List of Doctor Who Christmas and New Year's specials

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Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The show has been a large influence in the media since its inception in 1963. Along with the regular series, special Christmas episodes were initially broadcast every year, beginning with "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) and ending with "Twice Upon a Time" (2017). Beginning with the Thirteenth Doctor, the traditional Christmas special episode was moved to the following New Year's Day timeslot, with episodes being produced for the holiday, beginning with "Resolution" (2019) and the most recent special being "Eve of the Daleks" (2022).

Episodes[]

Classic era[]

During the first run of the programme (1963–1989), special episodes were not a frequent occurrence. During the third season, the twelve-part serial The Daleks' Master Plan was broadcast weekly over the 1965–1966 Christmas period, with its seventh and eighth episodes scheduled for Christmas and New Year's Day respectively. The former, "The Feast of Steven", was scripted as a comic interlude in the style of a pantomime, in the middle of an otherwise epic adventure.[1] In its final scene, as the Doctor and his companions celebrate Christmas with a toast, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) turns to the camera and breaks the fourth wall by saying "Incidentally, a happy Christmas to all of you at home."[1] The following episode, "Volcano", returns to the main narrative of The Daleks' Master Plan, although its ending briefly features a contemporary New Year's Eve.[1] No subsequent episodes of the series' original run were broadcast on Christmas Day; the first episodes of Day of the Daleks (1972) and The Face of Evil (1977) were first shown on New Year's Day, but make no reference to the holiday season.

Revived era[]

