Yet another Christmas special, inevitably, and one aimed more squarely at adults, despite the traditional appeal to kids of the Christmas Carol story (itself an odd cultural quirk considering how dark it is). The episode paid good homage to the sanctity of Dickens' source, though the original author could surely scarcely have envisaged his story to be portrayed with such frantic pace. This sci-fi remix of Dickens' classic tale remains easily one of the best episodes since the show was reborn, and was built on just the right blend of drama, horror, humour and sentiment; a magic formula that underpinned most of the better Who stories. This was also the first episode of Doctor Who that was broadcast the same day in the UK and in the US on BBC America.
