In the Bleak Midwinter.

Audio  Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without an Eighth Doctor boxed set now it seems and here's the follow up to November's Audacity, with another three stories featuring the Eighth Doctor's newest companion and the return of one of the audio originals.  Audacity and Charley have become fast friends (as did, by the sounds of the extras Jaye Griffiths and India Fisher who're thick as thieves in the interviews).  But that also means we're straight into the multi-companion structural change of having the Doctor off on his own investigating while his two friends spend most of their time together which Charley back in the seasoned traveller role she also fulfilled with C'rizz.

Although Audacity embraces travelling with the Doctor, it's also through necessity and she's unafraid to note the liberties Eighth and Charley take in their adventures.  When they steal a car in 1940s London, they're depriving someone of their mode of transport at Christmas and Audacity says so.  Charley suggests that the police will probably sort it out.  But its clear that Audacity is right - they've inconvenienced a stranger perhaps at their own critical moment - and although she's then quick to apologise, perhaps this is where one of the fault lines will appear in future stories.  Having introduced the notion that these stories are happening in the original first two seasons, Audacity won't be in the TARDIS crew forever.

Twenty-Four Doors in December

After the Stranded series, we're back at the Doctor's Baker Street house but in an earlier time frame, the 00s before Thomas Brewster converted it into flats.  The Doctor and his friends spend the whole of December here, the adventure structured around an advent calendar, a scene per day which allows for Audacity and Charley's friendship to bed in and for them to become involved in the life of Al Norton, a store Santa for whom fate is swirling around.  John Dorney's script feels like a successor to the old Short Trips at Christmas anthologies, although it is greatly enhanced by Jason Watkins open-hearted portrayal as Norton, trapped by his fears, weaknesses and circumstances.

The Empty Man

All three stories in this boxed set seem to pay homage to A Ghost Story for Christmas and The Empty Man references the format directly, both in the dialogue and the 1940s equivalent of a writer of scary stories who finds himself caught up in just such a mystery.  One of the genre of stories in which time would have continued as normal had the TARDIS not landed and brought along the antagonist, Tim Foley's script wrings out every potential resulting small tragedy not least about the ephemeral nature of one writer's work and how even the best scribes can be forgotten, something which is obviously true of most of us.

Winter of the Demon

Of course, being a totally chill fan, I could be writing about the A-plot of Roy Gill's story, a bread and butter megalomaniacal antagonist summoning a demon from beyond for nefarious gain ala The Daemons or Minuet in Hell with David Robb finally gaining a Doctor Who credit after years of circling.  Or that it's a pleasure to hear a story set in a Scottish metropolis for a change.  But let's face it, the most exciting element of this story is Charley finally gets a bit of romance.  She kisses a guy and for a moment you wonder if she's going to Susan Foreman her way out of the TARDIS (even though all three stories have been about foreshadowing her fate).  Scream!

Placement:  Directly after the Audacity box, but its notable that by the end Eighth, Audacity and Charley are still together which suggests we're going to be seeing more stories.