10 Lessons Doctor Who Teaches Us About Christmas

Last week the BBC ran a news article about a South Carolina woman who had her son arrested for repeatedly opening his Christmas presents early. He was promptly handcuffed, taken to the station and charged with petty larceny. Apparently she did it to teach him a lesson before he did anything more serious.

Here in the UK, the Police will probably take a dim view of such actions, perhaps even cautioning the woman for wasting police time, but any parents struggling to keep the presents secret might achieve just as big an impact by sitting the kids down to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

The Doctor, once again playing Santa, has left an extravagant array of presents for the children of recently widowed Madge. As a way of repaying her for helping him three years earlier, he is determined to make it their best Christmas ever.

Cyril is intrigued by one present the Doctor has left wrapped up underneath the Christmas tree. Later that night he cannot resist opening the glowing box and finds himself stepping into a Narnia like world. The magical planet soon takes a sinister turn and everyone’s life is in danger.

Saving the presents until Christmas day is not the most obvious moral of this touching story, with its denouement focusing on the power of a mother’s love and the miraculous return of the children’s father, but it’s an important lesson nonetheless and one that every child can easily relate to.