No.
story		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions) [2]		AI [2]
Tenth Doctor
167"The Christmas Invasion"James HawesRussell T Davies25 December 2005 (2005-12-25)9.8484
Rose Tyler and the newly-regenerated Tenth Doctor return to Rose's house, where Rose, her mother Jackie and her former boyfriend Mickey Smith carry him inside to rest. When out shopping, Rose and Mickey are attacked by Santa robots; the Doctor theorises that energy from his regeneration has lured them here. Prime Minister Harriet Jones is threatened by the leader of the Sycorax to give them half of the Earth's population as slaves; Harriet tries to negotiate and is transmatted on their ship. Rose, Mickey, and Jackie drag the Doctor onto the TARDIS, but the TARDIS is detected by the Sycorax and they transport it to their ship, with Rose, Mickey, and the Doctor inside. After the Doctor has fully recovered, he challenges the Sycorax leader to a sword fight for the future of the Earth, which he eventually wins. However, the Sycorax ship is destroyed against the Doctor's wishes by Harriet, who had called Torchwood on the matter.
178"The Runaway Bride"Euros LynRussell T Davies25 December 2006 (2006-12-25)9.3584
Donna Noble, in a wedding dress, appears within the TARDIS while in flight. The Doctor returns Donna to her wedding. The reception is attacked by robots dressed as Santa Claus. The Doctor discovers something is controlling them remotely from space. He finds the spider-like Empress of the Racnoss, who had been hiding in hibernation at the edge of the universe, awoke and used the Torchwood company to gain the equipment to make huon particles. The Doctor takes Donna to his TARDIS and travels back billions of years to discover that an inert Racnoss ship became the core of the Earth as the planet formed around it; the Empress is now trying to wake her children aboard that ship with the huon particles. The Empress uses her ship to start firing on Earth. The Doctor attempts to offer a peaceful solution but the Empress refuses, and the Doctor is forced to flood the pit with water from the Thames. The Doctor offers Donna the opportunity to travel with him. She declines, but suggests he needs a companion to keep his temperament in check.
188"Voyage of the Damned"James StrongRussell T Davies25 December 2007 (2007-12-25)13.3186
The TARDIS has collided with a ship called the Titanic, a nuclear-powered interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. The ship's captain sabotages the ship by engineering its collision with three large meteors. The resulting collision kills most of the passengers on board and draws the ship to an extinction level collision with Earth. En route to the bridge, the Doctor's party are repeatedly attacked by the Host, androids resembling angels who were programmed to kill the survivors. The Doctor breaks from the party and is taken to the Host's leader, former cruise line owner Max Capricorn. Capricorn was bitter about being forced out of his own company and plotted the Titanic's inevitable collision with Earth to bankrupt the company and frame the board of directors for murder. To save the Doctor, waitress Astrid Peth rams Capricorn with a forklift, which sends both of them over a ledge to their deaths. The Doctor uses the heat from entry into the Earth's atmosphere to restart the ship's engines.
199"The Next Doctor"Andy GoddardRussell T Davies25 December 2008 (2008-12-25)13.1086
The Doctor encounters a man calling himself "the Doctor" and his companion Rosita, attempting and failing to capture a Cybershade. The Doctor believes the man, who is suffering from amnesia, may be a future incarnation of himself. They discover a pair of Cyberman data-storage infostamps, which the Next Doctor recalls holding the night that he lost his memories. The Doctor comes to realise that the Next Doctor is really a human, Jackson Lake, the supposed first missing person. The Doctor and Rosita find numerous children, pulled from workhouses around the city by Miss Mercy Hartigan, are being put to work at an underground facility under Cybermen guard. The Cybermen convert Hartigan into the controller for the "CyberKing", a giant mechanical Cyberman powered by the energy generated by the children. The CyberKing starts to lay waste to the city. When Miss Hartigan refuses the Doctor's offer to leave the planet, the Doctor severs her connection to the CyberKing, exposing her to the raw emotion of what she has done. The emotional feedback destroys both the Cybermen and Miss Hartigan. The episode ends with the Doctor and Jackson heading off to attend Christmas dinner in remembrance of those they have lost.
202a"The End of Time – Part One"Euros LynRussell T Davies25 December 2009 (2009-12-25)12.0487
On the Ood-Sphere in 4226, the Ood warn the Doctor that the Master has returned, heralding "the end of time". On Earth, a cult of women resurrect the Master, but Lucy Saxon sabotages the ceremony, causing the Master to be brought back with incredible strength but constant hunger. Arriving back on Earth on Christmas Eve, the Doctor encounters Wilfred Mott. The Doctor finds the Master at wastelands outside London, and learns that the Master has been suffering from hearing the sound of drums. The Master is taken by armed troops and placed in custody of Joshua Naismith. Naismith has recovered a broken alien "Immortality Gate" and wants the Master to fix its programming. The Doctor regroups with Wilfred; a woman in white warns Wilfred to arm himself before departing. At Naismith's mansion, the Doctor and Wilfred meet two Vinvocci disguised as humans, who assert the Gate is a harmless medical device from their homeworld. The Master activates the Gate, which he has reprogrammed to replace all of humankind's DNA with his own; only Wilfred and Donna are unchanged, and Donna remembers the Doctor. Elsewhere, the Lord President of the Time Lords asserts their plan can continue, and that the Time Lords will return.
202b"The End of Time – Part Two"Euros LynRussell T Davies1 January 2010 (2010-01-01)12.2789
