And now back to dear old Motley Hall, for a story that begins on Christmas Eve 1976 – the day this episode was first shown – and travels back to the 1880s, when Sir George was a lad of ten. The house has brought them back in time because an elemental spirit has somehow entered Motley Hall and is making everyone extremely angry. It feeds of the negativity brought by fighting and arguing. Sir George gets to watch his parents having a holiday row while everyone else consults Gudgeon’s great, great grandfather for what he might know about the tree that was used for the yule log. It’s haunted as well!
We enjoyed that a lot. It was a very pleasant, intelligent, and sweet little surprise. There are a few smile-worthy moments, but no wild comedy. It’s anchored around the scenes of Sir George talking to his much younger self, and Bodkin talking to the elemental. They’re just sweet and charming and very well-written and acted. It’s flatly one of the best Christmas specials of any show I’ve ever seen, and since they did another in 1977, I’m very curious to see it in a few weeks.
Fire Breathing Dimetrodon Time 