The Doctor Who Christmas special is one of the hallmarks of the revived 21st century version of the series. The first was in 2005, the same year the programme came back, and it has been a fixture of the BBC One Christmas Day line up ever since. This year’s will be the 13th consecutive Christmas Day episode. That’s not a record but it seems that – excluding things like Christmas Night with the Stars – only EastEnders and The Queen’s Christmas Message can boast longer uninterrupted runs of new episodes shown on BBC One on Christmas Day itself.
As an annual event the special has been significant for both the programme and its parent channel. From 2007 to 2010 it was the most watched television drama not merely of the day, but of the entire year: the sort of banner success any producer or channel controller earnestly craves. The special’s position at the turn of the year, and coincidentally at the end of actor and producer contracts, means they have often had to be key episodes in the series. Both Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat’s final episodes as “showrunner” are Christmas specials. David Tennant’s first proper story as the Doctor was a Christmas special and so was his last (although that was a two parter which concluded on New Year’s Day). Matt Smith too, bowed out in a Christmas Day episode, just as Peter Capaldi will this year, having also come in in one. The number of times going somewhere at Christmas has led to Doctor Who being killed, it’s surprising he ever deigns to visit it. He does have a time machine after all.
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