A Ghost Story for Christmas (webcast)

A Ghost Story for Christmas
Doctor:	[[doctor::Tenth Doctor (flashback only)]]
Companion(s):	Jack Harkness (narration only)
Main enemy:	Weeping Angels
Main setting:	London, present day?
Release details
Story number:	2009 Adventure Calendar webisode
Premiere broadcast:	Uploaded 24th December 2009
Format:	1 3.5 minute, mini episode

A Ghost Story for Christmas is the title of a 3-minute webisode uploaded to the BBC Doctor Who Adventure Calendar website on 24 December 2009. Narrated by John Barrowman (as Jack Harkness), the mini-story tells of the Weeping Angels (last seen in DW: Blink) and depicts their abduction of a young woman named Julia Hardwick.

The actual title of the story is not presented on screen; this title is the one given on the original website.

Synopsis

Jack Harkness narrates an account of the Weeping Angels and their origin, as a young woman named Julia Hardwick examines clues suggesting that she, in her future, would find herself living in the 1880s under the name Julia Baker. Julia's investigations eventually lead her to a cemetary where, moments after finding a gravestone reading "Julia Baker: 1887-1949" she is touched by a Weeping Angel.

Plot

Jack Harkness tells the tale of the most lonely assassin, the Weeping Angel.

On screen it follows a woman who is told to look out for these statues, and it implied that she got sent back in time, to become her own Grandmother,

Cast

• Jack Harkness (narrator) - John Barrowman
• Julia Hardwick (aka Julia Baker) - uncredited

Flashback footage from Blink:

• Sally Sparrow - Carey Mulligan
• Kathy Nightingale - Lucy Gaskell
• The Doctor - David Tennant

Production crew

To be added

References

• Footage from Blink featuring Sally Sparrow, Kathy Nightingale, the Weeping Angels, and the Tenth Doctor is incorporated.

Story notes

• This is a sequel of sorts to DW: Blink by Steven Moffat.
• The story's title is the same as that of a popular annual series of BBC Christmas specials that aired through the 1970s.
• The webisode is presented in a similar format to Captain Jack's Monster Files, but with original footage of the character Julia Hardwick added. It is generally considered to be an installment of the Monster Files but stands apart from the rest of the series, with no reference made to it being part of the Monster Files.
• The identity of the narrator as Captain Jack is established when he makes a joke about how the Angels would handle his immortality.
• Julia's original last name is visible in a newspaper article shown on screen; her later name appears on a tombstone.
• Like the other videos created for Captain Jack's Monster Files, this clip was technically viewable only from within the UK, though it immediately was reposted to other video sharing sites.
• Despite its title, the story makes no reference to Christmas - or to ghosts - whatsoever.
• Running just over 3 minutes, A Ghost Story for Christmas stands as the shortest filmed storyline ever produced for the Doctor Who franchise (a mini-episode of similar length made for Tonight's the Night doesn't count as it is a non-canonical spoof).

Ratings

to be added

Filming Locations

to be added

Myths and rumours

to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

to be added

Continuity

• Given that the story incorporates footage from Blink, it's unclear whether or not the abduction of Julia Hardwick actually occurs within canon, although there is nothing in that part of the story to suggest it isn't; Hardwick's is presumably one of the many disappearances being investigated by DI Billy Shipton (assuming it occurs before or concurrently with the events of Blink and not at a later date).
• The story makes the implication that Julia somehow becomes her own grandmother due to the time shifting.

DVD and other releases

No home video release has been announced as yet.

See also

• Captain Jack's Monster Files

External links

• A Ghost Story for Christmas on the BBC Doctor Who website (viewable only in the UK)
  • on Youtube