Doctor Who: Every Christmas Special Ranked From Worst To Best
2. A Christmas Carol
Tinsel Factor: 9
Star Quality: 9
Laughter Lines: 5
Thrill Meter: 4
Christmas Spirit: 11
Soapy Spoilers: 8
Total Score: 46
Steven Moffat wanted to make his first special the most Christmassy episode yet, after the dark and unfestive The End of Time Part One, and loosely basing the story on A Christmas Carol, while writing it with a Christmas soundtrack on in the background, helped him to achieve exactly that.
What starts out as an urgent quest to save Amy and Rory and the other passengers on board a space-liner, trapped in the middle of an electrical storm, becomes a rather long-winded mission to redeem the only man with the power to save the ship. The Doctor travels back into Kazran Sardick's past to change the present.
This is no simple retelling of A Christmas Carol, but the basic message remains, even if complicated by the tragic story of the cryogenically frozen Abigail, the flying sharks and the endangered ship. In the end the Doctor has saved Christmas itself, as a people who had never even heard of Father Christmas, end up with a real world equivalent, symbolised by the final scene of Sardick and Abigail flying away in his 'sleigh'.
The casting of the Dumbledore actor, Michael Gambon as Kazran was an inspired choice, with his voice instantly recognisable to younger viewers. We would expect nothing short of a star turn by such an accomplished actor, but Welsh opera singer and celebrity, Katherine Jenkins is an absolute revelation as Abigail, in this her first major acting job.