I have a slight issue with the Christmas special...well, several actually but let's push those too one side.

It's to do with the TARDIS materialising around the Doctor.

- Nardole piloting the TARDIS?? Ok, let's move past that one.

- The Doctor whistling out for Nardole (the professional TARDIS pilot) who in my opinion had no way to lock onto that sound to fix as co-ordinates. You may say the Doctor gave him those co-ordinates, which is a fair point, but then why whistle?...but let's brush past that point too.

- The TARDIS materialises around the Doctor. Pretty impressive eh?

Hold on.....am I missing something here?? I know that's entirely possible but my mind keeps going back to that sad and fateful day when Amy and Rory were stuck in New York of yesteryear, and the poor old Doctor was unable to visit them due to whatever plothole, I mean issue SM devised at the time.

But hey, it's perfectly fine now to visit New York, yay.

Really. I know Moffatt likes to think he can spin a tale, and in the past he has done so admirably, but like several others here, his recent attempts have fallen short of the mark.

I liked yesterdays programme, I really do. The plot/aliens/superhero got pushed aside and lost at various times during the show, but the dialogue was still witty and crisp. That is Moffat's great area of expertese - the dialogue.

Maybe as he now knows that he is only in charge because no one could cover the last year before Chribnall takes over, but to my mind it's as if Moffatt is focusing on other projects and as a result, DW is suffering for it.

BUT, I hope not. Moffatt is a self-confessed fan of the show and I seriously doubt he is deliberately trying to ruin the show but I do feel he has been in charge for a shade too long now.

I hope the new season, when it arrives, will restore some of the old Moffatt brilliance but on the view of the Christmas special....good attempt, but keep those plots tighter and remember what restrictions (story-wise) you've made in the past.

I popped in to say how good I thought it was. But I see die-hard Doctor Who fans disliked it immensely ? I enjoyed it as a one-off Christmas piece, which I presume it was supposed to be ? I can see it was light and a bit silly, but the time flew by watching it which is always a good sign in my opinion.

I really enjoyed it, the episode felt less like Doctor Who and more of a superhero story focusing more on Lucy and Grant, but for the Christmas day episode thats not a bad thing. I like the ideas of the specials being episodes that you wouldn't see in the main series, instead of them having to be Chrristmassy episodes. After 12 christmas day episodes it can't be a big christmas based episode every year

Did you miss the point at the start where the Doctor was showing young Grant the device to help alleviate the time distortions in New York and confessed it was mainly his fault they were there? That was definitely a reference to the Amy situation.

Definitely decent in the scheme of things considering some people suggesting 3 or 4 million! In the top ten still!

I thought the thing which was going to fix it, was eaten by the child?

True, but given we then followed the story of Grant, we don't know what the Doctor was doing offscreen, do we? He returned to visit young Grant and was back again in the present day, so something must have been fixed?

I thought he was with River offscreen spending the final day with her, plus how did he get to New York in the first place to attempt to fix it?

From what I could gather, he can't go to New York at the time of the Angels incident or anywhere near that, but who know 50 (since the opening must have been more like the 1980s) years on whether that's still the case?

As for him visiting River, surely the 24 year stay with her wasn't synchronised with Grant's growing up? That's not how time travel works is it? I thought the 24 years since Grant met Lucy was just an unhappy reminder to the Doctor of his 24 years with River.

I don't think there's any point in trying to gather anything about 'the rules'.

The are made up as they go along and can be changed at whim, with the most flimsy and lame excuses(if the even bother with a rationale).

I enjoyed this episode, but as a comedy rather than anything even vaguely real sci-fi.

Generally, I find that there are only a couple of stories per series, now, that, even with the wildest suspension of disbelief, can be taken even half way seriously.

The rest are just mildly amusing dashing about with some witty dialogue, expertly delivered by the various leads. Still good enough to keep watching, especially for the few gems (e.g. first weeping angels episode, dream lord).

Though this wasn't the best episode ever made of Doctor Who, I actually rather enjoyed it. As has been mentioned, it felt less like Doctor Who and a lot more Superman in disguise and I enjoyed a lot of the visual references to the 70's Superman movies.

