Maybe a good time time for The Doctor to do a little driving, he can do Tardis, he can do Father Christmas sleighs, possibly something else needed for him to do when Clara is busy.

Clara- Doctor, what have you been up to?
The Doctor- This and that
Clara-Explain
The Doctor- Explain how?
Clara- Simply as in, I know you are up to something, look.
The Doctor- Oh, very good Clara, that's new.

Finally got around to watching it today (after spending the christmas period either in bed or close to the toilet due to food poisoning) and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

After a season in which I hadn't felt more disengaged and ultimately disinterested since McCoy's first season, I found I was following this with interest.

More importantly, this was the first time for me that Capaldi actually felt like the Doctor. I cared about what happened to him and what he was saying. He seemed to me to have a more rounded take on the character (and I could understand what he was saying most of the time).

While I admit, it would have done the story a better service if they had left Clara as an 80-odd old woman and left her behind with those regrets, to be honest, it wouldn't have been appropriate for an Xmas episode would it?

Somehow Clara has become a time traveller also. A part of her, the excitement of the unexpected has become the norm because life with The Doctor is unusual, so life for Clara is unusual.

well they have been travelling together in one form or another since 1963.

Where did they say Clara was in her 80's?
I thought she said she was 63.

Clara said it had been 62 years since she'd seen the Doctor and the last time we heard her age was when Strax said she was 27(?) So that would make her 89

Yup.

Hopefully this is part of Moffat's promise to soften him up and make him less harsh. He was a better character for it and made more sense as a character.

Did Moffat promise to soften him up? I don't remember that. I hope he's not being held to a false promise.

I do recall Capaldi's words, though.

Finally got round to watching it last night and ended up turning it off and deleting it after 15 minutes. As soon as Nick Frost appeared at the door in the lone ranger-style pose on reindeer i just said "really ?" to the television.

The elves crying "racist" wasn't remotely funny either (obviously for me personally).

I hear from a friend that Danny Pink put in an appearance at the end, so maybe i did the right thing in deleting it as i'd have ended up throwing something at the telly. The way i'm going, it's not going to take a lot for me to ditch this all together.

I hope so. I genuinely did not like feeling disconnected from the show and from the character of the Doctor.

When Capaldi was announced, I thought "Good call. A serious thesp with serious acting chops"

When I heard what his take on his character was, I thought "Good. A little more hardness is what we need, strip away some of the frivolities."

When I saw the costume, I thought "Okayyyy. Could do with a bit more colour, and lose the buttoned up to the neck white shirt though. Otherwise if you exchange the trousers for a same colour skirt with black stockings and sensible shoes then you've got an Edwardian Nanny." (seriously. Look it up)

Then I saw the episodes and I really was disappointed. He spent 90% of the time just being grumpy and remote. And that percentage was too much of the personality.

Despite being from Newcastle I found the thickness he put onto his Scottish accent difficult to understand. Why didn't he use his normal Scottish accent or even a slightly toned down one if he didn't want to do that?
When he does that in other jobs, his cadences are wonderful.

But mostly it was the characterisation I didn't enjoy. I felt if he didn't really care, then why should I? And I hated feeling like that. By the end I just did not give a damn about the show - it took me a week to get round to watching the series finale.

So I hope that this does signal a more rounded portrayal of the character. Because that Doctor, I want to hear more from.

I hope this turns out to be more than just a stay of execution for me.

For the benefit of everyone who said "it's like Inception" or "it's like Aliens" - everyone else was taking part in her dream, which was influenced by the films she'd been watching (including Miracle on 34th Street).

But what does Dave need forgiving for? Not taking up the option on Series 11 of Red Dwarf?

Gary

Just a thought but as the part where the others woke up/died was before Doctor and Clara woke up via another dream does that mean none of them were real and just constructs of Doctor/Clara ?

You did the right thing in turning it off as the episode veered from risible to intensely annoying. And yes, the Santa-as-cowboy stance irritated me too.

Oh my god. you might be right!
We watched it again here and the opening sequence has an old persons chair lift on the stairs.
Also is it the old clara with grey hair that we see in the mirror while the young clara walks in front of it?

Its possible in series 9 we will discover Clara is an old person who has been imagining or looking back on her adventures with her imagined doctor! Her appearance and clothes have changed from episode to episode in series 8, so what is real for her?
Wow! This is fascinating stuff,Moffat at his most inscrutable.....

Good spot - so the opening scene was definitely the older Clara dreaming. Thought so. And the Doctor somehow gets into her dream - hence his comment to Santa that he knows what's going on. I don't see the older grey haired Clara in the mirror though.

Well, you saved me from writing a post! Agree with almost all of that, apart from t he Clara leaving thing. I think her story is done, and a new companion would've been good for next season. But if she's as unannoying as she was in this in series 9, then it won't be so bad

I thought this year's Christmas offering was the worst for a while. Thin, obvious plot. I think generally there is too much concern with having momentous and meaningful story lines about the Doctor's overall timeline. Let's just get back to some self contained adventures.
I like Clara though. She can stay for me.

I thought that was an enjoyable Xmas story but with enough extra poignanacy to make me have a little sniff here and there. So for me it went from OK to very good when I think about it more
Thanks to the previous posters - I had not noticed that the Clara at the start was very likley the older Clara. That would explain even more the idea of The Doctor getting a second chance.

Ah, good one, didn't put that list and the events of the episode together before Makes sense now.

I think next series will be Claras last because she is dying but got a reprieve, via her imagination, for one more set of adventures with her fantasy doctor.The Clara doing the imagining is old and has a chair lift on the stairs.

In series 8 she changed from episodes to episode , as she also changed costume...like it was all a "dressing up" game of "lets pretend".Its her as she imagines herself to be.

On the other hand the doctor stayed the same,in black.And overall there was an interesting use of colour in episodes,especially the Christmas one, where they seemed to be contrasting "dream" colour with "real" colour.

This would fit in with Susan, the first companion,who was described as being a problem at school with an over active imagination. In those early days the companions were as prominent as the doctor character.

And in some ways its the companion, whatever her name, that really gives us "Doctor Who",not the doctor, because its their imagination that creates him to relieve their boring lives.

Next series is going to be fascinating.

I agree with so much of this. My problem is, I've disengaged so much from the show I don't know if there is any way back for me. The Doctor was a bit more bearable in this X-mas episode (which was rubbish imo) but even then I'm not sure I trust him or like him very much.

I honestly think that until such time as Moffat has left the building it will be a no go area for me.

Which is ok.

Excellent story. I really like episodes about dreaming. Also, Christmas atmosphere was great, especially the part with sleigh.10/10

Average episode at best. Moffatt trying to be wacky with his ideas is really annoying me now I.e. Santa. I do hope he doesn't go down the road of the next series being Clara's dream. Look what happened to Dallas after that season ! On a positive it seems the Doctor has mellowed a bit which is about time because his grumpiness was causing a lot of my friends to dislike the show and not watch any longer.

Didn't particularly enjoy it, it was a bit confusing at times.

I think the key to a good Christmas Who is probably not to set it during Christmas!!!

Then it's not a Christmas special.

You may not love Christmas stories, I respect that (although strongly disagree) but you can't call an episode 'Christmas special' just because it is broadcasted on Christmas day. The point of Christmas special is Christmas atmosphere (snow, santa, Crhristmas tree. ladders, snowmen, children, Christmas clothes etc.)