Ever since 2005, Doctor Who has had a tradition of airing a special episode to coincide with Christmas. These episodes are an extra outing for the Doctor and are mostly (but not always) stand-alone episodes, designed to inject the Time Lord and their TARDIS with a little festive spirit.
Recently, that tradition has moved to New Year’s Day but for the purposes of this list, only the specials that aired at Christmas will be counted. Doctor Who’s Christmas episodes have an annoying habit of being unpredictable; sometimes they’re great, other times, not so much. Here, then, are the best and worst of the show’s Christmas specials.
Best - The Runaway Bride
Only Doctor Who’s second ever Christmas special, “The Runaway Bride” promised lots and delivered more. It introduced Donna Noble, who would then later go on to become on of the Doctor’s most popular companions, and gave viewers a plot that was both exciting and which resolved the Season 2 cliffhanger in a satisfactory way.
Watching Donna develop, even just over the course of an hour, was surprisingly emotional to watch, even if she did come across as a bit too mouthy initially. The Empress of the Racnoss was incredibly well designed, if not a little insane and David Tennant was on top form as the Doctor, at times both funny and scary.
Worst - Last Christmas
In all fairness, by the time the Twelfth Doctor’s first Christmas special came along, it was getting harder and harder to incorporate Christmas into the supposedly festive episode. “Last Christmas” made a valiant effort when it introduced Santa to the world of Doctor Who, but then for the rest of the time, there was barely anything Christmassy about the episode.
Instead, the episode felt more like a continuation, or rather an epilogue, of Season 8, as it brought Clara and the Doctor back together after they parted ways in the previous season’s finale. It also resurrected Danny Pink briefly in Clara’s dream so that she could get some closure. It wasn’t necessarily a bad episode, it just didn’t feel particularly festive.
Best - The Snowmen
After a fairly average start to Season 7, this episode demonstrated that the series was still capable of delivering great stories. The first episode in a while not to feature the Ponds, “The Snowmen” had the unique challenge of introducing a new companion who had already appeared on the show.
Jenna Coleman had previously played Oswin Oswald in the Season 7 premiere, and she returned to play another version of Clara, as part of an ongoing storyline. This Clara was a Victorian Governess/Barmaid and she and the Doctor shared proper chemistry together. The monster of the episode was also very clever, and it was voiced by none other than Ian McKellen.
Worst - The Christmas Invasion
Since it was Doctor Who’s first Christmas special ever, it’s understandable that this episode had a couple of teething troubles. It also had the unenviable task of introducing a new Doctor to an audience who were mostly unfamiliar with the concept of regeneration. In that respect, it actually managed quite well.
However, it did feel really slow-paced at some points, which was in part due to the Doctor’s very noticeable absence. Having Rose act as the main character was a clever decision and she held her own for the most part, but bringing in the Doctor a lot earlier might have benefited this episode more.
Best - Voyage Of The Damned
This Christmas special was basically Doctor Who’s version of a disaster movie and we loved every second of it. The third season’s cliffhanger turned out to be just a cheeky gag but it didn’t detract from the episode. The supporting cast was amazing and Kylie Minogue shone as adventurous native of Sto, Astrid Peth.
She and the Doctor shared an incredible connection that was apparent from the moment they met, and they were so adorable together. The danger of the ship crash landing on Earth was ever-present and raised the stakes tenfold. The only disappointing element of the episode was its villain, Max Capricorn, who was just a little bit too vanilla.
Worst - The Husbands Of River Song
While this episode did have the pleasure of River Song gracing us with her presence (and finally allowing the amazing Alex Kingston to feature in the opening titles sequence), it all just felt a bit odd. Sure it introduced Nardole who would go on to become the Doctor’s companion, but this was before he had calmed down a bit and so some of his comedic material fell flat.
The villain of the story, King Hydroflax, and his robotic, body were about as threatening as a dead fly and came across way too over the top. Even River Song seemed a little off, which was a shame as this is currently her last appearance in Doctor Who. The saving grace of this special was its fantastic ending scene, bringing closure to the Doctor and River’s story.
Best - A Christmas Carol
The lack of Amy and Rory aside, this was a fabulous Christmas episode! The Ponds were stuck on a crashing spaceship and so to save them, the Doctor had to convince a miserly old man named Kazran Sardick to cheer up and clear a flight path for the ship. On Christmas Day. Because of reasons.
The Doctor became inspired by A Christmas Carol and used time travel to help the Ponds and Kazran as well. This resulted in a young Kazran falling in love with Abigail. Their relationship was adorable until it was revealed that she was dying and now only had one day left. Abigail then used that day to visit Old Kazran and save the spaceship.
Worst - The Doctor, The Widow, And The Wardrobe
If you like happy endings, monsters that turn out to just be misunderstood, and a predictable plot, then you probably liked this episode. And it wasn’t awful. It just wasn’t great. It started with the Doctor falling to Earth and the only thing that stopped him from going splat was a special spacesuit… Hmmmm.
The Doctor and Madge formed a likable and emotional friendship that proved to be the heart of the episode but it was way too obvious that Madge’s husband would return later on in the episode. We didn’t even see him crash after all. The resolution to everyone’s problems turned out to be love once again, which was one too many clichés for us.
Best - The End Of Time, Part 1
The first part of the Tenth Doctor’s swan song, “The End Of Time Part 1” was an incredible piece of television. The first 10 minutes alone brought back Wilfred Mott, Donna Noble and, best of all, the Master, once again played by John Simm. This time though, the Master was dying, which made him more vulnerable and more dangerous than ever.
Every time the Doctor and the Master were onscreen together, they just shone. It was all so tense and surprisingly emotional. It also helped that for the first time ever (probably), they could relate to each other, as the Doctor knew he was going to die as well. Finally, that cliffhanger was the best cliffhanger ever in the entire series of Doctor Who.
Worst - The Time Of The Doctor
Previously in this list, we talked about episodes that suffered from being too slow. Compared to “The Time Of The Doctor” though, they were moving at warp speed. It’s annoying, because the episode actually started off really well, with a mysterious signal luring the Doctor and all his enemies to the planet of Trenzalore.
However, it all went downhill from there, with the Doctor remaining on Trenzalore and growing old there. The lack of definitive monsters hurt this episode a lot but also, nothing much really happened. There were cameos from the Cybermen and the Weeping Angels, but even the Daleks didn’t really get much of a look in.
