The Doctor At Christmas

The BBC have released information about the upcoming Christmas episode of Doctor Who. The episode is set in England in the1940s, and recently widowed Madge Arwell hasn't told her children, Lily and Cyril, that their father has died flying his bomber home over the channel, because she doesn't want Christmas to become the day that broke their hearts.  The episode guest stars Alexander Armstrong and Outnumbered's Claire Skinner.
Matt Smith says . “It’s a brilliant and touching story about a family who have experienced a tragic event and in many ways they’ve had Christmas stolen from them.” 

Claire Skinner, who will also appear in a Christmas episode of Outnumbered on Christmas Eve talks about her character. I play a character called Madge Arwell who, first and foremost, is a mother. It just informs everything about her character. What I found attractive about the role is that she’s warm and a thoroughly decent woman, as well as being quite straight down the line. In the episode she gets tested and challenged and it’s interesting to see how she handles different things and adapts to various situations for the sake of her children. 
Alexander Armstrong is the other main guest star of the special.

I play Reg Arwell, who is a bomber pilot in the Second World War. We witness him flying over the channel and all the navigation equipment completely stops working. It doesn’t look good for him! His wife Madge then receives a slip of paper saying that a ‘Reg’ is missing and presumed dead. Their two children hope that their Daddy is going to be back for Christmas and that’s when the Doctor gets involved to return a favour to Madge as she helps him out at the very beginning of the episode. 

The Special airs Christmas Day on BBC1


all pics from bbcmediacentre.