Last Christmas (Doctor Who)

When the Doctor visits the elderly Clara, he helps her open a Christmas cracker, returning the favour she did for the Eleventh Doctor in "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) when he was too weak to pull a cracker open by himself.[1]

In September 2014 announcements were made for a number of the guest cast, including Michael Troughton, Nick Frost, Nathan McMullen, Natalie Gumede and Faye Marsay. Michael Troughton is the younger son of Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor from 1966 to 1969, and the younger brother of David Troughton, who appeared in The War Games, The Curse of Peladon, and "Midnight".

There were numerous rumours circulating that the special would be Jenna Coleman's last on the show.[2][3] Coleman and lead writer Steven Moffat remained quiet on the issue and insisted that people watch the episode to see whether she would be continuing into the ninth series. During the episode's climax, Clara decides to continue travelling with the Doctor,[4] and Moffat revealed following the episode's airing that Coleman would appear in all of the ninth series.[5] According to Moffat, Coleman was "to-ing and fro-ing" over her future in the series before ultimately deciding to continue.[6] In a 2018 interview, Moffat confirmed that the script for "Last Christmas" originally contained Clara's exit from the series; Coleman reversed her decision to leave following the first read-through, and the episode's ending was subsequently re-written to allow the character to continue.[7]

Marsay's character of Shona was considered by Moffat to be Coleman's replacement as the companion for the ninth series, though nothing was fully formed. With Coleman electing to stay on the show, this would mark Marsay's only appearance. Elements of Shona were later reworked into the character of Bill Potts, who was the show's companion when Coleman left after series nine.[8]

Filming on "Last Christmas" was scheduled to start two weeks after the Series 8 World Tour Promotion.[9] Paul Wilmshurst directed the episode.[10] The read-through for the episode took place on 3 September 2014, and filming began on 8 September in Cardiff,[11][12] with Wilmshurst tweeting that it would likely take four weeks to complete.[13] Scenes were filmed at Vaendre Hall in the Cardiff suburb of St Mellons.[14]

A preview was shown during Children in Need which featured The Doctor, Clara, Nick Frost as Santa Claus, and Dan Starkey (who also plays Strax of the Paternoster Gang) and Nathan McMullen as elves.[15] On 11 December 2014, the BBC released a 30-second trailer for the episode on YouTube.[16]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score)	8.76[22]
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)	92%[22]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	A[23]
SFX Magazine	[24]
TV Fanatic	[25]
CultBox	[26]
IndieWire	B+[27]
IGN	8.8[28]
New York Magazine	[29]
Radio Times	[30]
Digital Spy	[31]
The Daily Telegraph	[32]

"Last Christmas" received positive reviews, with many praising the fun, scary nature of the episode and noting the influences of Inception and Alien.[30][31][33] It holds an approval rating of 92%, based on 12 reviews, and an average score of 8.76/10 on Rotten Tomatoes.[22]

The A.V. Club awarded the episode the highest grade of the site, an "A". Alasdair Wilkins praised Steven Moffat’s script as "inordinately clever" in using the trappings of a "fluffy, silly Christmas special" to make the story scary. He also praised Capaldi's performance in the special for depicting the unabashed joy common in the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor eras but was "never really" seen in series 8.[23] Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy awarded the episode a 4 out of 5, stating that the episode was an "absolute cracker" that refused to be "throwaway" or "light on substance". He believed the influences of Alien and Inception on the script provided viewers with "both food for thought and fuel for our nightmares".[31]

Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph awarded the episode a 4 out of 5, calling it "marvellously merry" and stating that it "had heart as well as head, so ended like a festive special should: happily, with a cockle-warming cosy glow".[32] Chris Pyke of the Daily Mirror also praised the "Doctor Who spin" the various film references had. He also expressed praise over Clara's continuation, saying it was "the icing on the cake".[33]

Radio Times awarded the episode a 3 out of 4. Patrick Mulkern was "peculiarly touched by Clara’s sentiment, "Every Christmas is last Christmas" and her admission that the Time Lord is her very own Father Christmas".[30] IGN awarded the episode an 8.8 out of 10, deemed "Excellent". Matt Risley labelled the episode "An entertaining and satisfying slice of Who that combines festive face-huggers with a Christmas miracle". He criticised the ageing Clara make up along with many other reviewers. He praised the episode as being both Doctor Who's most "festive and least yuletide-y" Christmas special.[28] Simon Brew of Den of Geek heavily praised the episode for its writing, acting, direction and music, and considered it an improvement over the previous Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor". He felt that "Last Christmas" capped off what he felt was "one of Doctor Who's strongest years in recent times".[34]