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The sci-fi Christmas special is a unique window into British culture – where the joy of the season always meet despair and decline, says Will Cooling
In his unofficial role as Donald Trump’s lead cheerleader-cum-adviser, Elon Musk welcomed the now withdrawn nomination of Matt Gaetz to be America’s next Attorney General by calling him the “Judge Dredd” the country needed to clean up his judicial system. This attracted cries from progressives, who rightly noted that the star of British sci-fi comic 2000 AD is an unreconstructed fascist from a dystopian future.
2000 AD had no idea that Dredd would have a guest role in America’s never-ending political squabbles as they prepared his story in their supersized holiday special. Christmas comes to Mega City One with a timely weather control fault allowing for seasonal snow, whilst the magic of the season allows the veteran lawman to encounter his younger self in a plot that deliberately harks back to A Christmas Carol. Ken Niemand and David Roach’s story mixes violent future fantasy with scenes of huddled masses, underworld vice, and personal brooding that would have been familiar to the readers of Charles Dickens. And if those 19th-century references were too subtle, in a later story, another set of heroes actually do battle with a mechanised version of Queen Victoria protected by toy soldiers chanting God Save The Queen.
How the Victorians defined Christmas
That what we in Britain consider to be Christmas is still defined by the Victorians is unsurprising. For all the talk from British politicians that we need to move away from “managed decline”, when a relatively small Island becomes the most powerful nation in the world, there really is no-way but down. The Victorians told the world stories at the moment where English replaced French as the lingua franca, and they told their best stories about Christmas. That legacy lingers throughout Christmas entertainment, with Britain eschewing the cloyingly safe romantic comedies that have long been an American holiday staple. Instead the television schedules are filled with show after show that seeks to contrast the celebrations with varying forms of despair or danger, a juxtaposition arguably perfected by Eastenders.
Of course, that contrast can be drawn even more starkly by less naturalistic programming. One of the best pieces of Christmas television in recent years was Doctor Who’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with writer Steven Moffat having The Doctor use time-travel to orchestrate a doomed romance that changed a rich old man for the better and so saved the world. He nearly achieved similar heights a few years later with a story that concluded on the muddy fields of France, Christmas Day 1914 as The Doctor comes to terms with his impact on the world. Moffatt returns to write his ninth Doctor Who Christmas Special, built around the idea of what happens when future hotels can sell their past inventory and promising to explore the meaning of Christmas throughout the ages.
Whether it’s Gallifrey or Mega-City One or Albert Square, there is a uniquely British take on the meaning of Christmas. A time for celebration, but also a time to recognise the dangers of winter, to think about those less fortunate than ourselves, and to wonder whether we’re making a positive contribution to the world. These themes can best be explored by our creative industries, even ones that superficially seem far removed from the world of Scrooge and Tiny Tim. Thanks to targeted tax cuts there has been growth in the British film industry, but often working on collaborative projects with Americans that have relatively little to say about Britain itself. The next stage of this investment has to build more capacity for the British film industry to lead on projects where the American market is only of secondary concern.
The television schedules are filled with show after show that seeks to contrast the celebrations with varying forms of despair or danger, a juxtaposition arguably perfected by Eastenders
Likewise with the transition to streaming creating real problems for both the BBC and ITV’s funding models let alone smaller companies, it will require more investment from both government and civil society to ensure that television can continue to tell the stories that matter to us rather than having to dance to the American’s tune. That Sly Stallone failed as Judge Dredd, and Doctor Who seems to be struggling to meet expectations on Disney+, shows that relying on gifts from Americans is a genuine risk at any time of the year.
Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture at It Could be Said Substack