The Doctor and Wilfred become fugitives from the Masters, and take refuge on the Vinvocci spacecraft. The Lord President implants the sound of drums in the Master's head as a child, and launches a whitepoint star to Earth, to be used to create a link that allows the Time Lords to bring Gallifrey to Earth. The Lord President and an ensemble of Time Lords appear in Naismith's mansion. The Doctor and the Vinvocci bring the ship to land, the Doctor jumps from it. The Doctor debates between shooting the Master or the Lord President. The Doctor spots the same woman in white Wilfred had seen, who silently communicates to him. The Doctor fires the gun at the whitepoint star, shattering it. As Gallifrey is pulled back, the Lord President, Rassilon, attempts to kill the Doctor, but the Master intervenes, and humanity is restored as Gallifrey returns. The Doctor finds Wilfred is now trapped in one of the Gate's control rooms that is about to be flooded by radiation. The Doctor gives his life, and absorbs the radiation, but knows that his body will soon regenerate. After returning Wilfred, the Doctor visits past companions and acquaintances. Inside his TARDIS, the Doctor sets the TARDIS in flight before regenerating into the new Doctor.
Eleventh Doctor
213"A Christmas Carol"Toby HaynesSteven Moffat25 December 2010 (2010-12-25)12.1183
A space liner containing 4,000 people and Amy Pond and Rory Williams on their honeymoon becomes caught in an electrified cloud. The Doctor, summoned by Amy, lands on the planet beneath and discovers that the atmosphere is controlled by the miserly Kazran Sardick who refuses to let the ship safely land. The Doctor travels back to Kazran's youth and attempts to alter his past to make him kinder, spending time adventuring with young Kazran and a young woman named Abigail, who was released from a cryogenic chamber as her singing abilities calm the sharks which occupy the atmosphere. However, Abigail was suffering from an incurable disease, and Kazran grows up bitter that she cannot be let out again or she will die; but, the Doctor shows Kazran's younger self what he would become and he decides to release the ship. Unfortunately, Kazran's personality has changed too much for the atmosphere controls to recognize him, and the Doctor must convince Kazran to release Abigail so she can sing and calm the atmosphere, and the two enjoy their last time together.
225"The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"Farren BlackburnSteven Moffat25 December 2011 (2011-12-25)10.7784
The Doctor crash-lands on Earth in 1938. He is helped back to the TARDIS by Madge Arwell. Three years later, Madge's husband Reg has disappeared while piloting an Avro Lancaster bomber in the Second World War, but she keeps it a secret from her two children, Lily and Cyril. They evacuate London to stay at a house in Dorset, where the Doctor masquerades as the caretaker. Cyril is lured through a present, which is a portal to a winter planet. Looking for Cyril, the Doctor and Lily and later Madge enter the box; Madge encounters miners, who plan to harvest the trees. Lily and the Doctor follow Cyril's tracks to a tower where wooden humanoids attempt to put a crown on Cyril, which will allow the souls of the trees to escape. When Madge arrives, she is deemed strong enough to pilot the top of the tower to safety. When they land, Reg is alive as he had followed the light from the tower and landed safely. The Doctor turns down Christmas dinner with the family and visits Amy and Rory, two years after he last saw them.
231"The Snowmen"Saul MetzsteinSteven Moffat25 December 2012 (2012-12-25)9.8787
Depressed after the loss of Amy and Rory, the Doctor hides himself in Victorian London. The "Great Intelligence", a form of "memory snow" which can mirror the thoughts of anything around it, hatches a plot to create an army of ice people. While Strax drives the Doctor around, they run into Clara Oswald, a barmaid. The Doctor refuses to investigate the snowmen and returns to the TARDIS, in a cloud above London, accessible via a staircase. Clara soon returns to her job as a governess and learns of the danger to all of humanity. She turns to the Doctor for help and he takes action. With Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax, the Doctor and Clara defeat the Great Intelligence and its human servant. In the process, the Doctor regains his enthusiasm, deciding to take Clara on as his companion. However, Clara is thrown off the edge of a cloud and falls to her death. The Doctor discovers Clara's full name – Clara Oswin Oswald – and realises that Clara is the same person as Oswin Oswald. Concluding that she is likely still alive in some other time and leaves in the TARDIS to find her.
241"The Time of the Doctor"Jamie PayneSteven Moffat25 December 2013 (2013-12-25)11.1483
A message echoing through all of time and space emanates from the farming town of Christmas on the planet Trenzalore, where a prophecy states the Doctor will spend the last of his years. With the help of the Papal Mainframe, the Doctor and Clara travel to the village and discover that the message is being sent from Gallifrey by the Time Lords. Sending Clara home, he proceeds to spend hundreds of years fighting and defending Trenzalore against hordes of aliens determined to prevent the Time Lords from returning. Clara returns to find the Daleks are the last remaining aliens, and that the Doctor has fought for so long, with no more regenerations, that he is on the cusp of dying of old age. As the Doctor faces his last stand, Clara convinces the Time Lords to give the Doctor a new regeneration cycle. The Doctor begins to regenerate, destroying the Daleks and ending the war. Clara returns to the TARDIS to find a rejuvenated Doctor about to finish his regeneration. After vowing to remember the incarnation he was and hallucinating a final goodbye to Amy, he finally regenerates into the Twelfth Doctor, as the TARDIS suddenly begins crashing.
Twelfth Doctor
253"Last Christmas"Paul WilmshurstSteven Moffat25 December 2014 (2014-12-25)8.2882
