Top 5 “Doctor Who” Christmas Specials

To celebrate Christmas, and the fact that we’re getting a new Doctor Who episode after a year-long hiatus, I decided to talk about my 5 favourite Doctor Who Christmas specials. I was going to do a ranking of all eleven, but with the limited amount of time before Christmas Day, and my rabid impatience, I decided to just go with the Top 5.

Also, bear in mind that this is just my personal opinion. You might like “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.” That’s peachy. I hate it.

Here’s a ranking of the bottom 6 before we get started:

11. “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” (2011)

10. “The Christmas Invasion” (2005)

9. “The Next Doctor” (2008)

8. “The Snowmen” (2012)

7. “The Runaway Bride” (2006)

6. “The Time of the Doctor” (2013)

Ok, let’s get started…

 

5.  “The Husbands of River Song” (2015)

The most recent special, the most recent Doctor Who episode, and the most recent and proper Doctor Who review I wrote.

To sum up my thoughts in that review, “The Husbands of River Song” is probably the zaniest story of Capaldi’s run thus far.Sometimes in hilarious ways, sometimes it’s more than it can handle. Overall, it’s a fun special, and tackles the strange romance between the Doctor and River Song (and brings it full circle) in a great and heartfelt way.

So yeah, I have no shame in saying it’s one of my favourites.

 

4.  “The Voyage of the Damned” (2007)

“Voyage of the Damned” isn’t the Christmas special I was expecting when I first made my way through the series. From the tease at the end of “Last of the Time Lords,” it seemed that it would be set on the ship Titanic in 1912, not the spaceship Titanic in 2007. A weird twist, but one that totally fits Doctor Who.

It actually turned out to be an actually pretty exciting and emotional Christmas special, even if there’s a laughably over-the-top moment near the climax and an out of left field and generic villain introduced at the last minute. There are a few other things throughout that I don’t like, but regardless, it’s still a special I’d say to look forward to if it’s your first time watching the series.

 

3.  “Last Christmas” (2014)

“Last Christmas” was awesome for several reasons.

One, it’s darker tone helped worked well with the grittier tone of Series 8.

Two, it explores the emotional aftermath of the Series 8 finale on the Doctor and Clara and further develops their relationship.

Three, it’s exploration of dreams and dream layers. It’s basically Doctor Who meets Inception.

Four, Faye Marsay as Shona.

Five, Nick Frost.

Six, Nick Frost as Santa.

 

2.  “The End of Time” (2009)

I can understand why some might not like “The End of Time.” For a regeneration story, it’s pretty overblown and overly-emotional. But, doggone it, when it’s emotional, it’s emotional. It’s the first time anything Doctor Who-related brought me to the verge of tears, so it deserves kudos.

But yeah, you’ve got the Master, Wilfred, the Time Lords, Timothy Dalton as Rassilon, cameos from every one of David Tennant’s companions, and it had to be a satisfying swan song for the Tenth Doctor above all, and I’d say it was.

Seriously, though, the “Four Knocks” scene? Too many emotions. Every time.

 

1.  “A Christmas Carol” (2010)

That’s right. A Christmas special featuring flying sharks is my favourite Doctor Who Christmas special.

In all seriousness, “A Christmas Carol” is a beautiful episode of Doctor Who that cleverly and creatively draws from the Charles Dickens classic in a way only Doctor Who can. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s everything I think a Doctor Who Christmas special should be.

It also has one of my favourite quotes from the series…

“Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anybody who wasn't important before?”

 

Merry Christmas!

Noah