"Silent Night"

"Silent Night" was a Christmas carol that was first performed in Austria in 1818. The Fourth Doctor took Leela to see the performance. (PROSE: Christmas Every Day ^[+]Loading...["Christmas Every Day (short story)"])

History

The song played as the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa entered the Green Dragon pub. (AUDIO: Plague of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Plague of the Daleks (audio story)"])

Countess Mitzi Wittenmeier sang a lullaby to the tune of Silent Night to her daughter but with completely different lyrics. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk ^[+]Loading...["The Silver Turk (audio story)"])

Its lyrics included:

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright,
'Round yon Virgin Mother and Child!
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Christ, the Saviour, is born!
Christ, the Saviour, is born.

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from Heaven afar,
Heavenly Hosts sing Hallelujah.
Christ, the Saviour, is born!
Christ, the Saviour, is born.

(TV: A Christmas Carol ^[+]Loading...["A Christmas Carol (TV story)"])

The song's final verse was:

Sleep in heavenly peace.

(PROSE: The Gift ^[+]Loading...["The Gift (TDoC short story)"])

When Cyberman Gramm reached mentally to Bremm, who had become a part of him, a broken piano rendition of an excerpt of Silent Night was heard. Mary Shelley recognised the tune and remembered an alternative lyrics line: "All is clear, all is bright". (AUDIO: The Silver Turk ^[+]Loading...["The Silver Turk (audio story)"])

The Eleventh Doctor whistled the song in Victorian London at Christmas time. (TV: The Snowmen ^[+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"])

The First Doctor and the Twelfth Doctor visited the Christmas truce of 1914 before their respective regenerations. Both the British and German armies sing the carol in their respective languages. (TV: Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])

The passengers on a starliner crashing into Sardicktown sang on a Christmas in the 44th century. Amy Pond, a passenger of the ship, projected the singers as holograms to Kazran Sardick to convince him to save them. He was unconvinced, and walked through the holograms, breaking the connection, after two verses. (TV: A Christmas Carol ^[+]Loading...["A Christmas Carol (TV story)"])

Behind the scenes

• Technically, those lyrics are incorrect; "Christ, the saviour, is born" actually only enters in the second verse, and not the first.
• Since Mary Shelley was taken by the Doctor from 1816 and the song was composed in 1818, Mary is not supposed to be able to recognise it.