Clara is awakened and discovers Santa Claus on her rooftop. As she tries to deny his existence, the Doctor arrives and takes her away in the TARDIS. At the North Pole, a group of scientists work on trying to save their fellow base personnel who have been taken over by crab-like creatures. The Doctor and Clara arrive at the base and come under attack from the crabs, only to be rescued by Santa. The Doctor realizes the creatures are Dream Crabs, alien crabs that induce a dream state while devouring a person's brain. The Doctor realizes everyone is in a dream, with Santa being part of it. They escape when they dream that Santa is flying them home. One by one they wake up and their crabs die, until only Clara is left. The Doctor awakens and removes the crab from Clara, only to discover that it has been 62 years for her since they last met. Santa appears and the Doctor realises he is still dreaming. Back in reality, the Doctor finds Clara at her normal age. He asks Clara if she wants to rejoin him aboard the TARDIS; she accepts.
263"The Husbands of River Song"Douglas MackinnonSteven Moffat25 December 2015 (2015-12-25)7.6982
The Doctor is on the planet Mendorax Dellora in 5343, where due to a case of mistaken identity he is recruited by his former companion and wife River Song to assist her in removing a diamond from the head of King Hydroflax after his maligned attempt to steal 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. The Doctor and River bring the head of Hydroflax to the starship Harmony and Redemption to sell it, and a series of events cause River to discover the Doctor's identity. The starship is caught in a meteor strike and crashes into the planet Darillium, where the Doctor and River are fated to have their final date together before River dies meeting a younger Doctor. Having deliberately held it off for as long as possible, the Doctor finally decides to give in and arranges for a restaurant to be constructed on the planet. The Doctor and River then have their final date together, which lasts for 24 years – the span of a night on Darillium.
264"The Return of Doctor Mysterio"Ed BazalgetteSteven Moffat25 December 2016 (2016-12-25)7.8382
The Doctor, with Nardole, investigates the New York branch of "Harmony Shoal", a multinational research company. Also investigating is journalist Lucy Fletcher, and they discover that Harmony Shoal is transplanting alien brains into humans. One of the alien workers finds the three, but they are rescued by the superhero called the Ghost, an alter ego for Grant Gordon, whom the Doctor met several years beforehand when Grant was a child and accidentally turned him into a superhero. Grant is also a nanny working for Lucy. However Lucy is unaware of Grant's true identity. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Nardole find the aliens' ship, but soon discover that the ship has been turned into a bomb that will crash into New York as part of a complex plan to implant the alien brains into world leaders, thereby giving them control of the Earth. However, the Doctor aims the ship towards New York earlier than planned and the collision is stopped by Grant, revealing his identity to Lucy. After he and Lucy announce their love for each other, Grant throws the ship into the sun. UNIT then shuts down Harmony Shoal, but an alien brain implants itself into a UNIT soldier.
276"Twice Upon a Time"Rachel TalalaySteven Moffat25 December 2017 (2017-12-25)7.9281
Wandering back to his TARDIS at the South Pole, the First Doctor refuses to regenerate. He encounters the Twelfth Doctor outside his own TARDIS in a similar state of mind. The pair are approached by a displaced, confused and injured First World War British captain. All three are abducted by a spaceship, where inside they meet Bill Potts. They are offered freedom by the ship's glass-like holographic pilot in exchange for allowing the return of the captain. They escape and take the First Doctor's TARDIS to Villengard. Alone, the Twelfth Doctor meets with the rogue Dalek Rusty. Given access to the Dalek Hivemind, the Doctor learns that the pilot and its ship, known as Testimony is designed to extract people when they died, and archive their memories; Bill is one such avatar. The Doctors agree to return the captain to his timeline. The First Doctor informs the Twelfth that he is prepared to regenerate, and returns to his TARDIS. After being alone with Bill's avatar, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS and regenerates after relaying advice to his next incarnation. After the Thirteenth Doctor examines her reflection, the TARDIS suffers "multiple operations failures". Tumbling out of the ship, the console room explodes and the TARDIS dematerialises, as the Doctor plummets towards the Earth.
Thirteenth Doctor
287"Resolution"Wayne YipChris Chibnall1 January 2019 (2019-01-01)7.1380
On New Year's Day 2019 in Sheffield, archaeologists Lin and Mitch unintentionally revive a deadly intelligence that has been separated and dormant on Earth since the 9th century. The Doctor, Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair, and Yasmin Khan are alerted to its presence, and the Doctor lands the TARDIS at Lin and Mitch's dig. The Doctor takes a sample of the creature's slime, while the squid-like creature attaches itself to Lin's back. At Graham and Ryan's home, the latter's father Aaron returns. Ryan agrees to talk to him, while the Doctor discovers that the creature she faces is a Dalek. Controlling Lin, the Dalek steals a ray gun belonging to its race from an archive base and constructs a makeshift Dalek casing out of scrap metal. The Doctor and her friends find Lin, freed from the Dalek's control, and the Doctor confronts the rebuilt creature. The Dalek flies off and attempts to summon a battle fleet, but the Doctor follows and defeats it with the help of Aaron's microwave oven. The exposed mutant creature possesses Aaron in an attempt to force the Doctor to take it to Skaro, but she releases it into a supernova instead.
288a"Spyfall, Part 1"Jamie Magnus StoneChris Chibnall1 January 2020 (2020-01-01)6.8982

The Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan are called into MI6 by C to investigate mysterious deaths. Their only lead is Daniel Barton, the CEO of a media company. The Doctor contacts Agent O, who was tasked with monitoring extra-terrestrial activities. C is killed by aliens, but the Doctor and her companions escape. Yaz and Ryan investigate Barton, who extends an invite to his birthday party. Graham and the Doctor find O in the Australian outback. Both groups encounter the same alien lifeforms, though the Doctor is able to capture one of them. While sneaking into Barton's headquarters with Ryan, Yaz is captured by an alien, and the Doctor's captured alien is able to free itself by replacing itself with Yaz. Joined by O, the four investigate Barton at his party. After the Doctor reveals him, Barton tries to escape, so the Doctor and her companions pursue on motorbikes to Barton's private jet. Leaping aboard the jet, O reveals he is actually The Master – having been in control of Barton and the aliens the whole time. A bomb detonates, and the Master escapes while the Doctor is captured by one of the aliens, leaving her companions in the falling plane.

This was the first episode of the twelfth series.[3]
296"Revolution of the Daleks"Lee Haven JonesChris Chibnall1 January 2021 (2021-01-01)6.3579
The reconnaissance Dalek from "Resolution" is intercepted by Jack Robertson, who has funded a defense drone. Graham and Ryan meet at a disguised TARDIS, where Yaz is trying to find the Doctor. Graham shows her a video of the defense drone and they confront Robertson. Jo Patterson, projected to be elected the Prime Minister, requests Robertson to increase the drone production. Scientist Leo discovers organic cells in the Dalek remnants and clones the cells into a creature, that escapes and takes control of Leo. Leo travels to Osaka, Japan, where Dalek clones are being grown. The Doctor has been imprisoned, comes across Jack Harkness who breaks her free, and they rejoin with her companions. Jack and Yaz investigate the facility while the Doctor, Graham, and Ryan confront Robertson. The Dalek reveals its plan to take over Earth. Using ultraviolet light, the Dalek clones transport themselves into the defense drones. The Doctor sends out a signal to a death squad of Daleks, who eliminate the reconnaissance Daleks. Roberston makes an alliance with the Daleks. Jack, Graham, and Ryan rig the Dalek ship with explosives. The Doctor tricks the Daleks into the other TARDIS where it is set to be transported to the Void to be destroyed. Ryan and Graham decide to stay on Earth.
298"Eve of the Daleks"Annetta LauferChris Chibnall1 January 2022 (2022-01-01)4.3077
On New Year's Eve, Nick arrives at ELF storage to drop off a Monopoly board to the irritation of Sarah, the owner. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Yaz and Dan attempt to reset the TARDIS to remove damage and anomalies caused by the Flux, intending to spend time at a beach on another planet in the meantime. Instead, it lands in ELF storage and causes a time loop. Nick finishes in his storage unit, but as he exits he gets exterminated by a Dalek which then proceeds to kill Sarah and the TARDIS crew. The loop then resets as the crew start to suspect something strange. Together, they have to figure out how to escape the complex before the time loop closes as the Daleks hunt the Doctor. They encounter many of the strange things that Jeff, Sarah's employee, keeps in the complex, including multiple boxes of fireworks and high explosives. As the loop closes, the group move unpredictably to outsmart the Daleks until they trick them into shooting the boxes of fireworks, destroying the ELF facility and the Daleks whilst facilitating the Doctor's escape. They watch the ensuing firework display having survived the time loop.

Home media release[]

DVD cover art
The DVD cover art for Doctor Who – The 10 Christmas Specials.

The Christmas specials between "The Christmas Invasion" and "Last Christmas", inclusive, were released as a DVD and Blu-ray boxset titled Doctor Who – The 10 Christmas Specials on 19 October 2015.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; Topping, Keith; Howe, David J.; Walker, Stephen James. "Doctor Who: The Classic Series — The Daleks' Master Plan". BBC Doctor Who website. BBC. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News.
  3. ^ Dee, Christel (14 November 2018). "Doctor Who festive special to air on New Year's Day". Doctor Who TV. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Doctor Who News: Doctor Who - The Ten Christmas Specials". Doctor Who News. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
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