My Doctor Who Christmas Special and Twelfth Doctor Whishlist

Having just seen the Day of the Doctor, we are now without doctor who for about a month, and following that, several more. With all this spare time and anticipation to both Matt Smith's final episode and Peter Capaldi's debut as Twelve, I decided to come up with a few things that I want to see in the Christmas special and next series.

1. Mark Gatiss to write Matt Smith's final farewell and to take over as head writer for the next series- Despite Stephen Moffat being the head writer and the inevitability of him writing the Christmas special, I really do think that Gatiss is the superior writer and that he deals with the more emotional side of the Doctor far better. Not to mention that he is an actor himself and is therefore more likely to write a more convincing Doctor in Eleven's final moments.

2. Clara to stay on as the Doctor's companion after he regenerates - I'm not a big Clara fan. However, I do feel that it's important for a new Doctor to come into our lives with something familiar coming with him. I also feel that both the Doctor and his companions benefit from staying with each other after his regeneration because, in the past it has generally been the case that companions grow closer after seeing something as personal as a regeneration. I never particularly liked Rose as a character either, but I feel that after Nine regenerated into Ten, her relationship with the Doctor was much more interesting to watch.

3. Capaldi's Doctor to act like a grumpy old man - I was particularly excited when the BBC announced that Peter Capaldi would be playing the twelfth Doctor. I loved his performance as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and In the Loop and that particular character was a very grumpy (and potty mouthed) Scotsman. I think that a grumpy, no nonsense Doctor would be so much fun to watch and would contrast excellently with Matt Smith's rather silly (but outstanding) performance.

So there you have it, my hopes and dreams for the near future of Doctor who. Happy anniversary, and here's to another 50 years!