Doctor Who: 10 New Pictures From The Christmas Special

4. When Heroes Collide

While fans have been assured that Santa Claus will be depicted as the real deal in Last Christmas (which is a particularly useful tidbit of information to know about an episode which looks set to explore the idea of dreams and "what's real and what's not"), there's still the matter of just how the Doctor will react to his encounter with another heroic icon. As the new picture above can vouch for, the Doctor doesn't look best pleased to have come face to face with Father Christmas and this sentiment is explored further in the recently revealed Children in Need preview clip in which the troubled Time Lord ushers Clara back into the safety of the TARDIS, seemingly suspecting that dark forces are at work. Viewers have seen the Doctor's resistance to accept the underlying truth of fairytale folklore before, most recently in Robot of Sherwood when he crossed paths with Robin Hood in an episode which, in retrospect, was probably included to help set up the premise of this year's Christmas special, too. What followed was an interesting insight into the more competitive aspects of the Doctor's obsessive personality as the adventure explored his inability to welcome the facts of fiction. As impossible heroes go, he's really one to talk! Perhaps his meeting with the notorious outlaw will have helped to open his mind to the concept of semi-mythical characters, though. Will the Doctor ultimately warm to the idea of Santa Claus? If not, he can expect to be indefinitely placed on the naughty list, and he'll have only himself to blame.