Easily the best Tennant Christmas Special. It's for sure one of those episodes which won't be for everyone and Donna and/or the Racnoss are definitely going to get on your nerves at least once here, but I think it's just nice? And cosy?

It just doesn't really take itself too seriously, which I think is a tone that just fits Christmas really well, but also has an underlining level of darkness to it, just to give it that lil extra bite. The Racnoss is also superbly realised and they're given good amounts of backstory to get you quickly invested.

It's a... thing I guess? It's very good at its set pieces, but it just can't help being total cringe when it's not showing off (and often times, when it is showing off)

The Doctor and Astrid's relationship is cutesy, but her death is very silly. Max had no business being on the Titanic and I'm not sure why he needed to orchestrate the meteor crash when he was completely capable of just turning the engines off himself. It's not like anyone would have noticed and it probably would've achieved his plan a lot quicker. Weird.

One of the biggest missed opportunities in Doctor Who. Jackson Lake just being a regular guy is the blandest and most predictable answer to the mystery as to who this Doctor is - and the truth gets revealed far far too quickly to have any real sense of payoff and tension. You literally just had a fake out regeneration in the last story, how cool would it have been for David Morrissey to have been the actual Eleventh Doctor, but echoing from a timeline where the Stolen Earth regeneration completed?

Man, Morrissey just deserved to be an actual Doctor. When the message is "anyone can be brave enough to be the Doctor", which is commendable enough, it doesn't quite work when the real Doctor gets all the cool heroic moments later on - saving the boy, confronting the Cyber-King - whilst Jackson only just watches on. A pity.

Modern Who's magnum opus. I don't think it ever got any better than this; a beautiful adaptation of the classic Dickens tale, but done in a way that feels fresh and fully involves the time travel aspect of the story much more than the original could.

The music is fantastic, the world building is amazing. Ember and Sardicktown are, perhaps, the greatest realised alien planet of all of Doctor Who; it feels so lived in, unique, fun to explore if you ever visit. Its aesthetic is unmatched, its people have a consistent feel that isn't generic or typical. Such brilliant set and costume design.

The story is emotional and involving, you just get sucked into this world for the hour and it never lets you go. It's one of Matt Smith's greatest performance, and it helps that the Doctor is so perfectly characterised within this episode; he's given so many great lines and is fully engaging throughout.

You can't ignore how well the guest stars are doing to back all this up; Michael Gambon, Katherine Jenkins, Laurence Belcher and Danny Horn all deserve praise here.

It really is just the perfect coda to what I believe is the greatest Doctor Who series of them all - Series 5.

I think it's overhated. Cyril is definitely annoying, the Androzani miners are bizarre additions and the last 10 minutes are... yeah, they're that confusing, sexist mess. However, I think the stuff beforehand is actually quite lovely; with the Doctor being the caretaker, his initial meeting with Claire, the general wander through the woods - if the episode had been more like that and not had devolved into "haha men are weak, women strong but only if they're a mother" shit then this would be much more fondly remembered, because the tone at the beginning is really nice.

Great ending with Amy and Rory.

I think it's got a good strong core to it, the Snowmen and Ice Governess are quite fun villains; but I question the overall decision to have it be the Great Intelligence AND for the Doctor to have just forgotten all about it. I think that's a lil insulting to the original stories and something that it could've gone without.

Jenna Coleman has a great debut... debut? Yeah, let's call it a debut and she's more than a match against Matt Smith. I would preferred Victorian Clara over regular Clara to be the full time companion, but only for having a non modern day companion for once. Her introduction to the TARDIS is an amazing scene and hard to get enough of.

Unfortunately, the entire episode is quite heavily sexualised for no real reason and I think it weighs the episode down not insignificantly.

I wouldn't say that this arc needed to be a full series, but to have a second part? Yeah, I'd say that would've been a good idea. Structurally wise, I think the episode works, but each story beat gets brushed through quite quickly and it's a bit of a shame, because there's a lot of potential in this concept.

That being said, what we do get is lovely and works to wrap up Eleven's era well. Matt Smith is a great standout here with a more melancholic performance, as his Doctor reaches the end with a lovely farewell speech. The characterisation of Eleven here is really fantastic and the way he interacts with Clara, especially when he's old is some of the best Doctor Who.

Tasha Lem, HOWEVER, what a weird addition. I understand her on principle, but dear god, it's the same problem the Snowmen had, she is wayyy too sexualised and it ends up being uncomfortable. Moffat... just why?

I think, with any future rewatches, I will end up liking this episode more, but I will still always wish it had a bit more time put to it.

Yeah, it's fine? As will become tradition with Capaldi Christmas specials, it has a fantastic final few scenes - in this case, the sleigh ride and the Doctor talking with elderly Clara - but the episode beforehand takes a little too long to properly get going and then keeps repeating itself; and not really in a creative way. It's just replaying the same beats it had presented before.

Santa's there... just because? Ah well, it's only just a dream. OR IS IT? Also the inclusion of Danny Pink is a really nice coda for Clara's story in S8.

Pretty unnecessary and I find it really hard to get properly engaged in the main story, it's really slow and uninvolving. I also kinda disagree with the decision to return the Doctor's memories of Clara.

However, it might all be worth just for the Christmas Truce scenes, because they're genuinely beautiful and never fail to make you emotional. Maybe that should've just been the entire episode.

Alas! It's a good regeneration scene, give it that. Hello Jodie Whittaker!

Quietly an underrated masterpiece. Genuinely funny, with a fun and engaging story. Capaldi is having so much fun in this and his chemistry with Alex Kingston is probably the best Doctor/River relationship.

As was with Last Christmas and Danny, Husbands serves as a coda for River and it serves to conclude her story in a very bittersweet way, so much so in fact, I'd say it'd be slightly insulting if she ever returned after this - this is the best ending you could give her and I doubt there's anything you could do to justify any return.