite dark and I think Steven has done a brilliant job at balancing those two things.” (Cultbox)
But never fear though there may be evil lurking in the snowy climes of the North Pole, Santa Claus is, and will always remain a good guy assures Moffat:
“Santa could never be evil, for heaven’s sake! Santa is both real and a Christmas hero. No no, don’t worry any parents who were worried about that. Santa is presented, as he is in real life, as a great Christmas hero.” (Cultbox)
So it appears that Santa will, in fact, save the day, but some less than pleasant non-“Deck the Halls” things may happen while he’s doing it.
In other words, a perfect Doctor Who Christmas special.
HO! HO! HO! RUN!
Last Christmas screens in UK at 6.15pm on Christmas Day and in Australia at 7.30pm on Boxing Day.
Behold a clip from the show which features among other things a host of retro toys and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with beep-beep a security alarm #bestsightgagEVER