14 ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Specials, Ranked
A favorite Christmas tradition? A new Doctor Who special, of course! It was an annual event for years, then there was a brief break where there were New Year’s specials (which just isn’t the same), and now, with Russell T Davies back in charge for the new seasons, those episodes are back. The newest one drops on December 25 on Disney+, with Ncuti Gatwa‘s Doctor and Bridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan along for the adventure.
When we spoke with Davies and Steven Moffat (who wrote “Joy to the World”) for that, we asked them their favorite episodes of each other’s. And we have to admit: Their arguments did have some influence on our own ranking of the Doctor Who Christmas specials (just when it came to deciding the final order of the top 2). From the first episode with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) to the Eleventh (Matt Smith) putting a twist on a classic tale to the Twelfth (Peter Capaldi) giving River Song (Alex Kingston) a final date, there’s something as magical about these stories as the holiday itself.
Scroll down to check out our ranking, then let us know which Christmas special tops your list in the comments section.
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14. "The Church on Ruby Road" (2023)
The third of the 60th anniversary specials gave us a taste of Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor, and this is his first full episode. We watch the Doctor meet his companion, Ruby (Millie Gibson), the two deal with goblins, and a couple major mysteries be set up — Who are Ruby’s parents? Who is Mrs. Flood and why is she talking to the camera?! But it is the weakest of the Christmas specials and the fact that the answer to that first question is a bit of a letdown by the finale doesn’t help.
13. "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" (2011)
All in all, this is a sweet story: A woman (Claire Skinner) helps the Doctor (Smith) when he’s in trouble, and in turn, he comes back three years later to help her family under the guise of being the caretaker where they’re staying. As you can guess from the episode’s title, it adapts parts of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with the family transported through a portal in a present under the tree to another planet. The woman helps humanoid creatures about to lose their home — and in doing so sets up a family reunion she never thought possible, with her husband narrowly escaping his death. Yes, the Doctor does join Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) for Christmas dinner at the end, but there’s not nearly enough of him with them given that they exit just five episodes later.
12. "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" (2016)
This very comic book-y episode doesn’t feel very Christmassy. The Twelfth Doctor’s (Capaldi) encounter with a young boy one Christmas (the kid thinks he’s Santa Claus) causes him to grow up to be a superhero — and the nanny for his childhood crush, now a journalist. Sure, the story between Justin Chatwin‘s Grant and Charity Wakefield’s Lucy is sweet (but cliché), and she’s able to see what the Doctor isn’t saying about his recent loss (River), but it’s not a must-rewatch.
11. "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)
The twist on the Titanic and the complete lack of understanding by the Earth tour guide on holiday customs are clever. Add in a supporting group of characters we hope survive (most don’t) as the Tenth Doctor (Tennant) — with a great rousing speech — tries to lead them to safety after a meteor crash, Russell Tovey‘s debut as Alonso Frame (he goes on to return in that role, and he’ll take on a new one in the upcoming spinoff), and Bernard Cribbins as Wilf (the grandfather of Catherine Tate‘s Donna, before she’s one of the Doctor’s companions), and it’s a pretty entertaining episode.
10. "The Next Doctor" (2008)
David Morrissey is the one who shines in this one (with his performance a huge part of why it’s ranked where it is), as a character the Doctor (Tennant) thinks is a future regeneration of his — he first sees him in action, with his “companion” (Velile Tshabalala’s Rosita) — but the truth is instead a much sadder tale. He’s a man who had the misfortune of encountering the Cybermen, their technology, and the memories of the Doctor, and his son taken.
9. "The Runaway Bride" (2006)
The story itself of this one isn’t particularly compelling, but it is the episode that brings the Doctor (Tennant) and Donna together for the first time (though she only begins traveling with him a season later). She comes into his life just as he needs someone, too, appearing on the TARDIS just after he’s said goodbye to Rose (Billie Piper), trapped in a parallel world. The adventure involves Donna’s fiancé not with her for love and instead prepping her for the Racnoss Empress (Sarah Parish, who’d starred on Blackpool with Tennant and Morrissey), but the banter is top-notch, Tennant and Tate are always a delight onscreen together, and it’s fun.
