It wouldn’t be Christmas without Doctor Who. The Time Lord has become as much a staple to our festivities as mince pies, mulled wine, and roast turkey.
That being said, the Doctor has been absent from our screens on Christmas Day in recent years because of a shift in the schedule to New Year’s Day. But now that we have a new Doctor, in the form of Ncuti Gatwa, and the return of the reboot’s showrunner Russell T. Davies, as well as a welcomed Christmas Day appointment with the Doctor on December 25, 2023, we hope the show will once again become a permanent fixture on the Christmas schedules for years to come.
In this article, we list all of the Doctor Who specials that have aired on Christmas Day since 2005. Which of these is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.
The Christmas Invasion
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2005
The Doctor: David Tennant
Synopsis:
“It’s Christmas Eve and high above London, the alien Sycorax are holding the Earth for ransom. The Tenth Doctor must recover from his regeneration in time to save the human race from slavery.” (source)
The Runaway Bride
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2006
The Doctor: David Tennant
Synopsis:
“Killer Santas, exploding baubles, an alien spaceship shaped like a giant star — Christmas with the Tenth Doctor is anything but a silent night…” (source)
Voyage of the Damned
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2007
The Doctor: David Tennant
Synopsis:
“A spacecraft set on an apocalyptic collision course with Earth, a host of killer robot angels and an evil severed-headed mastermind — it’s just another Christmas for the Tenth Doctor…” (source)
The Next Doctor
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2008
The Doctor: David Tennant
Synopsis:
“Christmas 1851, and Cybermen stalk Victorian London. The Tenth Doctor discovers a spate of mysterious deaths, and he’s surprised to meet another Doctor! Are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the CyberKing?” (source)
The End of Time (Part 1)
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2009
The Doctor: David Tennant
Synopsis:
“It is the Tenth Doctor’s final journey — but his psychotic nemesis, the Saxon Master, has been resurrected on Christmas Eve! Each determined to cheat death, the battle rages from the abandoned wastelands of London to the mysterious Immortality Gate, whilst the alien Ood warn of an even greater danger approaching, as a terrible shadow falls across the entire universe.
With the sound of the drums growing louder in the Master’s head and an ancient trap closing around the Earth, the Doctor and Wilfred Mott must fight alone. Sacrifices must be made, and the deadly prophecy warns: “He will knock four times.”” (source)
A Christmas Carol
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2010
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Synopsis:
“Amy Pond and Rory Williams are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way the Eleventh Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser. But is Kazran Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve?” (source)
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 20111
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Synopsis:
“Christmas Eve, 1938. Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel, the Eleventh Doctor, who promises to repay her kindness – all she has to do is make a wish. Three years later, Madge escapes war-torn London with her two children for a dilapidated house in Dorset. Crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the English Channel, she wishes to give her children the best Christmas ever.
The Arwells are greeted by the Doctor, who acts as their madcap caretaker. However, a mysterious Christmas gift from him leads them into a wintry, magical world. Madge must learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible… and that wishes can come true.” (source)
The Snowmen
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2012
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Synopsis:
“After losing Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor has retired to Victorian England, where Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra assist him. The Doctor eventually meets Clara Oswald and takes a liking to the young barmaid who leads a double life as a governess.
At the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding; snowmen are randomly appearing around London, growing in size and power. All they need to take over the world is some human DNA in ice crystal form, and the frozen body of a drowned governess can give them just that.” (source)
The Time of the Doctor
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2013
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Synopsis:
“Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars – among them, the Eleventh Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his companion must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.” (source)
Last Christmas
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2014
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Synopsis:
“Clara Oswald is in for one Christmas Eve that she’s never going to forget. Reunited with the Twelfth Doctor, she faces what could possibly be her last Christmas.
Something sinister lurks in an arctic base at the North Pole, and it’s beyond even the most terrible, nightmarish creatures the Doctor has faced before. Who ya gonna call? Santa Claus!” (source)
The Husbands of River Song
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2015
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Synopsis:
“The Twelfth Doctor is on the planet Mendorax Dellora in 5343, where he is asked by a man named Nardole to follow him, thinking he is a surgeon, on the orders of River Song. A surgeon is required to remove a diamond from the head of the tyrannical King Hydroflax. It became lodged there due to a ruthless act of thievery gone wrong, and River seeks to recover it.
Surprised that River cannot identify his newest face, the Doctor struggles to break the news to her while learning how she acts on her own – and how many other lovers she has had. However, both he and River soon find that the time is drawing close for the last page in the diary of their journeys together to be written…” (source)
The Return of Doctor Mysterio
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2016
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Synopsis:
“The Twelfth Doctor once more faces off with an alien species that wishes to conquer the planet: the Harmony Shoal. This time, however, he has more backup than usual, and with a little twist: a real-life superhero called the Ghost.” (source)
Twice Upon a Time
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2017
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Synopsis:
“As the Doctor nears regeneration, he stumbles on his original self, also refusing to change. It takes a captain, a glass avatar and a familiar face to convince the Doctors the universe still needs them.” (source)
The Church on Ruby Road
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2023
The Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa
Synopsis:
“Long ago on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, stolen babies, goblins and perhaps the secret of her birth…” (source)
Which is your favourite Christmas special? Let us know in the comments below.