Episode 88: “The Unquiet Dead” and “A Christmas Carol”

Debating Doctor Who

We start by just sort of basking in the general glow of getting to talk about Christopher Eccleston and the 9th Doctor again. It feels like it's been awhile and we've missed him. We then set to work talking about "The Unquiet Dead," the 9th Doctor's unofficial Christmas episode, and we're generally fans in part because this feels like Doctor Who before it's quite worked out what Doctor Who even is. Plus Simon Callow is seriously brilliant as Charles Dickens. Then we take a look at "A Christmas Carol," and we've got to level with you: There's a lot to like about this episode, but the character of Abigail and how this story thinks about women and romance is... yeah, it's really not great, and we take a good long while digging into why. We do have some nice things to say in the end, especially about Michael Gambon, but "A Christmas Carol" is tricky: When it's great, it's among the greatest, and when it's bad, it's among the worst. We focus a bit more on the latter this time around, but we think this is a seriously worthwhile discussion to have. Then join us next week for more yuletide offerings with "Voyage Of The Damned" and "Last Christmas"!