Fact File: A Christmas Carol

The read-through for A Christmas Carol took place on the morning of 8th July in Cardiff. The following week it was announced that the special would be a twist on the Dickens classic and that Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins would star in it. The title of the episode was exclusively revealed on this site on 11th November, 2010 and the first significant clip was broadcast on BBC ONE during Children in Need night, eight days later.

Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol, was first published in December, 1843 and versions of the tale have been filmed regularly since the early twentieth century. Actors who have played the central figure of Scrooge include Simon Callow (Dickens in The Unquiet Dead) and Mark Strickson, better known as Turlough, companion to the Fifth Doctor.

The costume Amy wears for most of A Christmas Carol was last seen in The Eleventh Hour. Check out the gallery now! Rory's Roman get up was seen in The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang.

A Christmas Carol marks the Doctor Who debut of the show's new Production Designer, Michael Pickwoad. His previous credits include Withnail & I (1987), the recent version of The Prisoner and Longford which received a BAFTA nomination for Best Production Design.

Steven Moffat becomes only the third person to write an episode of Doctor Who that receives its first broadcast on Christmas Day. The first was Terry Nation who wrote the Dec 25th episode back in 1965. Forty years later, Russell T Davies wrote The Christmas Invasion and subsequently The Runaway Bride, Voyage of the Damned, The Next Doctor and The End of Time, Part One.

The Doctor is amused by Kazran's claim that the weather controls are isomorphic. This is possibly because he has previously claimed that the TARDIS is isomorphic and can only be controlled by him - a questionable fact as we've seen several companions operate the time machine! The word itself is centuries old and derives from 'isos' meaning 'the same' or 'equal' in Greek and 'morphe' meaning shape.

1952 was quite a year for Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 62). During that busy 12 month period she met her future husband (Joe DiMaggio, that is!) and filmed Niagara, her break-through movie. In April, 1952 she featured on the cover of Life magazine for the first time and later that year won the role of Lorelei Lee in the classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. All that, and the Doctor, too... Incidentally, Marilyn learnt she had won the role of Lorelei on her birthday and decades later, Katherine Jenkins was told she had the role of Abigail on her birthday!

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) is referenced in A Christmas Carol. One of history's most famous scientists, the Doctor has previously mentioned knowing Einstein and encountered him during Time and the Rani, the first adventure to feature the Seventh Doctor.