In the Christmas spirit the lads over in Modern Recap-itulation have finally gotten around to re-capping the second nu-Who Christmas Special, The Runaway Bride. There might not be a bigger and more surprising reclamation project than the character rehab by Catherine Tate for all of her shrillness in her appearance as Donna Noble in The Runaway Bride all the way through Series 4 less than 18 months later.
At the time it wasn’t an unfair impression, and some fans upon hearing that she would be on board for Series 4 had every reason to be worried about how it would all play. But play out well it most certainly did. Having done a re-watch in connection with a brand new, expanded set of HD caps for The Runaway Bride. it’s easy to see the rapport Tennant and Tate had and would further in Series 4.
But the showstopper sequence occurs about 11 minutes into the episode where the Doctor rescues Donna from a moving taxi with an equally moving Tardis in-flight. It’s just terrific and a case of the production team really just going for it to reward the holiday audience.
The Runaway Bride hasn’t yet appeared in this years Christmas countdown, but it will soon enough. Christmas time, despite all of it’s other trappings, now nearly ten years in is an excellent excuse to watch some of the Christmas specials.
That’s if you need an excuse.