I can see why this one often gets dubbed “the best”. Out of the first 50 freely available stories that a large number of people will have been exposed to, it is the most well paced, intriguing and scary story they did.

You can truly relate to Edith as they flesh out her character and you slowly begin to understand how this twisted story revolves around her. There are enough detailed and fascinating surprises that you could re-listen to this many times and it would still retain its punch.

Oh this story is a perfect story so see Christmas into just fully wow everytime

OK. This is the second time I have heard this. The first was all those years ago when it first came out. I liked it back then. And now…

It’s very good, but far from being a favourite.

The mystery is intriguing, with the setup and ‘goings-on’ being interesting and well done. But it goes on for far too long. I think cutting out half-an-hour would serve it some good.

For the last half-hour the story picks up pace, with a lot of interesting scenes and developments. Sadly, it doesn’t relieve the slight boredom I feel from the first three-quarters.

The performances are excellent, with special note to Lennox Greaves as Shaughnessy/Edward Grove.

Overall it’s a solid story, with a great ending, but sadly it gets a bit repetitive in the middle.

Doctor Who’s very best Christmas Special.
Probably the highlight of the first run of Charley/8 Stories, and well what can I say what hasn’t been said? It’s as amazing as everybody makes it out to be.
Easily one of the definitive Doctor Who Stories for me!

Chimes of Midnight may very well be the most impressive and well-written Christmas-themed story of the entire franchise. Note that it is recommended you listen to at least Storm Warning before this one.

This is an extremely strong audio featuring the Eighth Doctor and Charley. It really deserves the near-universal praise it has received, though I am not going to pretend this audio is perfect, either. The weakness only shows up in the final act. Up until that point, Chimes of Midnight is perfect. It is a masterclass in writing but also in building up this feeling of tension, mystery, and suspense. You will get random dialogue that feels useless all about plum pudding, only for it to become incredibly relevant to the building sense of mystery. The set-up and pay-off in this story is remarkable. By the time we are counting down to midnight at the end of the second part, I was on the edge of my seat.

It helps that the entire cast is so good. This isn't one of those stories where the Doctor or his companions are carrying it (although both Eight and Charley are great here), every character and every actor does an amazing job, do excellent acting, and each give a hell of a weighty performance. Every character stands out and has a relevant role to play in the story, and they are all fantastic at bringing this haunted house story to life.

My only issue is that, yeah, things kind of fall apart near the end. It's not bad, not exactly, but once our villain is revealed and we get a sense of what this story is about, I found myself losing steam and excitement over Chimes of Midnight. It feels like all that carefully built up tension and suspense dissipates really quickly once our haunted house starts chatting with the Doctor.

Still, it is very impressive, and absolutely should be appreciated as one of the better, if not absolute best, Christmas Doctor Who story.