Doctor Who - The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe product reviews

Madge, played wonderfully well by Claire Skinner, is faced with putting on a brave face for Christmas, for the sake of her children, Cyril and Lily. She has received a telegram, informing her that her husband is missing and presumed dead. Wanting to give her children one last, happy Christmas she decides not to tell them, but naturally, any plan where the Doctor crashes into the midst of it is bound to veer off course.

The story really kicks off when one of the children climbs through a giant present and head into Doctor Whoâ ™s nod to the land of Narnia. The scenery here fills with some enchanting visuals, not least trees that appear to grow Christmas baubles and is just gorgeous.

The creatures are made of wood, are the trees, and while they were fantastic, I had been so drawn into the plight of the mother and her children that I didn't want the focus taken away from them. It was, of course, very sad when she finally admitted that their father was missing, but it's a Christmas episode, and so we were left on a high note when it was seen that she had managed to save her husband and bring him home.

Yet another great Doctor Who episode!

For the second year in a row the Doctor Who christmas special takes a well known childrens story/book and gives it a decidedly Doctor Who twist, this time it is of course the wonderful 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', but like he did with the wonderful A Christmas Carol last year, Steven Moffat has taken the story and made it decidedly another brilliant Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Whilst there are many similarities between this story and that of the late great C.S. Lewis, there are just as many differences, and it's these differences that make this a great Doctor Who special, first we have an exploding spaceship, we have people in peril, and we have a time vortex....... what more could you want.

One major thing that I liked about this particular special was that it wasn't about the Doctor saving the earth from some menacing evil, or some galactic accident, it was more about the Doctor trying to save a family's happiness.

Another great thing with this special is the little nods to some of the Doctors past adventures, for example some of the incidental characters are from the planet Androzani Major in the year 5345, a planet which features in the serial The Caves of Androzani. Also mentioned is the Forest of Cheem, which was featured in the ninth Doctor's episode 'The End of the World'.

Also as with the previous Christmas special, the Doctor's companions play a minor role in this, however in this instance this is more to do with the last seasons finale rather than them being stuck on a doomed spaceship. However the scene that does involve them has to be one of the best of the current incarnation of Doctor Who yet, and quite clearly shows that Steven Moffat was most definitely the correct man to take over the reins from Russell T Davies.

So now with the 2011 Christmas special done and dusted I now eagerly await the start of the new season (which unfortunately due to various factors will not be airing until at least November or December this year).