she couldn't be leaving because she hasn't turned into a dalek yet.

great episode, really good fake out at the end, really had me convinced this was the end for clara.

Gosh I was nearly crying during the Old lady Clara scene.
Hit home that maybe I would miss her more than I thought I would.
I'm glad she's staying, hopefully the next series will be better written without the need for a love interest such as the woeful Danny Pink !!

Judging by the comments, I seem to be in the minority, but I loved that. I thought it was the best Christmas special in a long long time. I was enthralled from beginning to end. This is what I've been hoping for in a Christmas special for ages.

9/10

I quite liked it. Well, until the last minute. Why do Who show runners get so irrationally attached to the companions, it's time for a new one already.

I enjoyed it even though it seemed more like the Inception holiday special than Dr Who.

Was there any significance to the "forgive dave" being ticked off the checklist?

Rather predictable that Michael Troughton would be killed off for the crime of touching a girls knee earlier.

Is it possible the final scenes were added at the last minute when Jenna Coleman decided to stay after all?

it was silly and confusing in places but enjoyable, not the best Christmas doctor who special though, Nick Frost was fab as Father Christmas

i must say even as an 80 something clara looked fab


btw, why no poll

With you on that...

Great that she is staying. Was it reported she has a last minute decision to stay elsewhere ?

Well me and the family thoroughly enjoyed that. My favourite christmas special in a good few years.

Well it wasn't as daft as some Christmas specials and had its moment's but it was overly talky and felt dragged out..could have ended 20 minutes in.

The old Clara piece just emphasises the Moffatt tendency to have a game changer that's effectively either reset or ignored completely 5 minutes later.

6/10

I enjoyed that, as did the family who were watching it with me. Sure it was all a bit of fluff but liked the horror elements included and the dream within a dream inception scenario.

So yeah, overall I liked that

I also really enjoyed it.

Well spotted!
Enjoyed that, it was nowhere near as bad as i feared it might be.
Derivative of many things, but as it was mostly a dream you can get away with anything.
Loved The Thing from Another World and Alien on the girl's "to watch" list!
Very clever.

Judging by the internet, everything is awful, always; but, like you, I loved it.

And I don't know if Moff trolled Clara leaving all through last season just for this pay-off, or there was a last minute rewrite.

Don't care either. Enjoyed it a lot.

Well, I gotta say that I really enjoyed the idea of redemption and second chances that manifested itself right at the end but, seriously, "...and it was all a dream"?

That is SERIOUSLY lazy writing.
Hell, our English Lit' teacher used to bollock us for using that cliche when I was about 12.

What the hell has happened to the writing standards in DW over the last 12 months or so?
Seems like if somebody with any balls was in charge they would have said "Let's keep the sentiment of this episode but, beyond that, it needs a total rewrite because this is all hackneyed, immature, shite" before flinging the draft script into the nearest bin.

I like the way this episode turned out but is was an utterly abysmal bit of creative writing.

The ep overall was a bit lacklustre - all stretched a bit too thin and dull.

REALLY didn't need to see the charmless Danny Pink again - got no connection to that relationship at all so those scenes did nothing for me.

The scenes on the sleigh at the end were good. Very welcome to see 12 look like he's actually having fun for a change. Loved the parallels to old 11 with 12 helping old Clara pull the cracker. And interesting that they had her basically admit 11 was an impossible love interest for her again.

Very glad Jenna is staying because she's still the best thing about the show now. I hope we get some time with her and 12, no annoying boyfriends and no angsty, grumpy nonsense.

As Christmas specials go it wasn't a patch on the likes of The Snowmen.

Also I REALLY hope that annoying girl isn't coming back. I have a horrible feeling she might but the character was so try hard quirky it hurt.

For those that didn't understand, it's quite simple really.
Those aliens had gone on different peoples faces. Then the people had a group dream, which included Clara and The Doctor.
Father Christmas was there as the brains defence mechanism, something that everyone recognised, to try and wake them up.
The aliens once threatened, tried the trick of dream in a dream to make them stop fighting.
It's as simple as that. Engage your brains people.

Why so many people so eager for Clara to leave? She's ok isn't she?
Don't get it.

Absurd episode though of course. How exactly did they beat the dream crabs by hitching a lift with Santa?

That was a mess of an episode...too much "LOL nope it's still a dream!" that made it utterly frustrating.

If we're dissecting the episode, can somebody explain how come all the other people seemed to be dreaming that they were scientists and only remembered their true selves as they woke up whereas DW and Clara seemed to retain perfect recollection while they were dreaming?

Or were the other characters all just part of a dream shared only by DW and Clara, somehow?

I liked it a lot.

Surely it's more a case of needing to selectively disengage your brain before any of it makes sense?

This is my first ever post but just had to let everyone know I absolutely loved it.

I don't get it either. Clara (and JC) is lovely.

The episode was a mess though. I normally give Dr Who the benefit of the doubt but I'm struggling to think of a single positive thing to say.

Loved it. All of it.