Doctor Who: Every Festive Special Ranked From Worst To Best
2. The Time Of The Doctor
Doctors really like dying at Christmas don't they?
Matt Smith is the one waving bye-bye in this 2013 episode, which sees the Time Lords grant him a new regeneration cycle in his moment of need.
This is necessitated by the Eleventh Doctor defending his own grave on Trenzalore. He protects it for so long that he dies of old age, until Clara steps in to win him that assist from the Time Lords.
Tennant's farewell was arguably better than Smith's, but this episode as a whole is far better than The End of Time. It's an epic tragedy, full of all your favourite enemies, and the Doctor's impending demise hangs over it like a thick cloud. Handles' demise, Amy Pond's cameo, the Battle of Trenzalore. It's all so powerful.
And while we all knew that Eleven would find a way around his lack of regenerations, the episode was still tense from start to end.