Doctor Who: Blood on Santa's Claw and Other Stories

This standalone anthology of Six Doctor stories was released in December and has a distinct Christmas theme, although one that's perhaps more significant in some of the stories than the others. It's also not quite what it appears at the outset, which is rather to its benefit.

Blood on Santa's Claw - Taking its title from a 1971 horror film that happened to feature a former Doctor Who actor this is the weakest of the stories in this collection. That's largely because of the rather daft depiction of 59th-century society- do we seriously think anyone will really be that obsessed with The Wind in the Willows in 4,000 years time? In terms of the plot, it isn't helped by a basic slaves' revolt storyline that doesn't ring any changes on the theme beyond the oddness of some of the characters. A new companion has also turned up in the TARDIS, without us having seen his first appearance; he's a bit irritating and does nothing useful at all during the course of the episode. Obviously, he is there for a reason (and, in general terms, it's not hard to work out what that is) but it doesn't help this particular story when taken on its own.

The Baby Awakes - Next we're off to another planet in the same time period, where fortunately the daftness of the society plays a far less central role in the story. The setting is a clinic where parents can experience how their unborn children will grow up - and choose not to carry them to term if they don't like the outcome. The darkness of this theme, while certainly not ignored, isn't as thoroughly explored as it might be in a longer story or one that, this being Doctor Who and not Black Mirror, didn't have to add monsters and running down corridors into the mix. But there are some good scenes for Peri in this and the new companion at least has something to do even as he becomes increasingly unlikeable.

I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day/Brightly Shone the Moon That Night - Although each half is credited to a different author although, admittedly, one of them is called "A. Lias" just as the authors of the first two episodes are "Al Terigo" and "Sue Dennom", this is one story, and it's the saving grace of the collection. That's because it's here that the threads hinting at a plot arc in the previous two tales come together and some (although not all) of the apparent inconsistencies in them are explained. It's set during a Christmas party on a space station and it manages to make some effective commentary on the show itself, using some of the Doctor's strengths against him and questioning how his lifestyle appears to others. Things are nicely tied up, with some connections to established lore about future history from the TV show and some good scenes for Peri.

It's nothing spectacular but, by putting the first two stories into a better context, it nudges the collection as a whole up to... let's say 3.5 stars.