Soapland Christmas: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''Oh, [[You Just Had to Say It|did you have to?]] No turning back? That's almost as bad as "[[Nothing Can Stop Us Now|nothing could]] [[Tempting Fate|possibly]] [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?|go wrong]]" or "this is going to be the best Christmas [[Eastenders|Walford]]'s ever had"''.|'''The Doctor''', "The Impossible Planet", ''[[Doctor Who]]''}}

 

 

And, no, this has [[I Thought It Meant|nothing to do with]] [[Christmas in Japan]].

 

== ''Coronation Street'' ==

* 2008: On Christmas Eve, Tony strangles Jed Stone at Underworld after he tries to blackmail him about Liam's murder.He shoves the body in to a box while the staff have their Christmas Party. He comes on Christmas Day to find that he was just unconscious and offers him the best bribe of all (a free flat in Wigan!) to keep his silence.

* 2010: ''Twice''. For the programme's 50th anniversary special shortly before Christmas, {{spoiler|Molly informs Tyrone that her baby isn't his and that she's been living a lie, Charlotte attacks John with a hammer and is killed by her own weapon, a gas explosion destroys a section of the bridge and buries various people, and a tram dives off the bridge and takes half the Street with it}}. All in ''one'' night.

** For the actual Christmas storyline, the main drama was about the return of Tracy Barlow after being in prison for murder.

 

== ''Doctor Who'' ==

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2006 CS the Runaway Bride|The Runaway Bride]]" (2006, set in 2007): He had to face an ancient menace called the Racnoss whose offspring wished to gorge on life across the cosmos. Their web-shaped ship was mistaken for a giant decorative Christmas star by Londoners until it started zapping the city with bolts of electricity. This adventure immediately follows the loss of one of the Doctor's dearest companions and features an especially dark moment for him in which he kills a ton of alien babies and almost lets himself die along with them. Oh, and the Thames is drained.

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2007 CS Voyage of the Damned|Voyage of the Damned]]" (2007, set in 2008): He vows to save everyone on the Starship Titanic and fails—in part because the good characters consider saving ''him'' a higher priority. Among the casualties is {{spoiler|the woman he'd wanted for his next companion}}. At least he managed to keep that ship from crashing into the Earth. Beautifully lampshaded as everyone in London knows nasty things have been happening for the past two Christmases, so, this year, practically nobody's ''in'' central London for the nasty things to happen.

{{quote|'''Joshua Naismith:''' Ladies and gentlemen! It seems [[Sealed Evil in a Can|help is at hand]]! [[Lampshade Hanging|Christmas is cancelled.]]}}

* In the 2010 episode "A Christmas Carol" (set some time in the 44th century), Christmas was brought by a galaxy-class cruise liner crashing with Rory and Amy aboard, and the Doctor having to find a way to save them and everyone else aboard. {{spoiler|Along the way he was able to save the soul of the old man Kazran who controls the planet's upper atmosphere, but through some very morally grey use of time-travel, and Kazran was forced to see the love of his life die}}.

* In the 2011 episode "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" (set in [[World War Two]] and the year 5345) has the Doctor - alone without Amy or Rory, who believe him dead - meet up with a woman who's husband has just be killed, and she hasn't informed her two children yet. And then the four find themselves in a forest of sentient trees about to be wiped out with no chance of escape. {{spoiler|Subverted, since [[Everyone Lives]] - the widow saves the trees, taking their souls through the time vortex to live amongst the stars, and in the process accidently saves her husband's life. She then convinces the Doctor to go to Amy and Rory, reveal he is alive, and he joins the pair for Christmas dinner. Seriously, the end of this episode is pure [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].}}

 

== ''[[Eastenders]]'' ==

* 2009: {{spoiler|Archie Mitchell is murdered in the Queen Vic, sparking another endless "whodunnit" storyline}}.

* 2010: The murderer of Archie Mitchell last Christmas is revealed to the Square to be Stacey Branning not her husband Bradley who was blamed after his death. Stacey then flees the country with baby Lily.

 

== ''[[Emmerdale]]'' ==

* 2010: Chastity Dingle has a wedding on Christmas Day at which she jilts and humilates fiancee Carl due to knowing about his affair with Eve. She also lies about being pregnant.

 

* Christmas 2004: Dan Hunter gets out of jail after being framed for the serial murders committed by his brother-in-law. He reunites with his lost love, gives her what turned out to be an engagement ring - then gets blown up in a rally car accident moments later.

* 2008: Louise is murdered by Warren on their wedding day after he discovered her plans to shoot ''him'' dead because he'd murdered her previous husband.

* 2009: {{spoiler|An episode aired at Christmas was set six months into the future, revealing that Calvin Valentine is murdered on HIS wedding day in May 2010 as he renews his vows to Carmel. Back in the present day, Zoe is knifed by Lydia on New Year's Eve after Lydia admits to being responsible for Sarah's death. The show had planned a Christmas storyline which would reveal that two characters had killed a child and were now living under police protection with new identities, but producers announced the plot had been axed due to outcry over [[Too Soon|the similarities with the real life case of James Bulger]]}}.

 

== Other shows ==

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] A's'', "Christmas Eve": Hayate watches as her entire adopted family gets murdered right before her eyes and so is overwhelmed by the power of the Book of Darkness. [[The Power of Friendship]] later prevails happily, but still.

* [[World War III]] breaks out from Christmas to New Year's Eve in ''[[Future War 198X]]'' after [[A Nuclear Error]] on Christmas Eve.

 

* In the ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' episode "Merry Little Christmas", House refuses a deal (two month rehabilitation instead of jail) and subsequently detoxes, overdoses on pills and is left in a pool of his own vomit as Wilson leaves in disgust. He then attempts to take the deal but it's been removed since.

* On ''[[The OC]]'', Ryan's memories of Christmas aren't exactly [[Abusive Parents|happy]], and after a series of bad things inevitably happens he declares that "if there's cops and crying, well then it must be Christmas!"

* In ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'', Cooper Hawkes, an [[Artificial Human|InVitro]] who until he joined the Marines, had been homeless with no family, described Christmas as being the one time of the year when he was even lonlier than usual. Meanwhile, the squad spends Christmas in a crippled transport drifting in space, with no means of calling for help or getting home<ref>until the [[Nicknaming the Enemy|Chigs]] choose to give them information to help them get home rather than leave them to die.</ref>

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Drama Tropes]]

[[Category:Christmas Tropes]]