Christmas, yay! Incredibly, tomorrow will see the TENTH festive special since the show’s return and collected here is Blogtor’s Top 10 of Christmas specials. Get ready to pull a cracker and get those balls on the tree!
8. Voyage of the Damned
Kylie! The Titanic!! Geoffrey “The Guv’nor” Palmer!!! Russell T Davies’ Christmas take on the disaster movie packed in quite the cast (Russell “Pob” Tovey is in there too, don’tchaknow) and special-effects-laden set pieces. It’s perhaps just a tad long and the Queen’s appearance may have been ill-advised but it’s a good old-fashioned romp, perfect to fall asleep to after a massive dose of sprouts. Oh, and don’t forget that fab Bernard Cribbins cameo!7. A Christmas Carol
Interestingly, and I use the word quite wrongly, this was the very first episode of Doctor Who, since its 2005 return, that I was disappointed with after my initial viewing. Rewatching still throws up a few issues – namely the mystery of Jackson Lake. Around the halfway point, when his identity is revealed, the story becomes somewhat flat. The Cybermen take a back seat to a terrific performance from David Morrissey who really showed that he would have made an amazing Doctor Who. Oh, and it’s got a huge EFFIN’ robot in it! #LoveHugeEffinRobots
5. The Runaway Bride
Similarly, the 2006 special suffers from “second half isn’t as good as the first” syndrome. The first half, for me, is stunning, with the motorway TARDIS chase being one of my favourite Doctor Who scenes. It’s exhilarating, rambunctious and fun but in the middle of the chaos comes the most touching of moments between The Doctor and Donna as he tries to convince her to jump onto his ship. Wonderful. Plus there’s “Santa’s a Robot” and everyone’s favourite Gallifreyean showing Chiswick’s finest the beginning of the world. Slightly hollow but incredibly memorable [a bit like my first wife – Ed.].4. The End of Time Part One
Though the first special of the new era is most definitely in two halves, they’re most certainly on equal footing. Without Davey T in the picture, we got Team Tyler at the forefront whilst the Sycorax got their Queen-style rocks on. The size and scope of the episode proudly showed Who off in its first proper Christmas Day outing; The Christmas Invasion really does feel like a blockbuster. Of course, when the Doctor awakes, starts spouting The Lion King, brandishing a sword and satsumas and generally saving the day, we’re in a new era and Eccleston becomes a mere memory…
2. Last Christmas
1. The Snowmen
In one corner, there’s Team Vastra who threaten to steal the show every second the trio are on screen; particularly Strax, who gets laugh after laugh after laugh. In the other corner, there was the then new girl Clara; Jenna Coleman got off to a flyer here with her smarts and her beauty not to mention her spunkiness (do people still say that?).
The Snowmen is a perfect Christmas Day treat with scares (courtesy of Richard E Grant and his titular snowmen), laughs and, dare I say, even some tears in there too. Like Eastenders, except much, much better.
