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Home , Death in Heaven, Jenna Coleman, Nick Frost, Steven Moffat

Christinas Preview

PHOTOGRAPHED EXCLUSIVELY FOR BY IAN DERRY

Nick Frost says playing Santa in

is the perfect present for a fanboy But why is

his Father Christmas such a curmudgeon?

HEN IT COMES to taking guest way. Mainly my fandom was because I'm a massive fan roles in Doctor Who most of spaceships in particular. When I first watched Star actors - from John Simm to Wars and saw the Mos Eisley scene, I thought - well, Keeley Hawes - have told RT that's what it's like: it's a documentary! Doctor Who was they're doing always slightly more about character, though." mainly for their kids. Not Frost's brief teaser appearance as Santa at the end of WNick Frost. The man best known for his comedy Doctor Who's series-eight finale (which had seen a body collaborations with plays Santa in the count closer to a Tarantino movie including nerdy hero 's Christmas caper - but has had to keep the Osgood, Clara's boyfriend Danny Pink and possibly the whole thing quiet to avoid giving the game away (and Master/Missy) was potentially the most shocking part we're not talking about the storyline). of the episode. As the Doctor moped around the Tardis, "My son is three - a bit young for Doctor Who," he mourning Clara's departure, Frost barged through the explains. "But I think letting him see me in the costume Tardis doors in full bushy beard, red coat and pointy hat. would fry his three-year-old brain - his dad as Santa? For Doctor Who fans Santa might prove the unlike- To be fair, I do look great. If the acting dries up, I could liest ally the Doctor has had yet. Sure they both defy definitely pitch up outside Westfield shopping centre the laws of time and space. Yes, they both strive to and make a decent fist of it. Although I went to see make things better for the people of planet Earth. Santa when I was a kid at a department store in Certainly they both have impressive transport. But all and I was terrified of the giant red man with a white the same... the Doctor and Santa? beard. So definitely not one for the boy." "I wouldn't worry about it," Nick Frost tells us. "For a In fact, he confesses, he took the part for another start it's not all 'Ho ho ho!' My Santa is cross, mean and little boy: the young Nick Frost. "I'm a big fan of any curt as well as cheery and funny. He's got a little bit of and all sci-fi," he says, shocking ..«__«„ «-_.»•. Robert De Niro in Mean Streets. And he has history with J 6 «A , • HORROR-STRUCK the Doctor: it's not talked about explicitly but they no one. And growing up in ^ Frost w|f|| hjs frjend have a beef with each other from way back." the 80s, being a sci-fi fan Perhaps Frost's own beef with Santa meant you were a big stemming back to the Ilford incident fan of Doctor Who. I set off his first niggling doubts about loved the reincar­ the season. "I'm a bit 50/50 about NO TIME LI., nation aspect, the Christmas," he admits. "I love Christmas THE PRESENT pain each incarnation Day, I love cooking, I love everyone Santa (Nick Frost) had, knowing they were coming round and feeding them - teams up with the going but also the ! j^ but I love working. That gap Doctor (Peter chance to start again Capaldi) and Clara between the 22nd of |() with a clean sheet. It December and the 4th of > for this year's • was unusual that Christmas special 12 mm

cross, mean

and curt as

well as cheery

and funny* IWBIIBWH NICK FROST

4£.>: < January seems too long to me. And the presents are great but... well, look, never buy me clothes. I hate clothes at the best of times but you'll probably buy me clothes that don't fit and I'll spend the morning worrying about my size." Indeed, his favourite Christmas was about as far from carols, trees and tinsel as you could get. "When I was 181 worked in Israel for a while on a kibbutz," he recalls. "On Christmas Day we all got the day off and they said, what would we like to watch? We all said James Bond, so we had a huge Christmas lunch and a James Bond triple bill with the sun streaming in. Later on, I spent a few Christmasses with my old friends [actor] , Simon Pegg and a few mates. It was a bunch of blokes, men together, having a

'Here's something I

bet you didn't know:

