It’s hard to add a tradition. Traditions take time and have to be something really special to jump the cue. The yearly Doctor Who Christmas episode has become a tradition in record time and one of my favorites. The best of these is magnificent television. The worst is… Well, up through #8 should be watched every year. Watch #14 if it happens to come on TV when you’ve nothing better to do.
Note: I said Christmas episode, not Christmas special, as there is one ep that isn’t a special, so most rankings are one short.
Starting with the least:
#16 The End of Time Part 1 (2009)
Ten, Wilfred
I usually rank this considerably higher, because I group the two parts together, but as this is a Christmas list, and part 2 came out on New Years, I’ve got to separate them, and Part 1 suffers for that, as everything good—particularly Ten’s farewell—is in the second half. Part 1 is just silly. So much is painful: Hulk-jumping, electro, super, undead Master. Turning everyone into The Master (a plot point that goes nowhere). It being shot clearly in summer—not Christmastime.
And really nothing happens, with a generic corporate villain that could have been eliminated. It’s like they had just a little too much material for a single special, and had two time slots to fill, so they just piled some junk into the first one.
Ten is good, as he normally was. And you have to love Wilfred. But that’s all we’ve got.
#15 Joy to the World (2024)
Fifteen, Joy
You can see that Disney money. And the first half is really good: We get a wonderful sequence of The Doctor stuck for a year in a hotel, befriending Anita, the concierge. It’s the best character development Fifteen ever had. And I love the idea that unknown locked door are time portals.
But Joy, is both poorly drawn and deeply annoying, which is a problem because this is her story, not The Doctor’s. And we get one of the worst and nonsensical endings in New Who. It’s significant I cared more about Anita’s ending than Joy’s.
Side note: Remember when The Doctor used to be opposed to non-Time Lords getting time travel.
#14 Last Christmas (2014)
Twelve, Clara
The least of the Christmas specials. Nothing original in sight. We’re given Inception‘s dream within a dream without a touch of irony, delivered via Alien‘s facehuggers. Since we know from the beginning that everything is a dream, nothing matters. It doesn’t help that the ep is dealing with the huge mistake that was the Clara/Danny relationship nor the rubbish split of The Doctor and Clara (to be fair the actress had quit and then changed her mind). However, it’s an acceptable diversion.
#13 The Church on Ruby Road (2023)
Fifteen, Ruby
Time hasn’t been kind to this episode. Asking interesting questions (Who is Ruby’s mother and why did she abandon Ruby? Who is Mrs. Flood?) doesn’t work as well when you eventually supply uninteresting answers.
Once again, that Disney money makes it all pretty. The cinematography is solid and the FX are miles above what we’ve had in the past. Our new Doctor is joyful, charismatic, and easily carries the show (that wouldn’t last). Ruby works well in her role. She doesn’t standout as much as Rose or Amy or Clara did in their first eps, but there was potential (unfulfilled as it turns out). The story is more fantasy than we’ve seen in New Who, and that works well enough here. This is fun, though aims more at children than at families. Points for the song. Minus points for the orphan must find birth parent trope.
#12 The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2016)
Twelve, Nardole
After a twelve-month drought of Doctor Who, this was a bit of a disappointment. It isn’t a bad episode; it’s really quite fun. It just isn’t significant. Since superheroes were all the rage, they added a costumed superhero to the Who universe, and just stuck close to the trope. So, there’s little new, or thoughtful. There’s a touch of emotion, but mainly this is a pleasant time-filler. And Twelve is in good form.
However, for a Christmas special, it’s not all that Christmassy.
#11 The Time of the Doctor (2013)
Eleven, Clara
So, was there any reason any number of ships, like the papal one, didn’t just blow up the planet instantly? And here we learn the Doctor is on his last regeneration. (Really? Was there any reason not to have mentioned that a season ago and then done something with it?)
There’s enough here for two or three specials, so it’s all a bit choppy. We get anticlimactic sudden answers to multi-season-long questions. But I do love the church and Tasha Lem, and Clara does OK for this version of Clara. It doesn’t fit together as satisfyingly as it should have, but the episode is about the moments, and a lot of those are good. It’s… a mixed experience.
#10 The Snowmen (2012)
Eleven, Clara, Paternoster Gang
An episode that would have been greatly improved by eliminating The Doctor. He’s unnecessary to the story. Clara, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are all that’s needed and are all wonderful. Clara would never be this much fun again while the other three prove they deserved a spin-off. Unfortunately the villain turns out to be less than advertised, meaning the big confrontation is just… OK. I watch this for the sidekicks. Think about how good the next season and a half would have been if this version of Clara had become the companion.
