Doctor Who: 10 Worst Twelfth Doctor Moments

The Return of Doctor Mysterio was the weakest Christmas special in recent history. It involved The Doctor helping the guy from Shameless (U.S.) save the world for some reason after inadvertently giving him superpowers in his youth. Nardole, who appeared in the previous year’s Christmas episode, acted as The Doctor’s pseudo-companion, and the episode as a whole didn’t quite come together.

The relationship between The Doctor and the episode’s protagonist, Grant, came across as completely phoned in. Unlike other times when The Doctor had been without a companion, the writers tried to force a backstory between them without doing the work of having their relationship grow throughout the episode. Also, the audience had no real connection to Grant - or his superhero alter ego The Ghost - so his struggles with unrequited love and the ability to “have it all” didn’t resonate.

The plot in general, involving brain-swapping aliens, was Whovian enough to be passable, but the addition of a superhero seemed a little too out of place. Superheroes are currently everywhere, and until December 2016 Doctor Who had been one of the few safe havens from the worldwide superhero takeover. Well, it was nice while it lasted.