Capaldi is a giggler' Who boss reveals how NICK FROST won over his US critics laugh and cooking and watching films. Odd to TEVEN MOFFAT, THE dark lord of we got Nick Frost, well, first of all how perfect think we've all now been in Doctor Who" Christmas telly, likes to toy with our is his name! Nicholas Frost. It's the nom de Which, coupled with working on Steven expectations, but Doctor Who meets plume that Santa Claus would use, isn't it? I Spielberg's 2011 movie The Adventures ofTintin Santa Claus... is he for real? "Rest was really tempted to write in a line where he with Steven Moffat (Moffat co-wrote the screen­ assured, I haven't completely lost passes himself off as Nicholas Frost, but it's too play and Frost played Thomson the detective), is Smy marbles here," he says. fourth-wall-breaking. Nick is ideal. He's what probably why he felt so at home on set. "Moffat When we last saw the Time Lord in the Santa should be in Doctor Who land." is a very clever man - taking Doctor Who some­ season finale, he was as startled as we were to Moffat is keen to reassure anyone whose where completely different isn't easy," he argues. find Father Christmas tapping on the Tardis heart sinks at this daft-sounding premise. "I "And he was happy to allow me to improvise on door. It topped a series that hurled a barrage of sense that the very people who think they set and push things out a bit. wacky ideas at viewers, from killer graffiti, to might hate this, won't hate it at all. Of all the "I've agreed not to leak any spoilers but here's the Moon being an egg, to archenemy the Christmas specials I've done, it's the one most something I bet you didn't know: Peter Master becoming a lady. Surely the show- like the paradigm Doctor Who episode." Capaldi is such a giggler. Trust me. runner had qualms about bringing a jolly They've bundled up the festive content in what Whatever you see on screen on figure such as Santa, beloved of children big he describes as "a big lump of goodness" in the Christmas Day, there's a version of and small, aboard the Tardis. "It does look form of Frost's Santa, but Moffat promises: it somewhere with Peter giggling like the most insane moment when "The rest is actually a scary, tense and claustro­ the whole time..." Santa turns up," he concedes, phobic adventure - as hopefully you saw from STEPHEN "but we haven't gone off our the trailer. It's not selling you a dummy there." ARMSTRONG rockers. No, Santa is written In a nutshell, this year's special, Last in properly, in a science- Christmas, is about scientists beset by HEAVENLY PEACE fiction way, into Doctor Who" monsters at the North Pole. Plus Santa. "It's Frost felt very So he trusts there'll be no The Thing meets Miracle on 34th Street - the at home on "crying children and parents movie we've all been waiting for. It's certainly the Doctor trying to kill me - again". Who set the strangest bloody thing I've ever written." Perhaps it's a miracle that Santa's sleigh and the police T WILL BE Moffat's fifth yuletide yarn, box haven't collided in the matching his predecessor Russell T night sky before. At this time IDaviess tally. Indeed, since taking over as of year, of course, Santa is executive producer in 2010, he's overseen 57 actually rather busy, far too individual episodes and will overtake Davies's busy to help out a lonely Time round 60 next year. But Moffat remains Lord, so for the purposes of undimmed, insisting fresh ideas are never a television he's played by Nick struggle - for his own scripts or those he Frost. Moffat has worked with commissions from other writers. the comedy actor before on the "If you're a writer, you're supposed to have film, but he didn't write ideas. Whether they're any good or not isn't up Santa with Frost in mind. to me. It's whether you're still excited by it - "I've always had a very clear jumping up and down about the idea you've impression of Santa, but when just had. You've got to bring energy into the >

15 TIME WEIGHS HEAVY A candid moment on set - on 3 October, the final w day of filminq, Peter Capaldi reflects on his first year in the Tardis

