3:29PM, Dec 24, 2008
Along with the Queen’s Speech, The Snowman and Mary Poppins, the Doctor Who Christmas special has become a festive TV institution.
Speculation over 2008's show has been rife for months; how will it compare to Christmases past?
2008: The Next Doctor
This year, David Tennant will be joined by David Morrissey, Dervla Kirwan and Velile Tshabalala for an adventure in Victorian London. On Christmas Eve in 1851 the Doctor arrives to investigate a spate of mysterious deaths, he's surprised to meet another Doctor, and soon the two must combine forces to defeat the ruthless Miss Hartigan and her army of Cyber-monsters.
But are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the Cyber King? Read our spoilers for more.
2007: The Voyage of the Damned
Antipodean pop princess Kylie Minogue filled the requisite celebrity guest spot last year, for an adventure which took more than a little inspiration from classic disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure. The episode saw the Tardis ironically crash into the interstellar cruiser, R.M.S Titanic, and the Doctor race against time to prevent the ship crash landing on top of Buckingham Palace.
Unfortunately The Voyage Of The Damned never managed to reach it's full potential. The murderous Hosts weren't scary enough; the Doctor's last minute kiss with Kylie seemed perfunctory; and the ending in which a dead Astrid was sent off into space in the form of atoms was pure gorgonzola.
That said, a nod to London's previous Christmas disasters was a nice touch, and Russell Tovey's guest performance as Midshipman Frame put the actor right at the top of our 'ones to watch' list.
2006: The Runaway Bride
When Catherine Tate guest starred as the brash and bolshy Donna Noble in The Runaway Bride, who knew the character would go on to become one of the Doctor's best-loved companions?
This episode saw the Doctor, having just bid farewell to soul mate Rose Tyler, fight to defeate the spidery alien Empress of the Racnoss whilst trying to protect an unwilling and bad-tempered Donna on her wedding day.
Despite a decent story, well-balanced performances and decent special effects, the special received mixed reviews. The main bone of contention being the addition of Catherine Tate to the Who family, the injection of humour the actress brought which some felt was inappropriate, and the inevitable backlash after the departure of the much-loved Billie Piper. This first incarnation of Donna was also over-the-top, in keeping with the spirit of a one-off performance. Thankfully, the character was toned down when Donna was re-introduced for series four.
2005: The Christmas Invasion
The 10th Doctor's first screen outing was also the show's first Christmas episode and saw Rose Tyler struggle to bond with and nurse a newly-regenerated Doctor back to health in time to save London from scary masked Santas and an invasion by alien race, the Sycorax.
More to the point, The Christmas Invasion was a chance for us to bond with David Tennant as he took over the role from the great Christopher Eccleston. Naysayers (and there were many) were proved categorically wrong as David turned out to be nothing short of magnificent in the role, almost over shadowing all those who had come before him.
The Christmas invasion also included a reference to Torchwood, the secret organisation we would later discover was founded by Queen Victoria to research and combat alien threats to the British Empire, and would eventually provide the basis for Doctor Who's first spin-off show.
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