Egad Christmas has been creeping up on us here at THT Towers, but we have had time to devote some arctron energy to nu-Who’s largely joyous but sneakily complicated relationship with Christmas. When Doctor Who became so big so quickly back in 2005 it was inevitable that the show would find a place on British TV’s most competitive broadcasting day, Christmas Day, and it has been a bedrock feature of BBC1’s Holiday offerings ever since. It’s easy to forget that Last Christmas will be the 10th consecutive Doctor Who Christmas Special. Even during the leaner periods, the various production teams made sure Christmas was always covered.
That doesn’t mean it’s all been lighter fare as might be expected for that most family-centric of holidays. Part of every regeneration since 2005 has occurred in or around Christmas. Death and rebirth surrounding a holiday which is all about birth. Interesting? Perhaps.
But just because Christmas has been a constant companion since the series return in 2005, that doesn’t mean the Christmas Specials were terribly Christmas oriented. In fact the Christmassy nature of all the various specials varies wildly, from stories which borrow heavily from all of the associated iconography of Christmas to those which basically only take place at Christmas time but offer little else to mark the day. So as is our custom, we’re going to rank the nu-Who Christmas specials and/or stories by their Christmas-iness. Mind you this isn’t a list of the Tour favorite Christmas specials. That will follow soon. Ho Ho Who.
| As Christmassy as it gets… | A Christmas Carol The Unquiet Dead |
| It’s only beginning to look a lot like Christmas … | The Snowmen The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe The Next Doctor Voyage of the Damned |
| Might as well be Christmas in July | The Christmas Invasion The Runaway Bride The End of Time Pt I The Time of the Doctor |
As said the bi-annual Christmas countdown beckons … No cheating, you might give away the surprise.
