Doctor Who: The five best Christmas specials
By Luke Molloy
With no Christmas specials this year, we look back on five of the best ones, starting with Last Christmas…
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
With no Doctor Who Christmas special to look forward to this year, we look back at five of the best. Which one is your favorite?
Mud’s Lonely this Christmas is a particularly relevant tune this year, with no Doctor Who festive special for the first time in 12 years. However, no need to feel lonely for long, as we can step into these previous Doctor Who Christmases instead. Here are the top five installments you can feast on this Christmas…
5) Last Christmas
"Because every Christmas is last Christmas."
A bittersweet tale entwined with an Inception-esque plot, Peter Capaldi’s first holiday outing is a hidden gem and one that is often overlooked.
Set in the North Pole, most of the characters are unknowingly in an induced dream state, created by the creepy “dream crabs”. The dream crabs not only allow some clever Moffat scenes – like the characters using the Helman-Ziegler test to determine they’re still dreaming – but also allow us to explore Clara’s grief after the loss of Danny Pink.
It’s Clara who really drives this story – she’s seemingly lost, clinging onto fantasy figures like the Doctor and Santa, because in reality she’s already had her Last Christmas with the man she loves.
Conversely, at a point where Capaldi is starting to grow warmer, this is definitely a chillier Christmas affair. At its core is a sad tale about a lost girl but it’s filled with funny touches and brilliant twists. Definitely one to watch – every Christmas.
Matt Smith’s first Christmas special is a wonderful Doctor Who take on an old classic. (Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
4) A Christmas Carol
"There are four thousand and three people I won’t allow to die tonight. Do you know where that puts you? Four thousand and four."
Who’s take on the Dickens classic, this is a glorious two hander between Matt Smith and Michael Gambon. Gambon plays Ebenezer Scrooge Kazran Sardick, a sick old man who won’t alter the crystalline clouds to save the 4,003 passengers on a crashing spaceship.
Moffat’s timey-wimey style makes him the perfect writer for this tale, bringing an entire new meaning to the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. The Christmas outings with young Kazran and Abigail in particular become an absolute joy to watch.
A Christmas Carol walks a fine line between repeating Victorian literature and being brand new Doctor Who. Overall it’s a gloriously comfortable installment, one that fizzes with ideas and flies with themes of love and forgiveness – exactly what Christmas is all about.
The first Christmas special still remains as not only one of the strongest, but also one of the darkest, too. (Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
3) The Christmas Invasion
"I’m gonna be killed by a Christmas tree!"
Doctor Who’s first Christmas special is surprisingly darker than most, with a third of the population ready to commit suicide by the 40 minute mark. But the story is so much more than that.
The Tylers, a family anyone could relate with, ensure a Christmas-sy feel as they take the lead in Tennant’s premiere outing. When the Doctor finally wakes up it’s a punch-the-air moment and the scenes aboard the Sycrorax’s spaceship are perfectly written for this Doctor’s introduction.
The Christmas offerings include killer robot santas, killer Christmas trees and Murray Gold’s brilliant Song for Ten, a song which instantly fills me with nostalgia of family Christmases gone by the more I hear it.
The Christmas Invasion is a dream start for Tennant’s Doctor and for cementing Doctor Who as a Christmas television tradition for years to come. This is the Christmas original, you might say!
2012’s Victorian Christmas adventure was a strong story for both Eleven and Clara. (Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
2) The Snowmen
"Your current governess is in reality a former barmaid called Clara. Meanwhile your previous governess is now a living ice sculpture impersonating Mr. Punch!"
Introducing the Clara we’ve always dreamt of, in a special always worth watching. The Snowmen is a gorgeous looking episode, crafted with fantastical imagery such as the invisible spiral-staircase leading to the TARDIS, sat on a cloud.
The first half builds up Clara perfectly as she attempts to convince the devastated Doctor, who’s retired after the loss of the Ponds, back to his heroic ways. The second half is a teasingly delightful adventure, one that unexpectedly moulds into an exciting new direction for the show.
The Paternoster Gang are a brilliant new addition to the show, bringing comedy and Christmas Who-ness in great balance. However, the standout is Matt Smith who has truly focused his young-man-in-an-old-man’s body performance to a point of perfection, and excels this good story to a fairy-tale masterpiece.
Although usually full on Christmas day, this episode leaves you hungry for more of the same. Stop talking to your Snowman and sit down to watch the best companion introduction there never was.
The Tenth Doctor, Kylie Minogue and creepy angelic robots – what more could you ask for on Christmas Day? (Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
1) Voyage of the Damned
"I’m the Doctor. I’m a Time Lord. I’m from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am 903 years old and I’m the man who’s gonna save your lives, and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"
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What else would it be? Voyage of the Damned is almost too perfect a piece of Christmas television.
Titanic – tick.
In space – tick.
Kylie Minogue – tick.
Creepy robots – tick.
Wilf appears – tick.
Loads of action – tick.
Buckingham Palace almost blowing up – tick.
Snow that isn’t snow – tick.
In an act of sabotage, a spaceship replica of the Titanic is hit by meteors, causing most of the crew to die and the creepy robots, the heavenly hosts, to kill any survivors. What follows is a blockbuster scramble through the ship, with doom for at least one of the characters through every door.
Tennant leads the way for an absolute thriller of Christmas fun. He gets to flex his action hero skills and does it so well that it’s understandable why literally every child in the world wanted to be him. As for the guest cast, It’s not just Minogue as the adoringly sweet Astrid or Bannakaffalatta as a playboy alien cyborg that makes it so special – everyone is brilliant.
This story, over any other, is one that all the family could sit down and enjoy.
And isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
Incidentally, a happy Christmas to all of you at home!
Next. Why this Eighth Doctor story sums up the insanity of the Time War best. dark
Did your favorite Christmas special appear in this list? If not, which one is your favorite, and why? Let us know in the comments below.