Isn't that a bit of a risky subject to bring up in a show that children watch?

It's certainly raised some very unwelcome questions in our house - not appropriate at all if you ask me

I heard in my head about a thousand children's dreams being crushed. I thought it was very insensitive of Moffat and I think he'll have a lot of explaining to do after the episode has aired.

During-the-episode posts are the most fun.

I see no problem with it, children have to find out santa doesn't exist at some point.

Let children be children regarding Christmas without some stupid comment in a family show? A complete joke.

There wasn't a close-up of a tangerine for nothing at the end

I'm pretty sure she believed in the end, but if Moff isn't careful children may start to question whether The Doctor is real or not I thought it was a very clever episode and still retained the ambiguity of Santa's existence. Many children will have older sibling who don't believe in Santa and would have been told by them. I believe this episode Moff has gone and addressed the balance proving Santa is real.

Santa *is* real according to the episode. Having a character say they don't believe shouldn't change that.

Yeah'I assumed that meant Santa was real and was the person looking out for the Doctor

I think the whole point was that, like many such things, Father Christmas is as real as you want or need him to be.

You're right. But I don't want my child one day to be crying on Christmas Day because a television show character said that Santa is a fairytale. Yes, it's silly and we who are older know that he is not, but I'd hate to be in a child's position or the parent's position watching that.

Sure, in the end they resolved it all but the earlier scenes were pretty awkward for parents (whose kids may not have stayed watching until the end due to the nature of the rest of the programme).

It's not as bad as the time me and my relatives were all gathered round the TV and Men Behaving Badly was on (ok so not really appropriate for the 8 year olds in the room) and Gary asking 'what age were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus'

Most kids know that adults don't believe in Santa anyway, it's in all the Santa related films!

I'm glad this thread is here - I am in two minds whether to let my kids see this episode (8 and 5, big Doctor Who fans, watched all the "new" Who this past 6 months).

Can we allow this programme to have them question what is a magical thing for them?

Shame on Moffat I am thinking in a way - 6:15 on Christmas Day, there are plenty of awkward questions just waiting to be answered I feel.

We decided I would check it out after the shock trailer aired during Children In Need , which turned out to just be in the first five minutes and I'm still not sure although quite frankly I'm veering towards not endangering innocent childhood beliefs.

Of course I can see at the end the implication was there for a "real" Santa, but too many adults questioning for my liking in this show which was aired in it's earliest timeslot this year as far as I'm aware, and especially on Christmas Day when a high proportion of the audience may have been children now wondering exactly what all that uncertainty about Santa was all about.

Disappointing.

Reading this reminds me that my mum had my oldest (8) over last week and were innocently watching some "secret santa" thing mid-afternoon on an ITV channel - interviewer casually asks that very thing - "so - what age were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus".

Ahem, one quick fast forward later was luckily enough to prevent any awkwardness there - "hey Granny, you're missing a bit" - "that's OK, it's just adult talk".

Again, a bit of magic and wonderment in children's lives - never hurt me as a kid - maybe you have to have kids to really understand the importance of it, I dunno.

I agree with every word. I don't have kids myself, but I have two wonderful nephews who I watched Doctor Who with when I babysat them every Saturday night. They are big fans. Coincidentally, they were also telling me just the other day how excited they were for Santa's arrival, and they were really sad when I told them that Santa won't be coming to me! I think this is a line that Moffat should have taken into consideration and I am contemplating a letter to the BBC.

Will this be the next Ofcom investigation?

If you were a parent, or close with children, you may understand a bit more.

I'm a teacher and an uncle to several nephews and nieces. We watched with my 8 year old niece. She didn't bat an eyelid as she was more scared by the crab monsters and just loved seeing two of her favourite people interact (Father Christmas and the Doctor). My niece and I have often spoken about how magical 'Santa' is and how he operates and she's fairly certain that he's a) real and b) just for kids, not for adults. The fact adults don't get Santa visiting them unless they have kids just seems a rather awkward hole in the mythology if you ask me, which maybe needs to come up sooner in conversation!

So how did your nephews react - do they no longer believe in Santa because Clara doesn't? It would take some audience research to gauge how much of an impact it had.

I assumed it meant they were still in the dream and due to have their brains sucked out by alien mind crabs within the next few minutes or so.

I wasn't saying that. Clara says that "Santa is a fairytale". Not that she doesn't believe in Santa. I think it's very insensitive of Moffat to put that line in a show which has one, been given an early time slot, and two, been made for more prominently for children. It doesn't matter whether it was concluded at the end to show that Santa exists, I think DW should stay well away from things so personal like this.

The show was like a panto with bits kids understand & other bits which go over their heads & if my children were younger I would have let them watch it without any hesitation.

It was a great episode with Santa saving the day. Cannot understand why that would cause any child distress?