CAPALDI'S HIGHS EMOTIONS IN CHECK 1"I'm not sure I'm a hugging person now," says an awkward 12th Doctor, as Clara embraces him in the opening episode. In the finale, he's only slightly keener: "Never trust a hug. It's just a way to your face." COSMIC AWARENESS 2In Kill the Moon, he heartlessly leaves Clara and her pupil to decide the Earth's fate. Later, he pictures eternity and says their positive actions will lead humankind out across the *There was an stars enduring to the end of time. QWHO AM I? All season he increase in ratings, C^Jguestions whether he's a good man. In , so hooray for the he's delighted to realise, "I am not a hero. I am an idiot with a box stern older man!* and a screwdriver. Just passing STEVEN MOFFAT through, helping out." PM

0 script and production process. And I still do. generally positive, with respectable ratings (a "regendered" Master, has announced her inten­ When you're in a constant stream for several total of 7-6 million watched the finale), even up tion to return, and Moffat confirms: "That's true. years of just doing Doctor Who all the time - against The X Factor. For Moffat, the big chal­ I've already asked her to come back." even though I do Sherlock, too - you get into the lenge was "people freaking out in America about The self-styled "Queen of Evil" was last seen rhythm of it. Everything looks like a. Doctor Who casting an older Doctor because it's simply not being zapped by a version of the idea and I would say, conceitedly, that I can solve part of their tradition. It isn't here either any Brigadier (the Doctor's old ally). But, says a narrative problem very fast." more. But there was an increase in ratings, so Moffat, "I can't imagine anyone who's ever Doctor Who traditionally lightens its tone hooray for the stern older man. We've been watched this genre being convinced that she's at Christmas, serving something "markedly thrilled by it." dead. is never dead, no matter different" for a broader audience still digesting what happens to him or her. She's entirely their roast turkey, parsnips and pud. All UT WHAT OF Capaldi's second series unzappable!" Christmas specials to date have had a seasonal next year? Wicked fantasies are Moffat, who recently turned 53, is married to element, albeit with a twist: killer conifers, already swirling and coalescing in Sherlock producer and they have two fiendish snowmen, even Michael Gambon and Moffat's mind but he remains tight- sons, Joshua and Louis. The family will watch Katherine Jenkins on a shark-drawn sleigh. Blipped on specifics. Any tiny hints? "There are Doctor Who together on Christmas Day. Would he consider one without these trappings? various ones I could give but I'm not sure yet "Sometimes it's harder during the broadcast of "I prefer the specials to be Christmassy, and I which surprises I want to tease. One reason is the actual series because on Saturdays the know Russell did, too. I don't want to see a I want to make sure they don't become part of household can get a bit busy, so I watch it on summer day. I cringe when people watch them the plan that falls apart. That does happen." catch-up, which is terrible. But no, I always on a day that's not Christmas. Because they Filming resumes in January but there's not a watch it on Christmas Day." really are meant to be watched on that day, over- peep yet about Capaldi's will-she/won't-she-be- So what's top of Steven's Christmas list from sugared, much more sentimental and daffy." leaving co-star, Jenna Coleman (who Santa? It's a tough one. Last year he received a The Last Christmas cast includes Michael is at least in Last Christmas). , the year before a - not an Trough ton, best remembered as Rik Mayall's , a massive hit actress painted grey and clad in rubber. "The sidekick Piers in the political sitcom The New the finale as Missy, the one I've got at the end of the garden is made of Statesman (1987-94). In 2011, he wrote a biog­ fibreglass. It looks great. So what's left..? I don't raphy of his dad, the Patrick know what ridiculous life-size action figure I'll Troughton. "He doesn't play son of be in for this time." Doctor Who or anything," laughs Maybe a CyberBrigadier? He loves the idea. Moffat, "he plays a scientist." "That's right! A full-size, operational Brigadier. But did they natter on set With remote control. That would be about Troughton senior? "No, very cool." PATRICK MULKERN 1 just kept priming Capaldi TEAM OF DR with questions." Peter Capaldi and Jenna Don't miss The public reaction to Peter Coleman with showrunner Steven Moffat Peter Capaldi's interview in RT's Capaldi's first term has been double issue, on sale 6 December