First broadcast 25 December 2011.

One can clearly see the intentions behind “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe”, but despite some clever ideas from writer/producer Steven Moffat and decent work by director Farren Blackburn Doctor Who‘s sixth Christmas special simply fails to come together.

Perhaps it is the open riffs on C.S. Lewis’ childrens novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Such riffs felt energetic and effective in the previous special “The Christmas Carol”, but here they feel like they are being made because of that episode’s success rather than creative purposes on their own.

Perhaps it is the relatively weak and simplistic storyline; they are always fairly sparse in Christmas episodes, but in this case they seem particularly light on plot and detail. The narrative showcases the Doctor (Matt Smith) coming to the aid of an orphaned family during one Christmas during World War II. The elements are all placed in potentially interesting ways: a wrapped box that leads to an alien forest, inquisitive children on an adventure, and a combination of both the joy of the season and the drama of grief. Nothing very interesting is done with them, unfortunately, to such an egregious degree that Doctor Who fans could be forgiven for not even remembering the episode even exists.

Then again, perhaps the problem is the stunt casting of comedic performers in generally dramatic roles. Doctor Who has done this plenty of times before, including Peter Butterworth in “The Time Meddler”, Alexei Sayle in “Revelation of the Daleks”, or Simon Pegg in “The Long Game”. Here, however, it seems to go overboard with appearances by Outnumbered‘s Claire Skinner, stand-up comic Bill Bailey, comic actor Paul Bazely, and sketch performers Arabella Weir and Alexander Armstrong. The effect is distracting in some scenes, and honestly quite underwhelming in others.

Of course, the answer is that “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” fails for all of these reasons in combination. It also suffers from a remarkably trite and unconvincing climax that abandons any hope of some dramatic heft in favour of Christmas whimsy. It is a deep shame. An epilogue reunites the Doctor with the Ponds (Karen Gillen and Arthur Darvill), which is both beautifully played and beautifully written. It is a small consolation after sitting through the previous 55 minutes.

Doctor Who‘s first five Christmas specials ranged from the entertaining (“The Christmas Invasion” to the annoying (“The End of Time”) to the outright spectacular (“A Christmas Carol”). The 2006 special marks the first time one of them was simply rather ordinary. The Doctor ended Season 6 noting that he had become ‘too noisy’; I don’t think this episode was a suitable alternative.