Some days just don’t go very well for the Doctor, as you could already see in the prequel to this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

The story starts pretty explosive, with the Doctor ending on Earth in somewhat of a predicament. Luckily for him, the very friendly and caring Madge Arwell lends him a hand and gets him into a his faithful Tardis. It is pre-WW2 England, and Madge’s family is happily living in a quiet village.

Years later the war has errupted into full blast and her husband Reg is an RAF pilot in trouble somewhere over the Channel. Presumed death, Marge receives a telegram. Being evacutated to the country to the manor of a family member she chooses not to tell her children Lily and Cyril that their father has died, not wanting them to forever more see Christmas as the thing that took their father away. She tells the Doctor this much whilst believing he is nothing but the very excentric caretaker of the manor house who builds in all sorts of ridiculous “improvements” (lemonade tap anyone?).

The children meanwhile are not only impressed by the giant Christmas tree (which is indeed rather epic) but especially by the strange enormous blue wrapped gift with the white ribbon (Tardis colours, what else did anyone expect?). And of course, the kids go wandering at night. Lilly ends up in the Doctor’s room, asking a lot of questions about the Tardis whilst Cyril decides to go explore inside the present, which turns out to be a pathway too another planet entirely. Where the question of course poses itself just like in any good Doctor Who episode: Why does a forest need people?

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