I'm quite excited waiting for the Christmas episode and more Who

However, I can't remember a Christmas themed episode that was really really good. The problem of balancing a Christmas feel good narrative with an interesting and believable sci fi story is often a challenge not met with average rather than great story. Maybe I'm just a bit humbug

Anyway, I'm hoping this years will be great and if not, well its only a Christmas episode, I still think Capaldi was great and is only going to get better

I don't think any amount of Doctor Who dressing is going to take away from Santa Claus walking up and down the place. One can hope.

I though the Christmas Invasions and The Runaway Bride were great.
The others just so-so.

I'm going to be terribly unpopular, but after all the excitement and anticipation of Capaldi's Doctor who I was so sure would be awesome, I have been very disappointed with his debut season and his interpretation of the character. Nothing to do with his age I should add. It is the first time, since McCoy, that I have been turned off by a change in Doctor. So, I'm afraid I don't hold out much hope for the Christmas special.

I will, of course, continue to watch it as I wouldn't want to be part of a drop in viewing figures.

Unless you have a BARB box, you're fine

Christmas episodes are tough. As the OP says, there's the Christmassy feelgood element that can be a bit sugary, and then there's the fact that it is often written with the large number of casual viewers who only watch Who every Dec 25th in mind (last year's one being a bit of an exception).

I tend to judge the Xmas episodes in a different way as a result. Most have been adequate, The Christmas Invasion was probably the best one because it was (a) the first one and (b) we had the added excitement of a new Doctor, and I still haven't gotten over how bad Voyage of the Damned was.

I should hopefully get to see this year's special tomorrow night, so fingers crossed.

I hope it's a lot lighter than season 8 generally, especially the season climax with its focus on death. The tone of something like "Mummy on the Orient Express" would be perfect for a Christmas special, IMO. Let's not have Victorian London (or anything based on that) again please. And if Danny and/or Osgood were successfully resurrected, so much the better, as it would fit the Christmas idea of giving and receiving gifts.

Christmas episodes often struggle to find the balance between a fan-pleasing serious story, and a more light-hearted standalone effort that also appeases the larger general audience.

The End of Time was the perfect example - an important regeneration story with Christmas shoehorned in along the way. We've had similarly important stories at Christmas in recent years with The Snowmen being the start of Jenna Coleman's proper run, and The Time of the Doctor being Matt Smith's swansong. Last Christmas has the potential to be more of a standalone effort, which reinforces the idea that I'd like Clara to stay even more. The thing is though that I'm currently not interested in it remotely - and the last time that was true was with The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe...which managed to disappoint even more than expected.

For me, only The Runaway Bride and A Christmas Carol have impressed me as Christmas specials - the former because aside from a few small festive references it was largely just a fun standalone story, and A Christmas Carol because it was beautiful in every way and the only special to properly embrace Christmas and make a half decent story out of it.

For me the Christmas invasion and A Christmas carol were are the best two, and they were both doctor's first Christmas specials, so here's hoping that this follows trend and as Capaldi's first Christmas special is as good as those two.

Until the day the Doctor becomes a woman, I'll watch regardless!