Initially released as a CD on 25 February 2002, this story was later broadcast on digital radio station BBC 7 in four weekly parts, starting on 17 December 2005, and has been rebroadcast on the same channel beginning on 17 December 2006, and again on 26 and 27 September 2007.
An Edwardian home, Christmas 1906. Or is it? The Doctor and Charley are caught in a mysterious house outside of time and when the grandfather clock strikes, someone will get murdered. Can the Doctor unmask the murderer? Or is something far more sinister at work?
The names of the characters Shaughnessy and Mrs Baddeley are derived from Alfred Shaughnessy and Angela Baddeley, the script editor and the actress who played Mrs Bridges in the famed British 70s drama series Upstairs, Downstairs which took place in an Edwardian townhouse. Other Upstairs, Downstairs influences includes Edith's similarity with the dimwitted scullery maid Ruby Finch.