Astrid Peth Who Confidential", Minogue describes Astrid as a "dreamer" and that meeting with the Doctor rekindles Astrid's desire to explore. Later in his book "A Writer's Tale" Davies discussed with co-author Benjamin Cook how he had originally named the character "Peth" in a treatment but it bugged him, he later renamed her to "Astrid" giving the reason that it "...sounds more spacey, more like a futuristing Doctor's companion". Despite Davies stating that the companion in "Voyage of the Damned" was "always going to [be] a one-off...little knowing that it would be Kylie Minogue", he has since stated that he would cast
A Christmas Carol (Doctor Who) Writer Steven Moffat, who is also head writer and executive producer of the series, wanted to make the special "really Christmassy" because the previous Christmas special, "The End of Time", had been darker than usual as it led to the Tenth Doctor's (David Tennant) regeneration. He stated that he had "never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April". Moffat stated that "A Christmas Carol" was "probably [his] favourite Christmas story" and that it lent itself to "Doctor Who", as there was an aspect similar to time travel in