10 Lessons Doctor Who Teaches Us About Christmas

9. Don't Trust Anyone Dressed As Father Christmas

Doctor Who Nick Frost Peter Capaldi
BBC Studios

Rest assured, in the Doctor Who universe Santa Claus or Father Christmas is real, though whether he answers prayers like the young Amelia Pond hoped he would is another matter (The Eleventh Hour). Yes, the character as played by Nick Frost in Last Christmas is a dream version drawn from the imagination of those being eaten by the dream crabs, but right at the end, when everyone has finally woken up, a shot of a tangerine on Clara’s windowsill suggests that the dreams were based on reality after all.

But just in case we are all still dreaming, the Eleventh Doctor had already given conclusive proof that Santa is real. He showed a child who had never heard of the ‘fat fella’ a photograph of himself standing with Santa Claus and Albert Einstein (A Christmas Carol).

Worryingly however, perhaps on account of his jovial nature, though more likely because his face is completely covered by a big white beard, fake Santas stand among us. We need to be on our guard, because some of them are quite nasty indeed.

Be especially careful if you spot a brass band made up of the red suited clones, because more than likely, behind the disguise are pilotfish (or roboforms), who like to ride on the tails of other alien invaders and who seem to particularly enjoy Christmas (The Christmas Invasion, The Runaway Bride). It would be safer to get as far away from them as possible, before their trombones turn into flamethrowers.

Contributor
Contributor

Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.