Doctor Who: Every 11th Doctor Episode Ranked Worse To Best

35. The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe

Doctor Who Matt Smith
BBC

While from season to season the quality of the writing may vary, one aspect of Nu-Who that is consistently good is the Christmas special. This may be because they are a relatively easy episode to write. You can go big with the 60-minute run time and extended budget, the plot is better kept simple so Gran can follow it on Christmas Day and you just need to remember to put a dash of snow in at some point.

Having said this, Moffat's second stab at a Christmas episode was a dull affair. After having heavily 'borrowed' elements from Dickens the previous year in the rather blatantly titled 'A Christmas Carol', he decided to retell The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 2011.

Aside from Moffat's tendency to steal from classic stories, the villains in the shape of wooden kings and queens are about as non-threatening as they sound. Considering it boasts amazing guest stars Claire Skinner and Alexander Armstrong, their talents feel completely wasted in this Christmas turkey of an episode.

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An avid cinephile, love Trainspotting (the film, not the hobby), like watching bad films ironically (The Room, Cats) and hate my over-reliance on brackets (they’re handy for a quick aside though).