For many families in Britain, celebrating Christmas will involve eating turkey, exchanging gifts, and — in a relatively new addition to the Yuletide routine — settling down to enjoy the Doctor Who Christmas Special.
Last year it drew an audience of 8.9 million and with a new companion set to star in this year’s episode it’s bound to be a hit.
Cowering behind the sofa
While we cower behind the sofa, the Doctor is usually too busy zooming through time and space to sit down and consider deep theological questions. After all, there are universes to save, villains to thwart and ‘wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff’ to play with (‘Blink’, 2007). Yet many have noticed the show’s metaphysical preoccupations. Russell T. Davies, the writer who fought for the show’s revival, said: ‘The series lends itself to religious iconography because the Doctor is a proper saviour. He saves the world through the power of his mind and his passion’.
