The Snowmen (TV story)

	Eleventh Doctor
	Clara
	Vastra, Jenny, Strax
	Great Intelligence
	London, 1892
	Steven Moffat
	Marcus Wilson
	60 minutes
Doctor Who television stories
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The Snowmen was the 2012 Christmas special. It reintroduced Clara, who first appeared in Asylum of the Daleks, albeit under the name 'Oswin', as well as Vastra, Strax and Jenny Flint, who all where last seen in a television episode in A Good Man Goes to War. The Doctor also encounters the Great Intelligence for the first time since PROSE: Millennial Rites, during which he was in his sixth incarnation.

Synopsis

After the deaths of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Doctor retires to Victorian England with Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra. The Doctor meets Clara, a young governess, but at the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding. A series of snowmen are appearing around London and they are growing in size and power. All they want is some human DNA to take over the world, and a drowned mistress is just what they need.

Plot

It is 1842. Children are playing outside. Standing away from the others is a little boy building a snowman. A woman asks him if he'd like to play with the other children. He says that he doesn't need anyone else. The woman tells a man that he's always so alone, and that it's unhealthy. As they leave, he says that he doesn't want to talk to them because they are silly. To his surprise, the snowman he is building repeats this. He runs away as it tells him not to believe anyone else. He starts to walk back to it and it tells him that it can help him.

to be finished

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Clara Oswin Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Walter Simeon - Richard E. Grant
• Vastra - Neve McIntosh
• Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
• Strax - Dan Starkey
• Voice of the Snowman - Ian McKellen

Crew

Executive Producers   Caroline Skinner and Steven Moffat

Produced by Marcus Wilson	Production Designer Michael Pickwoad	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Barbara Southcott	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  With thanks to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales

General production staff Script department Camera and lighting department Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Pete Chester	Art department Costume department	Make-up and prosthetics General post-production staff Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown Special and visual effects Colourist - Mick Vincent Sound Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jefferies Sound Editor - Doug Sinclair

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

• The Doctor pretends to be Sherlock Holmes.

Story notes

• This episode is noteworthy for three big changes. The first of which is a new companion, Clara. The second of these is the change to the TARDIS interior and the final change is a update to the title sequence - which now includes the Doctor's face - the first to do so since Survival in 1989. To go along with the new titles, a new variation of the theme tune was used.

Ratings

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Filming locations

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Continuity

• Clara mentions baking Soufflees. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
• Strax still has confusion over the difference between human females and human males. (PROSE: Devil in the Smoke)
• The Great Intelligence have previously appeared in TV: The Abominable Snowmen, TV: The Web of Fear, HOMEVID: Downtime, and PROSE: Millennial Rites.

Home video releases

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External links

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