User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-753926-20131207201925/@comment-188432-20131208083805

There's no help from the clapperboards. which simply call this thing "50-05", or the shooting script cover, which calls this just the "50th Anniversary Special".

Unfortunately, though, this is an extraordinary situation and we know there was extreme security involved. A part of the reason for the odd markings is that they're actively trying to hide things from the public.

What matters is not the DVDs (the last two Christmas specials have been released separately from the supposedly "complete" DVD boxssset) but behind the scenes knowledge of how they were commissioned. I'm not sure we know for sure that they were commissioned separately from series 7. I just have a hard time believing that this 2013 Christmas special is truly standalone.

If I had to bet right now, I'd say the 50th is, financially, a part of series 7, and the Christmas special is "episode 0" of series 8.