I also liked the fact it was kept simple and straightforward. Even after a few glasses of wine it was simple to follow! As a result it worked for me but as I said it's not the best, or the worst of many New Series episodes, it was what it was for Xmas Day.

I also enjoyed Peter Capaldi in this. Since they've lightened the character a bit he's been a lot better, not that I didn't enjoy his more prickly persona in Series 8.

My only gripe if I had one was that Matt Lucas was very underused and I didn't really see the point of the character being in the story and it could quite easily have got by without him. That's nothing to do with performance or the character itself, I feel he should have been used better.

Not brilliant, but Christmas episodes of Doctor Who never are, but enjoyable enough in its own way. Quite honestly, I'm a bit stunned by some of the negativity on this thread.

Found it difficult to go from slapstick to humour to super serious in this episode. Think its time for the next stage Lego Dr Who.

It's the norm on this forum unfortunately.

Well, I've just watched it again (completely sober this time!) and stand by my initial reaction. Great fun, laugh out loud funny in places (The Ghost points at the camera: "Get a smoke detector!"; the background shot on Jennifer's TV of the Ghost with two rescued kids; Mr Huffle; loads of witty lines, the bit risqué but amusing 'puberty' stuff) with enjoyable performances all around, but particularly Capaldi and Chatwin. Enjoyed Matt Lucas too, which is encouraging for Series 10. I'd say definitely one of the better Specials. It had an energy and generosity of spirit that was just very charming and the hour went very quickly.

Incredibly childish mixed with some truly graphic gore - heads splitting open. A weird mix. The show seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. Part graphic gore - part CBBBC!

Capaldi still feels a bit too gruff for the role. Well, just my opinion.

I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
Lots of Superman references - the Daily Planet-style globe on the building, "Mr Shuster and Mr Siegel" etc.
Nardole appears to be the new Handles! I thought Matt Lucas did a good job.
An enjoyable way to spend an hour at Christmas.

I didn't see it live but I've watched it twice now. I had really low expectations based on the initial 'reviews' on this post (some people venting whilst the story was ongoing).

I have to say I really enjoyed it. I won't even bother trying to argue with the individual negative points because I feel most are built on straw men, and some have no real basis in reality). It was a well written, well acted idea. For me it was really good fun! Capaldi was magnificent. The way he nonchalantly disarms the baddie at the end with his sonic was well played.

A really fun Christmas Day special! I thought Nardole has promise too. Looking forward to season 10!

Time for me to add to the positive comments. The household watched it all live and all agreed that it was great fun. Can't see how mixing light and shade (referred to in some messages above) is difficult to handle? That's just classic comedy drama or a simple throwback to Tom Baker's philosophy. Loving Peter Capaldi's authoratitive sternness.

I've seen Charity Wakefield in other things and have always enjoyed her performances. Had her character (Lucy) not ended up with Grant I think she would have made a great companion for the Doctor (becoming the first American companion since Jack, the first female American companion since Grace and the first female American companion to be played by a British actress since Peri).

Impressive, but not new. See 'Blink' (OK, so that was dematerialising around people, but same concept in reverse), 'The Runaway Bride'...

I think he was joking......

I'm drifting in and out of Dr Who in the last few years. Not a fan of the Matt Smith years and Peter Capaldi was a bit too odd.
Have to say though, I thoroughly enjoyed this Xmas special. Good fun, well acted by all concerned. Would actually like to see more of Grant and Lucy. The trailer for the up coming series looks interesting. I wonder if Bill might become a bit annoying with all the questions!!

I would love to see this picked up as a spin off series - it just writes itself.

But seriously though fans, stop writing whole bloody essays on the merits of what was right and wrong in the Christmas Day episode. Okay, it's not The Deadly Assassin or Blink or whatever, it's just not there to cater for the die hards and only the die hards. It's there for everybody. Doctor Who is for everybody whether you're a fan or not. Fans don't own the show by themselves.

Now relax, think happy pleasant thoughts and have several alcoholic drinks to calm your nerves. Roll on 2017!

Hear, hear!