Doctor Who: Ranking The Davies Era Christmas Specials

When classic sci-fi series Doctor Who was revived in 2005, and proved to be successful, it spawned a new tradition: A yearly Christmas special. The Doctor Who Christmas Special became a much loved staple of the BBC's Christmas day viewing schedule, with many families gathering around the TV to watch each year.

Russell T Davies oversaw five Christmas specials during his tenure as showrunner, all starring Tenth Doctor David Tennant, while his successor Steven Moffat wrote seven, three for The Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, and four starring the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi. However, when Chris Chibnall became showrunner in 2018, he made the unpopular decision to drop the Christmas special in favour of a New Year special.

Fans have begged to have the Christmas Special back ever since, and they might just get their wish. Rumour has it that when Russell T Davies takes back the reins to Doctor Who in 2023, he plans to bring back the Christmas special. To celebrate this news, let's rank the four previous Christmas Specials that Davies produced during his first turn as Doctor Who showrunner.

5. The Next Doctor

Soon after landing the Tardis in London on Christmas Eve, 1851, The Doctor discovers a man who claims to be The Doctor, complete with a companion, Rosita. The Doctor first suspects that the other man may be a future version of himself, but eventually discovers that he is a human, Jackson Lake. Jackson is suffering from trauma-induced amnesia after witnessing his wife's murder at the hands of the Cybermen.

After discovering that a group of workhouse children, including Jackson's son, have been put to work by the Cybermen, The Doctor must rely on Jackson and Rosita's help to rescue the children, and stop a gigantic Cyberman dubbed the CyberKing from destroying London.

While the special earned high ratings upon it's first airing, 'The Next Doctor' loses a little bit of rewatch value upon the revelation that David Morrissey, who played Jackson Lake, was not in fact the next Doctor.

4. The End of Time, part one

While taking a quick trip to the planet of the Ood, The Doctor is warned of The Master's imminent return, and his own impending death, which will be preceeded by Four Knocks. Hoping to avoid both of these scenarios, The Doctor returns to Earth, and finds himself teaming up with Donna's Grandfather, Wilfred Mott.

The Doctor locates the revived Master, but before he can make sense of his rival's insane ramblings, The Master is kidnapped by Billionaire Joshua Naismith, who wants him to repair an alien immortality gate. Instead, The Master programs the Gate to transform all humans into clones of himself, and opens a portal through time to Gallifrey.

First airing on Christmas day 2009, 'The End of Time, part one' was the first part of the Tenth Doctor's final story. Part two aired on New Year's Day, 2010. While the two-part special is a great story in it's own right, the subject matter makes it a little low on Christmas spirit compared to other Christmas specials.

3. Voyage of the Damned

When he accidentally crashes the Tardis into the starship Titanic, The Doctor decides to stowaway and spend Christmas aboard the ship, where he meets and befriends waitress Astrid Peth. Soon afterwards, an asteroid strike kills most of the people aboard, and sends the Titanic on a collision course with Earth. Even worse, the ship's Heavenly Hosts malfunction and begin attacking anyone who survived the asteroids. It is up to The Doctor to get Astrid and the few other survivors to safety, and also save the Earth.

'Voyage of the Damned' received mixed reviews from critics, particularly on the quality of guest star Kylie Minogue's performance as Astrid. However, the special is, for the most part, loved by fans, and still holds the highest viewing figures of any episode of the Doctor Who revival, at an impressive 13.8 million.

2. The Christmas Invasion

After the dramatic events of 'The Parting of the Ways', Rose Tyler manages to get the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor to her home, just in time for Christmas. The Doctor struggles with the effects of his regeneration, while Rose struggles with the changes in him.

However, there is little time to dwell on the matter when aliens known as the Sycorax arrive and put one third of the planet under hypnotic blood control, threatening to kill them unless half of Earth's population are handed over to become Sycorax slaves. It is up to Rose and PM Harriet Jones to keep things under control until The Doctor recovers enough to help.

As both David Tennant's first full episode as The Doctor and the first Christmas special of the revival, 'The Christmas Invasion' holds a specialplace in many Whovians' hearts.

1. The Runaway Bride

While grieving the loss of his beloved companion, Rose Tyler, The Doctor is left startled when a woman in a wedding dress, Donna Noble, suddenly appears aboard the Tardis. Donna is understandably upset about the situation, as she had been on her way down the aisle to get married at the time.

When Donna is attacked by strange robotic Santas after being returned to her wedding, The Doctor realises that she has absorbed a dangerous amount of huon particles. This is part of a plot by the spider-like Queen of the Racnoss to revive the rest of her species. The Doctor must protect Donna, while thwarting the Racnoss Queen's plan.

'The Runaway Bride' is fondly remembered as the story that introduced Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Initially a guest role, Tate had so much fun that the eventually returned as a full time companion in series four.

If Russell T Davies does in fact choose to bring back the Doctor Who Christmas special, perhaps we will get more memorable moments such as those above in the not-too-distant future.