List of Doctor Who Christmas and New Year's specials facts for kids
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The show has been a large influence in the media since its inception in 1963. Along with the regular series, special Christmas episodes were initially broadcast every year, beginning with "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) and ending with "Twice Upon a Time" (2017). Beginning with the Thirteenth Doctor, the traditional Christmas special episode was moved to the following New Year's Day timeslot, with episodes being produced for the holiday, beginning with "Resolution" (2019) and ending with "Eve of the Daleks" (2022). The Christmas specials returned with "The Church on Ruby Road" (2023).
Contents
Episodes
Classic era
During the first run of the programme (1963–1989), special episodes were not a frequent occurrence. During the third season, the twelve-part serial The Daleks' Master Plan was broadcast weekly over the 1965–1966 Christmas period, with its seventh and eighth episodes scheduled for Christmas and New Year's Day respectively. The former, "The Feast of Steven", was scripted as a comic interlude in the style of a pantomime, in the middle of an otherwise epic adventure. In its final scene, as the Doctor and his companions celebrate Christmas with a toast, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) turns to the camera and breaks the fourth wall by saying "Incidentally, a happy Christmas to all of you at home." The following episode, "Volcano", returns to the main narrative of The Daleks' Master Plan, although its ending briefly features a contemporary New Year's Eve.
The classic run had no subsequent holiday episodes.
Revived era
| No. story |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
AI | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 release
The Christmas specials between "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) and "Last Christmas" (2014), inclusive, were released as a DVD and Blu-ray boxset titled Doctor Who – The 10 Christmas Specials on 19 October 2015.