#9 The Runaway Bride (2006)
Ten, Donna
Donna is always a bit shrill, but here she is truly unpleasant. Her mother is… wow… Doctor Who hates mothers. Donna gets better in season 4; it takes longer for her mother. This story is fine – and the giant spider Empress is fun but slipping toward goofy. However it’s fast-paced, which helps, and funny, which helps more. But it’s Ten that makes it all work. He switches from funny to tragic to an action hero three times in the same scene and it always works.
#8 The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (2011)
Eleven
This one doesn’t get the love it deserves, I think because it isn’t what people expected. The name notwithstanding, it’s not a Narnia pastiche, and more, it isn’t The Doctor’s story (which is the case in a surprising number of Christmas specials – it’s just more obvious here).
This is a story of a mother rescuing her wandering children from fairyland. It’s also a story of grief. It manages both of those stories well, treading carefully at times, and diving in at others. There’s a real feeling of loss and need. The Doctor may be an extra in his own show, but he acts as comic relief and this is one of the times when Smith’s gags work.
And each of the several endings is heartwarming. Doctor who rarely reaches this level of emotional intensity.
#7 Twice Upon a Time (2017)
Twelve, One, Bill
It leans more on nostalgia than I’d like, but new Who has rarely done it so well, and if that’s the plan, going back to the first Doctor is nice. There really isn’t a plot, although for a while the two Doctors think there is one. This is about two dying Doctors thinking about their past and if they want to go forward. The play between the two of them is good, and the nods toward your racist uncle are funny and relevant. It’s very sentimental, but then the Xmas eps usually are, and this one isn’t cloying. I wouldn’t have tossed Bill in (her ending has been mangled enough), but this is her best appearance, so it worked out.
#6 The Next Doctor (2008)
Ten, Jackson Lake
A real shame that David Morrissey wasn’t the next Doctor. He would have been excellent. He’s very good in his very brief run. If there is a failing, it is that it didn’t keep the ruse going longer, as I love the bits with the two Doctors working together. Though the drama that follows is solid.
The cybermen work really well here for a bit of Christmas horror, and Miss Hartigan is a sympathetic villain. She’s very high in my ranking of one-off antagonists. And this is a beautifully filmed episode; some real artistry behind the camera. The use of color is stunning. People do seem to get a bit grumpy about the daikaiju cyberman. I like it well enough.
I hear some people got upset because they thought Morrissey really was the next Doctor and felt lied to. Really? I was there, and no, not for a minute did I believe that.
#5 Voyage of the Damned (2007)
Ten, Astrid
It’s The Poseidon Adventure in space. How much you like it will depend on how much you liked that film. I liked it a lot. I’ve never understood the Astrid hate. She makes a good, if very traditional, companion. This might be more like a regular episode than many of the Xmas eps, but also feels epic.
#4 The Christmas Invasion (2005)
Ten, Rose
The Doctor sleeps through two-thirds of the episode, leaving us with a struggling Rose, Mickey, and Jackie. It also gives us the welcome return of Harriet Jones. Once Ten wakes, it sails with David Tennant showing off some impressive acting chops (and the ability to clearly speak twice as fast as any normal human). An extra point for Santas with weapons and a buzz saw tree.
#3 A Christmas Carol (2010)
Eleven, Amy, Rory
It violates one of the fundamental rules of time travel set up early on in the show’s history, and it is a version of A Christmas Carol, which is the most overused Christmas story in existence, but somehow it still works. Part of that is the music. Casting mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins was genius.
#2 The Unquiet Dead (2006)
Nine, Rose
Here’s the odd man out—a Christmas episode that wasn’t a special; which is nice as it means we have an Eccelson Christmas. This is my favorite of the historical celebrity episodes, with Charles Dickens joining The Doctor and Rose in their investigation. Everything is done right. It’s a spooky ghost story with well-developed secondary characters, plenty of emotion, lots of humor, and a bit of meaning. It is pretty much the perfect standard Doctor Who episode, but with Christmas.
#1 The Husbands of River Song (2015)
Twelve, River
Peter Capaldi’s Doctor had been improving over the year but this Christmas special is where he nails it and becomes one of the best Doctors. Everything around him is as good. The script is the best the show has seen in years. There is wit, fun, and the right amount of emotion at the end. The story works, but it doesn’t matter if it did or not. This is about two characters, The Doctor and River Song, interacting, and it shines.