The Doctor Who Xmas special trailer is now out! Written by Steven Moffat, the episode is titled The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe.

Blurb, video, and transcript below a cut, so that those who are extremely spoiler-averse can avoid them.

Evacuated to a house in Dorset from war-torn London, Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, are greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical wintry world.

The video:

Transcript/description:

[The Doctor comes running out of a spaceship door, explosion behind, frantically using his sonic screwdriver. He is thrown forward by the explosion.]

[A woman surveys wreckage in the dark]

Voiceover: England, 1941, and there’s a war on.

[closeup of pilot in an old-timey war plane, zooming downwards]

[A woman, a preteen girl by her left side and a young boy by her right, approaches the imposing front door of a country manor. The children wear coats, the girl a beret. Both carry cases.]

Cyril: Is it haunted?

[The Doctor is descending a large stairway with elaborate wooden banisters.]

Madge: Who are you?

Doctor: Usually called The Doctor. Or The Caretaker. Or Get-Off-This-Planet.

[The Doctor runs into a bedroom and bounces onto the bed; Madge, Cyril and Lily are looking on dubiously.]

Madge [unseen]: That man is quite ridiculous.

Doctor [gleefully]: I know!

[children are peeping around doorways in the dark]

Madge [unseen]: Stay away from him.

Lily [in nightclothes/blue knobbly dressing gown, arms folded]: Why have you got a phone box in your room?

Doctor: It’s not a phonebox, it’s my …. [activates sonic screwdriver offhandedly as he gestures toward the TARDIS] wardrobe.

[Cyril walking in the dark toward a large Xmas tree. A huge box lies below it with a white ribbon. A whispery evil-sounding voice in background says “Ccccyrillll…”]

Doctor: Your brother. Where is he?

[Cyril is in a wintery outdoor landscape with snow-covered fir trees. It is dark, but there is some glowy light between the trees. Whispery evil voice says “Folloooowww…”]

Doctor [offscreen, in TARDIS; urgently]: OK, come on!

[A hand grabs Lily and pulls her into the TARDIS.]

[Wintery land. The Doctor is crouched down inspecting something at the base of a fir tree – is it where Cyril had been standing? Lily is walking, looking around]

Lily: Where ARE we?

[Doctor’s voice, offscreen: “In a forest, in a box, in a sitting room.”]

[Cut to Madge, back in the house, is crouching down looking into something.]

Doctor: What do they teach you in schools these days?!

[Doctor spins around in alarm. Glowy light, crashing noises, spacesuited forms come out of a green-glowing doorway.]

[Doctor, offscreen: “There is something very wrong in this forest.”]

[Cyril, in forest, looking frightened.]

Doctor: And your brother’s right in the middle of it.

[Montage of Cyril looking frightened, spacesuits, Doctor shining sonic screwdriver in the dark. Big giant creepy statue-like head. A closeup of a bearded man’s face with spacesuit visor off – he’s human-looking. A woman flips her spacesuit visor up. Madge looks concerned. Huge giant statue-like head turns. Fade to black, briefly.]

[Madge and the two children are in the sitting-room, Xmas tree in the background. She embraces the children.]

Madge: Best. Christmas. Ever.

Doctor [smiling under his breath]: I know.

[Text: The Doctor Returns In The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe. Christmas 2011]

[music swells.]

—

You are welcome to modify and use this transcript on your site, with attribution and a linkback:

This work by lauredhel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Categories: arts & entertainment

Tags: christmas special, doctor-who, telly