List of Doctor Who Christmas and New Year's specials facts for kids
Doctor Who is a super popular British science fiction TV show made by the BBC. It's been a huge part of TV history since it started way back in 1963! Besides the regular episodes, Doctor Who also has special episodes for the holidays.
For many years, there was a special Christmas episode every year. This tradition started with "The Christmas Invasion" in 2005 and continued until "Twice Upon a Time" in 2017.
Later, when the Thirteenth Doctor took over, the holiday special moved to New Year's Day. These New Year's specials started with "Resolution" in 2019 and ended with "Eve of the Daleks" in 2022. But guess what? The Christmas specials came back with "The Church on Ruby Road" in 2023!
Holiday Adventures in Doctor Who
Early Holiday Fun
In the very first run of Doctor Who (from 1963 to 1989), holiday specials weren't common. However, during the third season, there was a long story called The Daleks' Master Plan. It had twelve parts and was shown weekly over Christmas and New Year's in 1965-1966.
One of these episodes, "The Feast of Steven," was a funny, pantomime-style break in the middle of a big adventure. At the end, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) even turned to the camera and wished everyone at home a "happy Christmas"! The next episode, "Volcano," went back to the main story, but it briefly showed New Year's Eve. After this, there weren't any more holiday episodes in the classic series.
Modern Day Specials
When Doctor Who came back in 2005, the Christmas specials became a big tradition! Here's a list of the special holiday episodes from the modern era:
| No. story |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
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| Tenth Doctor | ||||||||||||
| 167 | "The Christmas Invasion" | James Hawes | Russell T Davies | 25 December 2005 | 9.84 | 84 | ||||||
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| 178 | "The Runaway Bride" | Euros Lyn | Russell T Davies | 25 December 2006 | 9.35 | 84 | ||||||
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| 188 | "Voyage of the Damned" | James Strong | Russell T Davies | 25 December 2007 | 13.31 | 86 | ||||||
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| 199 | "The Next Doctor" | Andy Goddard | Russell T Davies | 25 December 2008 | 13.10 | 86 | ||||||
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| 202a | "The End of Time – Part One" | Euros Lyn | Russell T Davies | 25 December 2009 | 12.04 | 87 | ||||||
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| 202b | "The End of Time – Part Two" | Euros Lyn | Russell T Davies | 1 January 2010 | 12.27 | 89 | ||||||
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| Eleventh Doctor | ||||||||||||
| 213 | "A Christmas Carol" | Toby Haynes | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2010 | 12.11 | 83 | ||||||
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| 225 | "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" | Farren Blackburn | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2011 | 10.77 | 84 | ||||||
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| 231 | "The Snowmen" | Saul Metzstein | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2012 | 9.87 | 87 | ||||||
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| 241 | "The Time of the Doctor" | Jamie Payne | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2013 | 11.14 | 83 | ||||||
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| Twelfth Doctor | ||||||||||||
| 253 | "Last Christmas" | Paul Wilmshurst | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2014 | 8.28 | 82 | ||||||
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| 263 | "The Husbands of River Song" | Douglas Mackinnon | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2015 | 7.69 | 82 | ||||||
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| 264 | "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" | Ed Bazalgette | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2016 | 7.83 | 82 | ||||||
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| 276 | "Twice Upon a Time" | Rachel Talalay | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2017 | 7.92 | 81 | ||||||
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| Thirteenth Doctor | ||||||||||||
| 287 | "Resolution" | Wayne Yip | Chris Chibnall | 1 January 2019 | 7.13 | 80 | ||||||
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| 288a | "Spyfall, Part 1" | Jamie Magnus Stone | Chris Chibnall | 1 January 2020 | 6.89 | 82 | ||||||
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| 296 | "Revolution of the Daleks" | Lee Haven Jones | Chris Chibnall | 1 January 2021 | 6.36 | 79 | ||||||
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| 298 | "Eve of the Daleks" | Annetta Laufer | Chris Chibnall | 1 January 2022 | 4.40 | 77 | ||||||
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| Fifteenth Doctor | ||||||||||||
| 304 | "The Church on Ruby Road" | Mark Tonderai | Russell T Davies | 25 December 2023 | 7.49 | 82 | ||||||
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| 312 | TBA | Alex Pillai | Russell T Davies | Christmas 2024 | TBD | TBA | ||||||
Home Media Releases
You can find many of these special episodes on DVD and Blu-ray! The Christmas specials from "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) up to "Last Christmas" (2014) were all put together in a boxset. It's called Doctor Who – The 10 Christmas Specials and was released on October 19, 2015.
