Up close and personal with Nick Frost, Doctor Who’s Father Christmas
Ranking right up there with the periodic naming of a new Doctor, the annual Christmas Day Doctor Who special is just as eagerly anticipated with fans around the globe desperate for any glimpse (however tiny), storyline leak or video teaser. This year is no exception as we have only been able to discern via a few recent photos and teasers over the last couple of weeks that this years episode, “Last Christmas”, will feature the great Nick Frost as Father Christmas…or so he claims.
Back in October, during Frost’s last day of filming, the co-creator of the brilliant Cornetto Trilogy sat down with Digital Spy and other media to wax eloquently on a few festive facts. For a full list of the world according to Frost, click here. Here are a few to, hopefully, tide you over until 25 December…
- Nick was “a Tom Baker kid” and lives “round the corner” from Peter Davison “Sometimes I just see him in the street. I see him and I say, ‘It’s Doctor Who!’ under my breath. I think it’s one of those roles…. it’s like playing the President in something – once you’ve done it, you’re always that, to a certain extent.“
- In the special, Nick is channelling the late, great Richard Attenborough – “I’ve got tiny little glasses and they’re actually Richard Attenborough’s that he wore in Miracle on 34th Street – I’m channelling his energy through those spectacles, which is amazing.”
- Nick very nearly missed his chance to play Santa – “I always end up in the pub with two per cent battery left on my phone – I got the message from my agent – ‘Yeah Nick, Doctor Who are calling…” and it died… so I missed it! But I was chuffed to bits to get it. I love Peter as the Doctor – I think it was David Tennant that reignited my interest and from then it’s just got better and better, so when someone offers you a guest lead in the world’s biggest TV show… it’s amazing.“
- ‘Last Christmas’ is festive and jolly… and scary! – “I think Paul [Wilmshurst] the director’s handled the frights really beautifully – made it really filmic. I think it’s good – as a kid, I always loved being frightened. I think it’s charming that you get those classic frights – you have to look through your fingers. It’s good for kids to be frightened. It’s been a bit scary to be in some of the scenes… but I’m a 42-year-old lump so nothing frightens me!
“Last Christmas”, which will air at 6.15pm on BBC One on Christmas Day with a same-day broadcast on BBC America in the U.S., will see the Doctor and Clara trapped on an Arctic base under attack from monster-like creatures as they call on Father Christmas for help. Yes, I know, we’re talking about something that is, excruciatingly, still about 2.5 weeks away but, maybe this will help…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsxEenCBRG0
While this has nothing to do this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special, this is another little know fact about “Father Christmas” that is well worth knowing. Having interviewed Nick during a quick press tour and screening of World’s End last year, it was his cohort in film crime, Simon Pegg, that revealed Frost loves to cook and is a great chef. What you will do with this bit of information, I have no idea, but it’s another fun festive fact to know about this years Father Christmas as you settle in on Christmas Day on either side of the pond to watch Doctor Who.
