List of Doctor Who Christmas episodes

This past week during SCI-FI Christmas in July, guest bloggers have shared their thoughts on favorite Doctor Who Christmas installments.  Someone asked me how many Doctor Who Christmas episodes are there?  So here's a list.  If you're so inclined, this may make a very satisfying viewing marathon for next Christmas time.

~~The Unquiet Dead (2005) Though it didn't originally air in December, this episode's story takes place on Christmas Eve 1869 and includes the Doctor meeting Charles Dickens at a public reading of his popular work A Christmas Carol.

~~The Christmas Invasion (2005) The newly regenerated Doctor faces the Sycorax, an alien race come to earth at Christmas time.

~~The Runaway Bride (2006) The Doctor meets Donna, a bride that pops into the TARDIS.  Together they face the Empress of Racnoss from an eight-pointed star in the night sky.  This particular episode's story is re-visited in the later episode Turn Left in 2008.

Fans of the series know that The Runaway Bride's Donna Noble ends up becoming The Doctor's companion later in the series.

~~Voyage of the Damned (2007) The Doctor is aboard a luxury cruise spaceship named the Titanic.

~~The Next Doctor (2008) The Doctor returns to London on Christmas Eve 1851 where he meets another man claiming to be The Doctor.  Together they face down the Cybermen's latest attempt to dominate with the Cyberking.

~~The End of Time (2009) The Doctor faces another time lord, The Master, as well as his own mortality as predicted by the Ood.

~~A Christmas Carol (2010) The Doctor uses time travel to encourage Sardick to change his Scrooge-like ways.  This planet has an unusual atmosphere that includes fish swimming in its fog.

2010's A Christmas Carol guest stars: Michael Gambon as Sardick and Katherine Jenkins as Abigail.

~~The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe (2011) The Doctor returns to England at Christmas time 1941 to help two children have a merry holiday despite the presumed death of their father.  They journey to a beautiful world of snowy trees.  Unfortunately, the trees are being threatened by harvesting.

~~Best of the Christmas Specials (2011) This is a clip show with celebrities commenting on their favorite moments during the past Christmas specials.

If you are into watching the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood, you may also enjoy watching another Christmas episode:

~~Out of Time (2006) This story takes place over Christmas time as accidental time travelers from 1953 arrive in 2006 and find they must adjust to modern life.

And, Old School Doctor Who fans may be interested in watching the failed spin-off K-9 and Company which includes an unusual Christmas/Winter Solstice story.

~~A Girl's Best Friend (1981) The Doctor's former companions Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 spend the holiday at Sarah Jane's Aunt Lavinia's home where they discover the rural community is conducting black magic rituals including human sacrifice.

Wow!  That's a lot of Doctor Who Christmas watching.  Have I missed anything?  Have you seen all these installments?  Do we need to jump into the TARDIS to go directly to December and make this viewing marathon happen?

Doctor Who Christmas: The Next Doctor (2008)

It's Doctor Who week as we continue our SCI-FI Christmas in July celebration! Christmas TV History would like to welcome the next guest blogger, Brit Charek, who shares with us her passion for another favorite Doctor Who Christmas episode.

Doctor Who: "The Next Doctor" 2008
By Brit Charek

What could possibly be better than the Doctor sweeping in to save Earth? Why, two of them of course! Apparently writer Russell T. Davies decided to give Doctor Who fans just what they wanted for Christmas in 2008 when "The Next Doctor," the first of a run of five TV-movies, was aired featuring both David Tennant as well as David Morrissey as the Doctor.

David Tennant on the left, David Morrissey on the right--this Christmas installment offers 2 Doctors.

Being that fans knew David Tennant’s time as the Doctor was coming to an end (The actor who plays the Doctor only does it for a limited time, James Bond-style), it was exciting to see the Doctor faced with the man who could potentially be his replacement. Although he was definitely weirded-out when face-to-face with the Next Doctor when he landed the TARDIS in London on Christmas Eve of 1851, the Doctor was excited to meet what he suspected to be himself at a different point in time and space.

Could the Doctor have bumped into a future regeneration of himself?

(You see, in the universe of the Doctor, time is far from linear. It is, in his words from my all-time favorite episode Blink, “more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff,” which basically means that, well, pretty much anything can happen.)

Actress Dervla Kirwan plays Miss Hartigan.

Naturally, nothing is how it seems. Despite who the Next Doctor really is, the two Doctors team up, along with the Next Doctor’s companion, the saucy Rosilita, against a band of Cybermen led by Miss Mercy Hartigan, a cold villainess in a stunning red gown.

A giant-sized Cyberman known as the Cyberking threatens to destroy the entire city.

Not only do they have to deal with a giant Cyberking that would crush all of London, but Miss Hartigan has kidnapped and exploited children as laborers to generate energy for their project, in true Dickens fashion.

The next doctor's TARDIS?  If he's not a time lord, just who is this next doctor?

The banter between the two Doctors is delightful. The Next Doctor seems to know what he’s supposed to be, but doesn’t quite get it right—his sonic screwdriver is simply a screwdriver, his TARDIS is a hot air balloon that has never left the ground—but you can’t help but be charmed by his enthusiasm.

Doctor Who Christmas: Voyage of the Damned (2007)

This is Doctor Who Christmas week--did you see yesterday's "Christmas Invasion?"  Continuing our SCI-FI Christmas in July marathon, Christmas TV History would like to welcome guest blogger Mathias Noble King.  He has studied film at the University of Toledo and is an all around nerd.

Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned (2007)
by Mathias Noble King

In the words of the Doctor, “What…What…WHAT?!” I’m very new to Doctor Who but not so new to Christmas, unlike the attendants of the ironically named cruise liner, Titanic, which is on a voyage to Earth. British pop star Kylie Minogue joins David Tennant in this Christmas themed episode full of misunderstood holiday sayings, romance, killer robots, cyborgs and Bannakaffalatta.

She's still waiting tables and he's still saving Earth.

"Voyage of the Damned" aired in December of 2007, was directed by James Strong, and written by Russell T. Davies. After crashing the TARDIS into the Titanic, the Doctor joins the passengers as a “stowaway.” While a corrupt suicidal captain tries to take down the ship with a couple well-aimed asteroids, little does he know that there’s a 903-year-old time lord with a soft spot for Earth on board.

Who doesn’t love a space ship as an actual ship, Captain Harlock anyone?

A major theme of this episode is sacrifice, which ideally is the central theme of Christmas. The Doctor’s hodgepodge team doesn’t disappoint though, ready to jump into the ships main reactor to take down a Host at a moment’s notice (but I guess who wouldn’t if the love of your life just fell to the same fate?).

Bannakaffalatta noble, but dead

After some banter with the Host the Doctor is taken to the cause of this whole mess. And who do you think is behind the ruin of this holiday cruise? Yep you guessed it corporate greed, or maybe revenge however you want to read into it. But once again love and selflessness prevails and Earth and the Doctor live on for another episode (hopefully another Christmas themed one).