'Short Trips': 'The Ghosts of Christmas' edited by Simon Guerrier

Christmas. A time for home. For family. For laughter…

Everybody has special memories of Christmas but for others it brings shadows of things that should not have been. Unearthly visitors who open their eyes to new worlds and new experiences. Pantomime coats, robot dogs and a big blue box parked beneath the Christmas tree.

Some think these fleeting guests are apparitions. Some think they are angels. Some think they are demons. But all know that Christmas will never be the same again.

The Doctor and his companions travel to Christmas Past, Christmas Present and those Christmases Yet to Come. They bring festive laughter and Yuletide joy, creeping dread and screaming horror, slipping in and out of time like the ghosts of Christmas…

Christmas. A time for terror. For fear. For ghosts…

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CHRISTMAS PAST
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'Faithful Friends' (Part 1) by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

While his staff and troops leave to spend Christmas with their families, the Brigadier prepares to enjoy the festive period on his own. However, before departing U.N.I.T. HQ, he comes across the Doctor, who is busy working in his laboratory and completely unaware that it is Christmas Eve. On hearing that it is the yuletide season, the Doctor immediately insists that he drive the Brigadier to his country house; the two friends set off in Bessie, and are soon tucking into a splendid meal of roast goose and enjoying fine claret. But at the stroke of midnight, their celebrations are rudely interrupted by a phone call; hearing a report of a meteorite shower and a missing village, the Brigadier and the Doctor set off to investigate…

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor and the Brigadier

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'But Once a Year' by Colin Harvey

Wheelchair-bound David Merrison has come to dread the yuletide festive season, ever since a frightening, black-clad creature began abducting his brothers and sister from their London townhouse every Christmas. Fearing that this year will be his turn to be taken, David investigates a strange noise in the middle of the night, and is surprised to encounter a strange man called the Doctor, and his friend, Ace. As midnight strikes the creature reappears, but instead of David, it captures Ace, stuffing her inside its sack before disappearing back up the chimney. Searching through the archaeological artefact collection of David’s grandfather, the Doctor finds an alien skull; he determines that artefact is still alive, and is feeding off David’s fear to give itself physical form. When the Doctor smashes the skull, the ersatz creature is destroyed, and its victims are finally released from within its sack; as an overjoyed David is reunited with his siblings, Ace explains that they had been put to work in the alien’s spaceship, which was located in another dimension. The Doctor and Ace bid farewell, leaving the Merrisons to become a family once more.

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace

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'For the Man Who Has Everything' by Dan Abnett

In Whitehall on Christmas Eve, 1966, private secretary Anne Caisson is busy sorting through Christmas cards and gifts sent to her boss, Clive Reeves, the Home Secretary. She is interrupted by a visit from a man from U.N.I.T. called the Doctor, who is desperately looking for a small glass ornament. Realising that it was an item she mistakenly took for an inappropriate gift from Sir Clive – himself a happily married man – Anne explains that she had slipped into her boss’ briefcase. As she drives the Doctor out to Sir Clive’s country house, he explains that the artefact is an extraterrestrial device by sent a benign alien race as a gift to humanity; the orb has the ability to grant wishes – and therefore far too powerful for mankind to possess. Arriving at Sir Clive’s, the Doctor enjoys a glass of wine with the Home Secretary, while Anne retrieves the device; bidding goodbye to Sir Clive, Anne then takes the Doctor back to her flat, where he shares the festivities by putting up Christmas decorations, playing Monopoly and enjoying the contents of the Christmas hamper given to Anne by her boss.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor

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'Tell Me You Love Me' by Scott Matthewman

Arriving in London during the Blitz in the middle of an air raid, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan take refuge in a bomb shelter. Elsewhere, in a nearby street, six-year-old Sarah Miller is astonished when her Christmas wish comes true and her father inexplicably returns from the war, while downstairs, Sarah’s mother is equally surprised to find her husband standing at the back door. Back in the shelter, Barbara panics and runs outside in terror, only to be caught up in the blast of a falling bomb striking the Millar’s house; to Barbara’s amazement she is pulled from the wreckage by her late father; however, Barbara’s travels with the Doctor allow her to see the truth, knowing that her saviour can only be an alien. As Ian, Susan and the Doctor arrive on the scene, they discover that Barbara’s father and the two Mr Millers are Bansharai, alien shape-shifters who depend on emotions to survive; the creatures were separated and badly injured when their spaceship crashed, but now that they have been reunited, they have been restored. As the aliens depart for their home amongst the stars, they give Sarah, her mother and the TARDIS crew a gift, allowing each of them to glimpse their loved ones in their minds.

