 The family received the video from Capaldi on 3 November 2014 . After viewing the video , Thomas felt encouraged to attend his grandmother 's funeral . In an interview with The Guardian , Ross Goodall explained that Capaldi 's mention of sadness resonated with the child due to his experience of grief over his grandmother 's death . He discussed the manner in which Thomas perceived emotions as a strict dichotomy between positive and negative without a middle ground . Thomas interpreted from the video that it was all right to feel happy while simultaneously acknowledging a sad event had occurred . Ross Goodall told The Guardian that before viewing the video from Capaldi his son did not want to attend his grandmother 's funeral . 
