There has been quite a wide variety of opinions about which of the Christmas specials viewers have enjoyed most, and it got me wondering what is it that people like from a Christmas special. Is it one which is directly linked to a Christmas theme, eg A Christmas Carol? Or is it one where the story is not directly linked to Christmas but it is set in the winter, eg The Snowmen? Or is it one where there is absolutely no link with Christmas or winter but is still very dramatic, eg The End of Time ? (although at the end the Doctor does see Rose on New Year's Eve !).

For me, it doesn't have to be directly linked to Christmas, but I do like to see it set in winter. My personal favourite Christmas special is The Snowmen. But I guess everyone will have their own opinion, which is why the forum is so great

Well, It's CHRISTMAS special, so it must have some Christmas reference and Christmas atmosphere. It doesn't have to be Santa Claus (although I'd love that XD) but it must be recognised as Christmas story.
My favorite Christmas special so far is The Snowmen because it had clever and interesting plot, but also very good Christmas / winter atmosphere (ladder, snow, cloud). Really enyojed it.
On the other hand RTD Christmas specials were not Christmas specials at all (except Christmas Invasion). Even Waters of Mars had more Christmas atmosphere than The End of the Time or Runaway Bride.

pretty much anything that makes a good regular episode, but with festive cheer firmly sprinkled within

I think all the Moffat era Christmas specials have been good (including "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" ). It doesn't have to link directly to Christmas itself, but a wintry, snowy, dark setting helps. It should have a slightly less serious tone than usual stories with an upbeat ending.

My favourite is still the Christmas invasion it's not been topped for me. It had great continuity a kitsch Xmas vibe abd the intro if ten what could be better.

I don't mind the wintry setting but now the Christmas Specials are so horribly cliched with fake snow, Dickensian kids, period settings, etc. and the story lines are so twee and mawkish.

I liked Runaway Bride, Christmas Invasion and Christmas Carol, but the rest have been utterly dire.

Just because it's Christmas doesn't mean the threat has to be so silly, it doesn't mean we want ******* kids in it!, it doesn't mean it has to have a 'love saves the day' ending, it doesn't mean we have to see people eating turkey!

Let's hope 'The 12 Days of Christmas' will be an improvement.

Well I think that if they are going for a Christmas theme then they should go all out, or just ignore the Christmasy stuff altogether and have a one off special with no Christmas stuff.

Something that can be enjoyed by all...no matter how pissed you are by the time it's on.

What makes a great Christmas special is the bit at the end when the Doctor wishes "a happy Christmas to all of you at home". Without it, The Feast of Steven would have been merely ho-hum.

I am not aware of any other Christmas specials that can be described as "great.".

'& a Happy New Year!' All in a really deep cheesy voice, followed by big waves from he & Clara, wearing Santa hats. Of course, that's only after we've seen he, Clara & the villains of that week sing a version of, 'It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year', in a Christmas-decorated Tardis being pulled by reindeer through space.

Traditional Christmas episodes work well, like a Christmas card, picture a scene, a scenic scene.
Doctor humbug sits by himself, as there is fun, all around but Doctor humbug is doing his crossword. No Christmas dinner until the crossword is done.
Clara- Look, here's a crossword I done earlier, will that do?
Doctor humbug- Might do, where's the Tardis?
Clara- Waiting

This sums it up perfectly

Watching the 'Doctor Who Christmas Special' is the one time of the year that I regret being tee-total...

Well only you can change that.

The Christmas special is presumably enjoyed (or suffered) by people who don't normally watch the show - although I'd guess that most people in the UK know the basic premise of the show. The episode therefore needs to appeal to a wider audience than would otherwise be the case. It seems unfortunate to me that quite a high proportion of the Christmas episodes (The Christmas Invasion, The End of Time 1 & 2 and The Time of the Doctor) have had to "carry" development of the show as well. Its interesting to contrast the regeneration episodes for Tenant and Smith; for me Moffat managed to do it so much more successfully than RTD - The End of Time 1 & 2 really was pretty shambolic.

I think the better Christmas shows are ones without such baggage. Moffat has been better at evoking a sense of Christmas - all 4 of his have had a very Christmasy feel to them; perhaps by channeling our association of Christmas with Victorian times - even at Trenzalore. I think A Christmas Carol is probably my favourite overall, the Snowman was pretty good too. The best of RTD's (for me) was probably the Titanic/Kylie one.