8. "Last Christmas" (2014)
There is Nick Frost as Santa Claus, as well as a healthy amount of the Doctor (Capaldi) and his companion (Jenna Coleman‘s Clara) in this one. It also doesn’t ignore the aftermath of Clara’s loss (her boyfriend, Danny, played by Samuel Anderson). The aliens are creepy (Dream Crabs that use dreams as a distraction while eating their victims’ brains), and the cliche “did they really wake up?” is done well. Plus, there’s a sweet callback to the Doctor and Clara with a Christmas cracker, previously with Smith’s, when he was too old to not need help, and here with her in a similar state.
7. "Twice Upon a Time" (2017)
Adventures with more than one Doctor are always a good time, and such is the case here, with the Doctor (Capaldi), about to regenerate, crossing paths with his First incarnation (David Bradley, stepping in for the late William Hartnell, with an explanation even given for the different look), fighting the change. The First Doctor’s sexist attitude aside, it is great to see the two Time Lords share the screen. And the Twelfth Doctor shares touching moments with his companions (Clara, Pearl Mackie‘s Bill, and Matt Lucas‘ Nardole) before the regeneration that introduces the first female incarnation (Jodie Whittaker).
6. "The End of Time" (2009 and 2010)
This two-parter is split across Christmas Day and New Year’s, but it’s impossible to talk about the first without the second. As the Doctor (Tennant) tries to outrun his impending death (“he will knock four times”), he once again encounters fellow Time Lord and foe, The Master (John Simms), who uses alien tech to change everyone on the planet to be a copy of himself. With the story delving into their history and that of the rest of the Time Lords, the return of Cribbins as Wilf, and the heartbreaking final scenes leading up to the Doctor’s “I don’t want to go” before the regeneration that introduces Smith’s, the lack of Christmas playing a dominant role in the episodes isn’t even noticeable.
5. "The Snowmen" (2012)
To bring the Doctor (Smith) out of hiding after having to say goodbye to Amy and Rory, it would take a really intriguing mystery. Well, how about sentient snowmen, the second appearance by Coleman as a different character (though he didn’t see her the first time, only heard her voice after she’d been turned into a Dalek), and Ian McKellen voicing the Great Intelligence, the being responsible for creating said snowmen? (Sure, the Doctor doesn’t know that last bit, but if he did, surely McKellen’s voice would draw him out.) Plus, the sequence of Clara following the Doctor up the stairs into the clouds where the TARDIS is parked? A gorgeous visual.
4. "The Husbands of River Song" (2015)
Before we even know who River Song is to the Doctor, we know that he watches her die (though he does save her, in a complicated way), with Kingston’s first episodes coming during Tennant’s run. It’s during Smith’s that they circle each other, her true identity is revealed, and they marry. But it’s here, the first time Capaldi’s Doctor crosses paths with her (though she has no idea who he is at first), that we see their final meeting, a date at the Singing Towers of Darillium that lasts 24 years (and sees her get the sonic screwdriver she has in her first episode).
3. "The Time of the Doctor" (2013)
A regeneration playing a key role in a Christmas special is nothing new, but this one does do something different with it: It shows Smith’s Doctor aging and addresses the limit on the number of times the Time Lord can change (with a fantastic speech). The aliens whom he fought over his seasons (such as the Daleks, Cybermen, Silence, and Weeping Angels) all make appearances, and while he tries to send Clara away more than once as he stays on Trenzalore to protect it, she refuses to let that stop her (even traveling back clinging onto the side of the TARDIS). She’s there with him when he says goodbye, then there’s one last moment with Amy and her Raggedy Man before the regeneration into Capaldi’s Doctor.
2. "A Christmas Carol" (2010)
A Christmas Carol was practically made to be adapted on Doctor Who (and Davies says that Moffat “improved” it with this episode). The Doctor (Smith) takes Michael Gambon‘s Scrooge-like character on a journey to open up his heart in order to help a space liner that’s crashing above — and on which Amy and Rory are for their honeymoon. Smith feels very Doctor-y in this one, and in this case, the Doctor’s success leads to a twist that leads to means not everyone can be saved.
1. "The Christmas Invasion" (2005)
As Moffat points out of the episode written by Davies, “no one had really” seen a Doctor Who Christmas special and it showed that the series could successfully change its star (with Tennant taking over for Christopher Eccleston). The holiday is featured heavily, with attacks by robotic Father Christmases and Christmas trees, and while the Doctor is unconscious for a great deal of it (recovering from regeneration), when he does wake up (thanks to some tea) and take control against the Sycorax, out to enslave the human race, it’s clear to everyone and through Rose (who does struggle with accepting the new face) that he is still very much the Doctor.
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