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan

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'The Cutty Wren' by Anne Kelly

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive in Middleton on Boxing Day, as the villagers celebrate the festivities with their traditional ceremony known as ‘Cutting the Wren’. But as the men, women, children and morris dancers carry the model house containing the ‘wren’ through the village, several of the reliquary’s bearers collapse to the ground; examining them, the Doctor discovers that something has stripped the men of their metabolic energy, and he deduces that the wren is of alien origin. With the help of a pioneering electrical engineer named Isaiah, the Doctor snatches the wren and takes it away for examination; however, before he can cut it open, he realises that the artefact is in fact alive – and clearly terrified. As the villagers converge outside Isaiah’s house and demand the return of the wren, the Doctor uses the engineer’s new electrical equipment to super-charge the alien, allowing it to return home – and giving the astonished villagers the chance to see their wren going up to heaven.

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor, Jaime and Victoria

*Time-placing: the Doctor is 'running in' the sonic screwdriver, placing this just before 'Fury From the Deep'

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'Do You Dream in Colour?' by Gary Russell

Ben joins his unrequited love, Polly, for a stay at her Uncle Rupert’s house on the island of Lidisfarne, for Christmas. Both Ben and Polly have recently experienced strange ‘waking dreams’ that have caused them to recall the Doctor, despite having left his company four years ago, and are surprised when one of their fellow dinner guests, Avril Trelawny, hints that not only is she aware of their dreams, but also that they once travelled through space and time. Ben and Polly soon learn that Avril is in fact a telepathic alien named Than Jeraveril; stranded on Earth, Than believes that the Doctor can help her return home to Bula, and so she has been looking for information on his whereabouts inside Ben’s and Polly’s minds. Realising that the two friends are unable to help in her search, Than accepts her guardian’s offer to continue to stay with him as his ward.

Notes:
*Featuring Ben and Polly

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'The Nobility of Faith' by Jonathan Clements

Cast into a deep cave by his evil uncle, the vizier, young Ala Urd-Din discovers a large blue box with a light on top. Inside is a djinni called the Doctor, who offers to help Ala Urd-Din save his lover from her forthcoming marriage to Ala’s wicked uncle. The genie magically transports Ala Urd-Din to the royal palace, where they quickly overpower the vizier, enabling the genie to use the evil magician’s copper ring of power to send him back to the World of Shadow from whence he came. Bidding Ala Urd-Din and his lover farewell, the genie is unaware that his actions will become the stuff of legend and fairytale…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor

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'24 Crawford Street' by Ian Farrington

Arriving on Earth at Christmas Eve, 1995, Mel is immediately separated from the Doctor and the TARDIS and transported back to 1935, where she is taken in by a local family as they prepare their home for the yuletide festivities. Meanwhile, on the same site in 1995, the Doctor meets an archaeologist named Gregson, who is investigating the remains of a house that mysteriously burnt down in 1935. Learning that a number of unexplained fires have plagued the area since the Fourteenth Century, the Doctor realises that the site is a temporal volcano, and is causing the TARDIS to see-saw between 1935 and 1995. Having located his wayward vessel, the Doctor travels back to 1935, arriving just in time to rescue Mel and the family from a fire that has suddenly broken out. But as everyone runs for the safety of the TARDIS, they realise that five year old Michael is still trapped in the burning building; the Doctor is forced to leave without the boy – but he is able to reassure Michael’s parents that their son will live, as he was the archaeologist he met in 1995, who finally came home for Christmas…

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor and Mel

*Time-placing: Mel is still in the outfit worn at the start of Season 24, so I'm placing this after 'Time and the Rani'

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'The Sommerton Fetch' by Peter Anghelides

When the TARDIS is caught in a ‘time twister’ – the temporal wake of a primitive time machine – the Doctor leaves Jo in the ship and sets off alone to investigate. Finding himself in a country home in Shrewsbury, 1783, the Doctor encounters a young girl named Casimer, an irresponsible joyrider from the Twenty-Third Century who has decided to try out one of her Christmas gifts, a time-travel toy from her mother, a day early. When Casimer gives him the slip, the Doctor sets off in pursuit, and a chase through time quickly ensues; each time they arrive at a different point in history, the Doctor is inadvertently glimpsed by the house’s residents, although Casimer remains hidden from sight by the special suit she wears. By the time the Doctor and Casimer manage to get back to Christmas, 2212, they have become good friends, and once Casimer has promised not to misuse the device again, the Doctor rejoins Jo in the TARDIS. However, to his indignation the Doctor learns that his many appearances over the centuries have been attributed to sightings of a hideous, ghostly apparition known as ‘The Sommerton Fetch’.