Maybe controversial but based on the quality of most of the Christmas specials Doctor Who doesn't deserve one, then again neither does say Eastenders. Personally I would like to see a special say at the mid point between series. Following an autumn series for example say a special at Easter.

Just for a bit of variety I would love them to do a post watershed Halloween episode that was a little darker and scarier than usual. I know this is a family show, but the odd occasional proper scare used to be Dr Who's party peice and with the show now on in the Autumn surely it would be worth a go.

Danny Pink... stuffed... an apple in his jaws.

Definitely a post-watershed episode.

The Feast of Steven would make a great christmas episode title.

Steven is a loner who at Christmas goes out onto the streets to help the homeless. However he is really a Xandomorph, a creature which awakens every 12 months to feed on the souls of homeless humans on the streets of London.

Totally agree. As well as the visuals I think sounds also help to create an atmosphere. In the Christmas Invasion there were small moments of carols being heard eg Mickeys radio. A good story too also helps. The Victorian setting has become a bit tired now.

'The Snowmen' struck a perfect balance between story continuity (the Doctor in mourning for Amy & Rory... return of soufflé Dalek girl...) and the whimsical (TARDIS on a cloud... Dickensian setting...)

What would make a good Christmas storyline?
Clara gives the Doctor a present and invites him to spend the day with her and Danny. But Twelve is being the proverbial 'Scrooge' - "Oh Claara, Claara, Claara. Christmas is as much superstitious hum-bug as the pagan Saturnalia festival it replaced! Messiahs and virgin births? Pah!

Clara, being agnostic, challenges the Doctor to find out the truth for himself.
They travel back to 1st Century Roman occupied Palestine during the months of the population census. There they meet 3 members of an ancient Alien race known as 'The Wise'.
They inform the Doctor that a great event is about to take place on Earth: The Creator is about to take physical form as a human. This event has taken place on other Planets, among other alien races, always at crucial/pivotal times in their history.
The Doctor is skeptical but intrigued.

However, a shadowy cult has also come to Earth to prevent this from happening.
Their leader has set himself up as the Hebrew King and has ordered the slaughter of the newborn.
Because the 'Wise' abide by strict laws not to reveal themselves to still primitive worlds, they are restricted in what they can do. However the Doctor and Clara, being familiar with the 'legends', use the TARDIS as a beacon of light in the sky to guide them to Bethlehem. Thus, the TARDIS becomes the guiding star.

In Bethlehem, the Doctor, Clara and the Wise discover an exhausted young couple taking refuge in a rundown, smelly cattle shed. "Not exactly the cosy Christmas card scenes is it Clara!" quips the Doctor. However, the Wise are seemingly overcome with emotion at this squalid scene and begin worshiping the newborn child of the young couple. The Doctor surreptitiously scans the child with his sonic screwdriver and his face turns white!
Seeing his expression of fearful awe, Clara demands an explanation.
Oh, his DNA is 100% human. But there's something else... On Gallifrey, they called it the Origin Enigma: When Timelords traveled to back to the beginning of the Universe, they detected a mysterious force which triggered the Big Bang. That force... It's in this child!

After their adventure, the Doctor agrees to spend Christmas with her and Danny. Looking at the Christmas cards with scenes of wise men, guiding stars and mangers, now infused with new meaning, the Doctor smiles wryly to himself.
And when Carolers come to their door singing Silent Night, the Doctor joins in.

Its a tough one. Should it be a stand alone story that just so happens to be set during Christmas like The Christmas Invasion or a take on an existing Christmas tale 'A Christmas Carol'

To be honest I just want it to be a great adventure. The Christmas day episode is bums on seats time for the show, a one off advert for many non regular viewers. It needs to be a showcase that gets everything right. Whilst the story maybe well written make it too ponderous you end up with A Christmas Carol. (a bit too snoozy whilst the Christmas dinner was taking its toll.) Too whizz bang you end up with Runaway Bride (far too shouty whilst the Christmas dinner was taking its sleepy toll) Imo.



My favourite is The Christmas Invasion. I love that it actually gets quite dark for 10 minutes or so towards the middle. Mass suicide, Prime Ministers' appeal, broken companion (the best post regeneration companion scenes imo). But at its heart its a good old Who invasion story and one of the best imo.


Episodes like The Snowmen, The Next Doctor and Voyage I enjoyed on the day but they aren't high on the re watch list. Maybe the Xmas episode almost needs to be disposable in that way.

Kudos to Runaway Bride for showing how the earth was really created on such a religious day

Err...Giant spiders aside that is