The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which the eponymous time-traveller visits Earth and an alien forest. The episode was shown in the United Kingdom on Christmas Day on BBC One, BBC America in the United States and on ABC1 in Australia. It is the seventh Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005.

Synopsis
The Doctor (Matt Smith) is on a spaceship in Earth's orbit. As it explodes, he hurtles towards Earth holding a space-suit. At Christmas in 1938, Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner) is riding her bike, as something crashes to Earth. She goes to investigate, and finds the Doctor hurt, with the helmet of his space suit the wrong way round. Madge accompanies The Doctor to the TARDIS and bids him a Merry Christmas. Three years later, in World War II, Madge's husband Reg (Alexander Armstrong) is killed while flying a Lancaster Bomber. Madge is informed of her husband's death, but does not wish to break the news to her children, Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril (Maurice Cole), until after Christmas.

Madge and her children relocate to a house in Dorset where the caretaker (The Doctor) shows them around. During the night Cyril wants to go and look at a large present under the Christmas tree. As Lily sneaks out she goes upstairs into The Doctor's room, and requests to know what he is doing, Cyril sneaks out of bed and goes downstairs. He opens the parcel and climbs in, and emerges in a snowy Forest. The Doctor follows with Lily. In the Forest baubles begin to grow from the trees, and it seems Cyril is following footprints that are getting bigger. Cyril enters a large lighthouse-like building. Madge searches the house for Lily and Cyril and wanders into the forest Cyril sees a throne with a wooden statue of a king on it. Madge is confronted by three people in space suits (Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir, Paul Bazley). She begins to cry and the people place their weapons on the ground, whereupon Madge draws a pistol and forces them to help find her children. The Doctor and Lily enter the building and look for Cyril. On their spaceship, the people in space suits tell Madge that her children are in grave danger, as acid rain is about to dissolve the whole forest into fuel.

In the building, The Doctor and Lily see Cyril sitting on a throne, with a halo around his head, and a wooden statue of a queen. The statues use Cyril to talk through and say they are scared. Madge makes it to the building, where she is reunited with her children and The Doctor. Madge places the halo on her head, and she absorbs in her head the spirits of the entire forest. The top of the building takes off into the time vortex. The forest has escaped the pollution because of Madge's taking it into another place in time.

The Doctor implores Madge to remember her home and she recalls when Lily and Cyril where born, and when she met Reg, but refuses to view the moment when Reg died but, as she thinks about it, it appears on the screen. Lily and Cyril are confused about what their mother means, then suddenly a burst of light engulfs them. They wake up back on Earth, where it is Christmas Day and everything is normal. Madge is about to break the news of their father's death to Lily and Cyril, when The Doctor calls them to come out and see somethng; on the lawn is Reg's Lancaster. Madge inadvertantly pulled his plane into the vortex and pulled him to Christmas Day. He climbs out and runs towards his family. Meanwhile the lifeforce of the forest has left Madge and spread out among the stars.

Subsequently, as the Arwells celebrate Christmas, The Doctor is about to leave when Madge rushes to the TARDIS and demands The Doctor stay for Christmas, but changes her mind when he talks of friends who think he is dead, and she tells him to visit them.

In the present on Christmas Day, The Doctor visits Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill). Amy tells The Doctor that they always set a space at the table for him, and invites him in for dinner. The Doctor pauses to wipe a tear of joy from his eye, then joins them.