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor and Jo

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CHRISTMAS PRESENT
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'Faithful Friends' (Part 2) by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

Having spent Christmas Day working on reports for U.N.I.T.’s current brigadier, Bambera, the retired Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart rejoins his wife and his nephew’s family downstairs. When the dining table is laid for dinner, the Brigadier insists that an extra place be laid, fulfilling a promise he made thirty years ago to the Doctor, in the hope that his old friend will join him for the festivities. Sadly, the Doctor fails to appear once more, so the Brigadier toasts his absent friend, whishing him a Merry Christmas…

Notes:
*Featuring the Brigadier

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'Dear Great Uncle Peter' by Neil Corry

A young boy, Alex, sends a letter of complaint to his Dear Great Uncle Peter, who made him forget his last Christmas: waking up on Boxing Day, Alex was upset to realise that he had no recollection of the events of Christmas Day, despite his family’s insistence that he thoroughly enjoyed himself during the festivities. Alex then met a strange man named the Doctor, and his friend, Leela, who arrived at his front door along with all the other children in the neighbourhood, all of whom were also afflicted with the same memory loss. When the Doctor learned that Alex was given a mobile phone for Christmas by his great uncle, he determined that the device was to blame; using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor tracked the culprits down to a nearby hilltop, where two centipede-like aliens were hiding in a camouflaged spaceship; these creatures were criminals, and had used the telephones to steal their victims’ memories so that they could sell them on the black market. Having stopped the extraterrestrial villain’s wicked scheme, the Doctor restored the children’s memories of Christmas Day, and then took them to the authorities. Looking back, Alex realises that although he is cross with his great uncle, at least he had a fun adventure with the Doctor.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela

*Time-placing: Leela is wearing the outfit she wore in 'Horror of Fang Rock', so I'm placing this tale after that story

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'Do You Believe in the Krampus?' by Xanna Eve Chown

In Saltzberg, ten-year-old Lukas worries about his fate at Christmas; believing that he has been naughty the last year, Lukas is convinced that instead of getting presents from Father Christmas, he will face the wrath of a terrible creature called the Krampus. That night, Lukas’ father, Max, pays a visit to Katharina, a waitress that he likes, and meets two strangers, the Doctor and Turlough, who have come to the city to see the Krampuslauf festivities on Saint Nicholas’ Day. Jealous of the attention he believes the Doctor is paying to Katharina, Max follows the Doctor to a nearby barn, where he meets with a hooded creature that bears an uncanny resemblance to the mythical bogeyman; he is unaware that this monster is an alien who has mistaken the locals’ legend as an invitation to abduct and eat their children. Meanwhile, Lukas has secretly followed his father, and, believing the Krampus to be real, he rounds up his friends to warn them. Deciding to face the ‘Krampus’, the children set out to confront the creature; however, they accidentally set fire to the barn, and the creature is killed in the ensuing inferno. Furious at the death of the misguided alien, the Doctor departs with Turlough, leaving Max to wonder if the Krampus really did exist after all…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Turlough

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'They Fell' by Scott Handcock

Answering a distress signal, the TARDIS falls out of time and materialises in a suburban street on Earth at Christmas. Here the Doctor and Charley find that the family of a young girl, Zoe Elliot, have been taken over by ‘Angels’ – in fact ethereal alien creatures who believe Zoe to be their missing daughter. The aliens explain that millennia ago, a plague infected their home planet, causing their physical forms to mutate, and forcing them to send their child into space for safety; since then the aliens have been following the stars in search of their child, and their journey has finally led them to Earth. Realising that over the centuries the stars have moved position, the Doctor uses the TARDIS to take the aliens to the correct planetary destination, where the creatures are at long last reunited with their missing offspring. Having allowed Zoe to share the journey into space, the Doctor takes the young girl home to enjoy Christmas with her own family.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor and Charley

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'Christmas Presence' by Simon Barnard

