"The Snowmen" - First UK Reviews and Q&A Snippets

Following last night's press screening, the first reviews of "The Snowmen" have hit the web in the UK.

The Telegraph say that "for all its new features, this is an episode filled with knowing nods to please Who fans, including a reference drawn from elsewhere in the Moffat catalogue, and the return of some of the Doctor’s old friends in the shape of Strax, Vastra and Jenny. Dr Simeon’s ominous warning that “winter is coming”, also suggests that Moffat may be a Game of Thrones fan."

The Guardian call it a "Christmas Day episode filled with presents for fans" and go on to quote the Moff about the 50th Anniversary plans including good news for us Matt fans:

"They are immense, they are considerable and they will be full of tremendous surprises," said writer Steven Moffat of his much-discussed anniversary plans. "We're not going to tell you [any details] but I promise we're going to take over television, trust me," he told an audience of fans at a special preview of the Christmas episode. 

Certainly Matt Smith will be around to play the titular Time Lord – he intends to go on playing it "for infinity number of years" he said.

And Ian Wylie has a fantastic review on his site - and will later be transcribing the Q&A (and taking out spoilers).   When Ian says it will "delight a family audience on Christmas Day" then you know it will do exactly that.  Ian also has the full quote from Matt about how long he's staying:

There was the usual question asking Matt how long he thought he’d play the Doctor for.

He replied: “For infinity number of years…I can’t at this point see…we head into next year, into the 50th anniversary. So I’m coming back. Which is exciting.”

I will post the link to Ian's Q&A transcript as soon as it's available.