The Return of Doctor Mysterio 

In New York, with brain-swapping aliens poised to attack, the Doctor and Nardole link up with an investigative reporter and a mysterious masked superhero known only as the Ghost. Can the ... See full summary »

Director:

Edward Bazalgette (as Ed Bazalgette)

Writer:

Steven Moffat

Stars:

Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas, Justin Chatwin

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Peter Capaldi	...	The Doctor
Matt Lucas	...	Nardole
Justin Chatwin	...	Grant
Charity Wakefield	...	Lucy
Tomiwa Edun	...	Mr Brock
Aleksandar Jovanovic	...	Dr Sim
Logan Hoffman	...	Young Grant
Daniel Lorente	...	Teen Grant
Sandra Teles	...	Reporter
Tanroh Ishida	...	Operator
Vaughn Johseph	...	Soldier

Storyline

In New York, with brain-swapping aliens poised to attack, the Doctor and Nardole link up with an investigative reporter and a mysterious masked superhero known only as the Ghost. Can the Doctor save Manhattan? And what will be revealed when we see behind the mask?

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Plot Keywords:

superhero | christmas special | doctor who | shoal of the winter harmony | twelfth doctor | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United Kingdom] Official site [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2016 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Studios,BBC Cymru Wales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Acting debut of Logan Hoffman.

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Goofs

When "Dr. Mysterio" first enters, he is shot at, and when the gun runs dry, it simply makes a click click sound, but this is incorrect. The pistol is a striker fired semi-automatic, when the last round has fired, the slide should be open and locked back, yet this one is closed. Also, even were the slide hold open to fail, there is no hammer to repeatedly "click;" the striker is spring loaded and held back by the sear, when the trigger is pulled, the sear drops and allows the striker (firing pin) to move forward against the primer under spring pressure, this would indeed make a "click" sound, but it does not reset until after the round is fired and the slide cycles (or one manually cycles the slide). So even if the slide hold opened failed, there would be only a single click, not multiple.

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Quotes

The Doctor: Why do they call him Spider-Man? Don't they like him?
Grant: He was bitten by a radioactive spider, and guess what happened?
The Doctor: Radiation poisoning, I should think.
Grant: No. He got special powers.
The Doctor: What? Vomiting, Hair loss and death? Fat lot of use.

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Connections

Referenced in Whovians: The Pilot (2017)

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Soundtracks

Pass It On
(uncredited)
Written by Keoki
Performed by Keoki

User Reviews

Super-duper

Well, I'm a big comic book fan myself, so this 2016 Doctor Who Christmas Special was right down my street. No doubt it was show-runner Stephen Moffat's response to the Doc's army of super-heroic rivals on TV from Marvel & DC but either way, it was a win-win for me.

The only real concession to the season itself was the Doctor's initial Christmas Eve meeting with young Grant, effectively the latter's origin story for his super-powered adult alter-ego The Ghost, the comedic nature of which immediately tells you this isn't going to be one of the Doc's more serious adventures.

Fast forward to the future as the Doctor and now fully-grown Grant are pitched against an alien race out to replace all the world leader's brains with their own. Given recent events across the water, one has to wonder if they succeeded in their aim at least in America. There's an engaging sub-plot with the jaw-jutting super-hero moonlighting as the meek-mannered nanny of his schoolboy-crush-now-grown-up crime reporter Lucy with the three of them coming together to save the world leaving the youngsters to fall in love, naturally at the very end (well Superman married Lois in the end, didn't he?).

Along the way, for comic-fans there was a nod to Superman's creators Siegel and Shuster, elsewhere there were lots of humour, nice New York motifs and better-than-expected special effects. I'm not keen on Matt Lucas so his dimwitted character grated on me somewhat but Capaldi is on good form, plus I liked the actors who played the young couple in best Superman and Lois style.

A really fun, light-hearted one-off episode, with nary a Christmas tree in sight.