Every year throughout his life, Chas Baxter has been left a – sometimes odd, sometime inappropriate, but always greatly appreciated – Christmas present by Santa Claus: during his time as an orphan, while living with his foster family, at sea in the Navy, and now, in his twilight years, at the Lavender House Retirement Home. When a number of the elderly residents’ possessions go missing, Chas suspects the newest tenant, smooth-talking Malcolm Harbottle, to be the culprit. Sneaking into Malcolm’s room, Chas finds a suitcase containing the missing items and a strange blue globe, which he takes with him; when Malcolm confronts Chas over the theft, the ball gets broken – and suddenly a blue police box appears out of thin air. From it step two men – the Doctor and his friend Jaime – who reveal that Malcolm is a Kleptorodon, an alien race with a pathological dire to steal anything and everything; Malcolm himself is a criminal with a penchant for nicking galaxies, and the globe contained the entire Acteon galaxy, including the Doctor and Jamie. All the excitement is too much for poor Chas, and his heart gives out. As the Doctor prepares to take Malcolm into custody and return the stolen items to their rightful owners, Jaime suggests using the TARDIS to give the Chas a Christmas present; the Doctor decides to go one better: he copies each item of Malcolm’s loot and then sets the controls of his time-space ship…

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor and Jamie
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'Snowman in Manhattan' by John Binns

Not long after being appointed as manager of New York’s biggest department store, Alan Wood is called to deal with the new Father Christmas, a crotchety old man called the Doctor, and his manager, Steven Taylor. When they explain that they are searching for a snowman named ‘Snowy Boots’, Alan realises that they are referring to the number one toy that Christmas; however, this particular toy seems to have a life of its own, and is later seen driving a Barbie car in another aisle, before running off. After the store shuts, Alan meets a girl named Vicky, who is looking for her two friends; at the same time Alan glimpses Snowy Boots again, but this time the toy has grown to a metre high… Two days later, after telling his girlfriend and his analyst about the snowman – and convincing both of them that he has had a “pshychotic episode” – Alan meets the trio again as they prepare to search the sewers for Snowy Boots. Alan is intrigued, recalling an incident when one of the toys was lost by a child after falling down a manhole; he accompanies the Doctor and his friends into the depths, where they discover some glowing green ooze which the Doctor identifies as coming from a meteorite; it seems that when the bacteria in the alien slime came in contact with the toy it mutated the snowman, turning it into a sentient, malevolent creature… A few days later, at the New Year Parade, Alan sees Snowy Boots once more, but this time the evil monster has grown to twenty-feet tall. When the Doctor and his friends arrive, bringing with them a special compound treated with anti-bacterial agent, Alan helps them scoop the stuff into balls and pelt the creature with it – and as Snowy Boots is finally destroyed, Alan is delighted to see a mass game of snowballs break out amongst the crowd gathered along the streets.

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor, Vicki and Steven

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'The Crackers' by Richard Salter

Investigating a disruption inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Evelyn are astonished to find a reproduction of Evelyn’s childhood home inhabited by the Cracker family, who, firmly believing that they are on Earth in 1957, are busy preparing for their Christmas dinner. When the Doctor demonstrates that instead of a street outside the Crackers’ front door, there is a white, roundeled corridor, their young daughter, Alice, suddenly recalls how they stepped inside a police box after their car broke down, how they quickly became lost in the maze of corridors within, and after several days, how her father went stir crazy and damaged a wall with an axe – and how, ever since then, every day has been Christmas Day. The Doctor tells Alice that the TARDIS created the house out of his friend’s memory in order to keep them occupied while it dealt with the damage; however, the hole is now getting bigger, and it is attracting the attention of a hoard of terrifying creatures known as Vortisaurs. When the Doctor orders everyone to leave their ‘home’ Alice’s parents object; but by disguising himself as Father Christmas, the cunning Time Lord tricks the Crackers into following him to the console room, thereby enabling him to jettison the imitation home and then seal the breach in the ship. Some time later, the Doctor returns Alice and her family to their proper home in 2007, where he and Evelyn join in with their Christmas celebrations.

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn

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'Jigsaw' by Michael Abberton

Eyewitness accounts are compiled in a U.N.I.T. report on an incident on the London Underground, when the Doctor and Jo stopped a man from exploding in a blast that would have destroyed the world.

