DVD weekly: Christmas and conspiracies

Here's your weekly round-up of TV DVDs. Should we start calling them TVDs for short? No, that would make us assclowns.

Released: Monday 16th January 2012

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2011 - The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe (DVD & Blu-ray)
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I love Steven Moffatt's Doctor Who. Steven Moffatt clearly loves Christmas. I do not love Steven Moffatt's Doctor Who Christmas specials. Filled with the magic and spirit of festive fun and blah, blah, blah, this is when Doctor Who really gets to become a show for all the family and, frankly, it loses any semblance of 'edginess' as a result.

And this jars so much with the convoluted Time Lord storylines of the past two years. The tragedy, the mystery, the complicated time-wimey plotting; its all gone in favour of telling a story in which some annoying kid learns the true meaning of family, or some such sappy shit. To all those complaining that the recent Doctor Who series have been too complex and difficult to follow, pay attention because THIS is what you'd get if you had your way.

That's not to say there isn't anything to take away from this special episode. Moffatt paints a brilliant picture of the Doctor's childlike mind, particularly when he is given the opportunity to add some design features to a house in time for Christmas (lemonade coming out of the taps? Oh you!) and, as usual, the quickfire exchanges reveal so many sharp one-liners, you'd be forgiven for rewatching the whole episode again straight away in case you missed any.

And yet, like last year's take on the classic Dickensian Christmas Carol, this distinctly Narnia-tinged adventure is too twee to sit comfortably beside everything we saw in the last series. Moffatt is often forced to defend his more engrossing, confusing take on the much-loved character, but it is clear that there is scope for Doctor Who to be a show more for adults than children. And that is never more clear than after one of these vacuous festive specials.

Side note: Alexander Armstrong seems miscast here as a World War fighter pilot because he gets such little screen-time. Therefore I am convinced he was only cast in the role because they knew from The Armstrong And Miller Show that he could do the clipped British accent. That is all.
Hidden (DVD)
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I must confess, I didn't see Hidden, but how can any show featuring Gene Hunt square off against Poirot not be awesome? (*scans synopsis*) Oh wait, it's not about that at all. It's to do with conspiracies and old murder cases and stuff. Disappointing.

Still, you can tell from the DVD cover that this is clearly a mini-series featuring lots of atmospheric grittiness and a mixture of stern, suspicious and furtive glances. Hang on, what do they say about not judging things by covers? No wait, that's books. We're fine.

However, just in case you don't want to take my obviously well-informed opinions on board, here's a clip. Go and make your own fucking minds up then:


Also out this week

Boon - Series Six DVD
Footballers Wives - Series Five DVD
Ross Kemp: Back To Afghanistan DVD
Second Thoughts - Series Four DVD
Waterloo Road - The Complete Series Six DVD