A Christmas Carol (Doctor Who)

213 – "A Christmas Carol"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional material featuring Kazran (left), the Doctor (middle), and Abigail (right)
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companions Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)
Others Michael Gambon – Kazran/Elliot Sardick Katherine Jenkins – Abigail Laurence Belcher – Young Kazran Danny Horn – Adult Kazran Leo Bill – Pilot Pooky Quesnel – Captain Micah Balfour – Co-pilot Steve North – Old Benjamin Bailey Pepper – Boy & Benjamin Tim Plester – Servant Laura Rogers – Isabella Meg Wynn-Owen – Old Isabella
Production
Directed by	Toby Haynes
Written by	Steven Moffat
Script editor	Lindsey Alford
Produced by	Sanne Wohlenberg
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Length	60 minutes
Originally broadcast	25 December 2010
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Big Bang" "Space" / "Time" (mini episodes) "The Impossible Astronaut" (episode)
List of Doctor Who serials

"A Christmas Carol" is an episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It is the sixth Doctor Who Christmas special since the programme's revival in 2005, and was broadcast on 25 December 2010 on both BBC One and BBC America, making it the first episode to premiere on the same day in both the United Kingdom and United States. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes.

In the episode, newly wedded companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) are trapped on a crashing space liner which has been caught in a strange cloud belt. They call the Doctor (Matt Smith), who lands on the planet below and meets the miserly Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), a man who can control the cloud layer but refuses to help. Inspired by Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the episode has the Doctor attempting to use time travel to alter Kazran's past and make him kinder so he will save the spaceship.

Moffat enjoyed writing the episode and was a fan of Dickens' story himself. The story features flying sharks and fish, which were things Moffat was afraid of as a child. The episode features the acting debut of Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins, who also sang in the episode with a song written specifically for her. "A Christmas Carol" was filmed through July and August 2010 mainly on sets designed by the show's new set designer Michael Pickwood. The special was seen by 12.11 million viewers in the UK and received generally positive reviews from critics.

A space liner carrying 4003 passengers, including Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) on their honeymoon, loses control when passing through strange electrified clouds over a human-inhabited planet. The Doctor (Matt Smith), summoned by Amy, is unable to use the TARDIS to save the ship, and instead lands on the planet and discovers that a spire in the centre of a large city is influencing the atmosphere. Its owner, the bitter and peevish old Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), refuses to operate the "isomorphic" controls to deactivate the spire and allow the ship to land safely. The Doctor observes Kazran's fear of his father who had built the spire, and creates a scheme inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol to make Kazran kinder.