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor and Jo

*Time-placing: the Doctor and Jo seem to be in the present (i.e. 2000s), so I'm placing this in Season 10, when the Doctor can once again use the TARDIS to travel in space and time

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'Dr Cadabra' by Trevor Baxendale

When the TARDIS arrives in the reception area of an office building, the Doctor and Mel are mistaken for a stage magician and his assistant by the organiser of a staff Christmas party. The Doctor is outraged, but Mel’s enthusiasm helps him warm to the idea, and so he agrees to use the real Dr Cadabra’s props, which are lying unattended nearby, to give an impromptu show. Although the Doctor’s first attempts at prestidigitation are clumsy, he soon gets the hang of things, and his improvised act goes down well with the assembled partygoers. However, things soon go wrong when a trick involving a mirror causes one of the office workers to rapidly age, while her youthful reflection looks on, smiling wickedly. Too late, the Doctor realises that the mirror is an ancient artefact from the Old Time; it is occupied by a time effigy, an evil creature that uses the temporal meniscus stretched over the glass to drain its victims’ time energy. Finding that Dr Cadabra is also trapped inside the mirror, the Doctor attempts to rescue the magician, but the time effigy’s hold proves too strong; instructing the party’s organiser to break the mirror, Cadabra bravely sacrifices himself to save Rachel, and as the looking glass shatters, the girl is restored to her proper age. As the party celebrations resume, the Doctor and Mel step into the TARDIS to give the party’s organiser one last trick…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Mel

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CHRISTMAS YET TO COME
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'Far Away in a Manger' by Iain McLaughlin

Arriving on the Earth colony Alpha One during a fierce snowstorm, the Doctor, Peri and Erimem help a farmer named Gabe and his pregnant wife, Kate, to reach the safety of their settlement. While the Doctor prepares for the baby’s imminent arrival, Peri and Erimem rally the colonists and, on learning that it is Christmas, put up improvised festive decorations. The birth of Kate’s child infuses the normally isolated colonists with a community spirit, and soon everyone is enjoying the time spent with their fellows. As he and his companions slip back to the TARDIS, the Doctor admits that he used a weather control device to deliberately cause the snowstorm and bring everyone together; it seems that the inhabitants of Alpha One will play a pivotal role in a coming war, and the Doctor has just saved the universe by delivering a baby…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem

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'All Snug in Their Beds' by Scott Woodard

Responding to a distress call, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive on the spaceship Karsudan, which is trapped in an ice cloud formed by the collision of two comets. After K-9 reactivates the vessel’s environmental systems, Romana checks the status of the cryogenically frozen crew, and encounters a friendly cat-dog hybrid known as a ‘cog’. Meanwhile, the Doctor accesses the ship’s logs and learns that the colonists on board were due to arrive on Earth 2.7 on the 25th December, but have instead overslept their Christmas morning by three hundred years; he then meets two children, Alpharetta and Bertram, who have been living alone on the ship ever since their cryogenic pods were accidentally broken open. Learning that Ben’s pet mice have escaped and multiplied over the years, the Doctor realises that the rodents are responsible for the ship’s damaged systems. By using the vessel’s ram scoops to take in some of the hydrogen-rich ice and debris around them, the Doctor pilots the ship free of the ice cloud, and restores its course for Gliese 581d. After constructing makeshift Christmas decorations from the colonists’ cargo, the Doctor and Romana return Alpharetta and Bertram to their cryo-chambers to sleep the rest of their journey; then, before they leave in the TARDIS, the two time-travellers leave the children lots of Christmas presents…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor, the Second Romana and K-9 Mk II

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'Decorative Purposes' by Eddie Robson

In a plot to kill a prominent Draconian ambassador, hijackers take over the space cruise liner Excelsior and prepare to crash it into a moon. In the confusion a steward named Sabine meets the Doctor, who is attempting to hack into the ship’s systems and regain control; explaining that the ambassador has already fled the ship, the Doctor encourages Sabine to leave in an escape pod, and she spends the next five days in stasis until the craft lands in a forest on a terraformed planet. Caught in a sudden snowstorm, Sabine is rescued by Lucie, a friend of the Doctor who also escaped the Excelsior. The two girls are surprised to discover that the bio-engineered fir trees around them have sprouted chocolate coins, and Christmas crackers that contain a message from the Doctor, who is being held by the hijackers elsewhere on the planet. Following a handy map, and with the help of some bio-engineered fire-wielding fairies sent by the Doctor, Lucy and Sabine soon overpower the villains. A grateful Doctor reveals that he used the planet’s environmental controls to amend the trees’ blooming feature, and when the fairies start dying due to overextending their energy, he synthesises a smart drug that will allow them to live forever.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie

