Doctor Who: Ranking The Christmas Specials

Next, the weakest of Tennant's specials. Whilst The Runaway Bridge did introduce us to the bloody brilliant Donna Noble (who is easily the best companion of the RTD era), it falters in just about every other area.

This was the start of the Doctor's rather frustrating 'moping over Rose' arc, which, had it lasted for just this episode, might have been bearable.

Unfortunately, with the benefit of hindsight, we now know there was still a whole series of it to come and that his adventure with Donna seemed to have very little lasting impact - a shame. The entire thing makes Ten difficult to watch in this episode, and somewhat robs Catherine Tate of the spotlight she would later prove very worthy of.

There's also the matter of the Racnoss, which ranks amongst the very worst villains of NuWho, or Classic Who for that matter. I'm not sure if it's the directing, the actress, or the fact that she had to perform in some pretty intense prosthetics, even by the show's standards, but it's hammy bordering on Razzie worthy.

The finale, in which the Racnoss and her babies are drowned mercilessly by the Doctor, should have been a dark turn akin to The Waters of Mars. What we got instead was two minutes the Empress of the Racnoss screaming 'MYYYY CHILDREEEEEEEN' so many times that it verges into comedy territory, massively undercutting the serious moment. A wasted opportunity...