Re:Collections by Xanna Eve Chown

Author:Xanna Eve Chown [Chown, Xanna Eve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844354191
Google: BtZQcgAACAAJ
Amazon: 1844354199
Goodreads: 6614165
Publisher: Big Finish
Published: 2009-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

Short Trips: The History of Christmas

My clever wife must have handed me a copy of Matthew Sweet's book Inventing the Victorians at some point in 2003. It's a lively, funny debunking of the myths and misconceptions we have of that period and chock full of top facts.

I thought idly of nicking some of them for my own stories. But I never did.

Then, in September 2004, I spotted Matthew's name in the Big Finish production office. He'd submitted an idea for a Doctor Who audio play about a chatty pig and the works of Marcel Proust. Then-supremo Gary Russell was trying to decide if it was meant as a joke.

I said I'd enjoyed Matthew's book and Gary commissioned what would become The Year of the Pig. I remind Matthew of this fact quite often.

On Friday, 1 April 2005, Ian Farrington commissioned me to edit a book of Doctor Who Christmas short stories. We agreed details over lunch in the pub, him explaining all the things I couldn't do. No, I couldn't do a Doctor Who version of A Christmas Carol because the ninth Doctor would be meeting Charles Dickens himself in just eight days' time. The Big Finish licence doesn't allow us to mention stuff from the new series.

So instead I suggested a Christmas story just set in Victorian times—after all, the Victorians invented Christmas. Some kind of lively, funny debunking of the myths and misconceptions we have of that period and chock full of top facts.

For some reason, I thought Matthew might be a good person to write it.

Ian agreed, having seen Matthew on the telly just the previous week, interviewing Mark Gatiss about the ninth Doctor meeting Charles Dickens. It almost felt like the sinister hand of fate.

(Only when the book had been published and Matthew and I actually met in person did we discover we are neighbours.)

Simon Guerrier

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