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'The Stars Our Contamination' by Steven Savile

New York City is in the grip of terror, its population transformed into flesh-eating zombies while the skies pour torrential rain onto its flooded streets. Amongst the chaos, a group of office workers struggle to avoid death at the hands of the ‘Infected’, while escaping from the high rise tower where they work. While heading for the hills beyond the city they encounter a young girl named Peri, and hear tannoy announcements from her friend, the Doctor, who promises to find an antidote for the outbreak. Peri takes the survivors to where she expects to meet the Doctor, but when they arrive, there is no sign of him. Over the next few days, Peri and the survivors lose all hope of survival, and when they are eventually surrounded by Infected, they believe death to be imminent. However, at the last moment they are rescued by the Doctor, who takes them away in his spaceship, the TARDIS. The Doctor explains that the plague was caused by the ‘Christmas Star’, a comet that travels past Earth every two-thousand years; it seems that the strange matter accumulated by the comet interacted with the planet’s atmosphere, causing a huge rainfall contaminated with an alien pathogen. The survivors are also infected, but they allow the Doctor to study the plague’s effects on them so that he can develop a cure; the Time Lord soon isolates an antidote, which he administers to the city’s population as an airborne white powder. His errand of mercy complete, the Doctor leaves in the TARDIS with Peri, allowing the survivors to return home to their loved ones...

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri

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'Keeping it Real' by Joseph Lidster

While returning to Frontios to collect Turlough, the Doctor and Tegan make a detour to answer a distress call. They find themselves on the planet Salient Point, in a village seemingly in perpetual state of Christmas, its streets covered with paper snow and its population an amalgamation of different eras of Earth’s history. After the locals give them a boisterous song and dance routine, the Doctor and Tegan meet a starving man named Vivash O’Connell, who believes them to be his Christmas presents. The two travellers attempt to tell Vivash that he is living in a fantasy, but each time they are stopped by the villagers, and when they finally do manage to tell him the truth, Vivash tells them that he already knows. Vivash explains that he is the sole survivor of a crashed colony ship; when he realised he was alone, he programmed the ship’s matter replicator to create a fantasy world he could live in, but the systems were subsequently too occupied to create food for him to eat, and he now faces starving to death. The Doctor and Tegan take Vivash into the TARDIS, where they give him a slap up, proper Christmas meal. They then set course for Frontios, only to encounter another distress call...

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Tegan

*Time-placing: this story occurs during the last episode of 'Frontios'

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'Christmas Every Day?' by Mark Magrs

In the far future, following the economic collapse of the United Kingdom, the majority of the country’s population has been set to work in a vast shopping Centre. Inside this huge complex people are made to work 24-7, and it is Christmas every week – since market research shows that there is nothing people like more than shopping and Christmas. One of the sales assistants encounters a strange man named the Doctor, who is apparently looking for a present for his friend; taking the Doctor for a ‘mystery shopper’ sent by his boss, the assistant does his best to help, but the man’s odd behaviour soon leads him to alert security. Two guards promptly arrive and arrest the Doctor, taking him and the sales assistant to see the store’s manager, Mr Sacrine. In the boss’ office high atop the Centre, the Doctor condemns Sacrine for his enslavement of the population, crushing their free will and preventing them from taking any time off. As Sacrine defends his kingdom, the Centre’s power complex suddenly explodes, and as the manager futilely attempts to regain control, the Doctor reveals that he and his friend have joined forces with a group of freedom fighters in the North of England in order to bring down the Centre and free its workers. As the Centre closes down forever, the Doctor encourages the sales assistant to enjoy his first ever day off and visit the daughter he hasn’t seen for five years…

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor [and Ace]

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'Faithful Friends' (Part 3) by Dan Abnett

Retired General Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart – otherwise known as the Brigadier – awakes from a nap and prepares to spend another Christmas on his own. However, he is surprised and delighted to discover that the Doctor and Charley have let themselves into his house while he slept, and have prepared a huge Christmas meal for him. Furthermore, they have invited some of his dearest friends to the party: John Benton, Osgood, Liz Shaw, Emily Chaudry and even Jo Grant. As the Doctor carves the Christmas turkey before the assembled revellers, he leads a toast to “faithful friends”.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Charley, the Brigadier, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant and John Benton

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Publication Date:
December 2007


Notes:
*Published by Big Finish