Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is the epitome of Christmas (well, at least the more commercial side of it, anyway!) so it was no surprise that his iconic personna was one of the first things Doctor Who decided to put its unique stamp on during its first seasonal escapade, The Christmas Invasion, back in 2005. Proving that late night shopping on Christmas Eve really is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable pastimes one can participate in during the festive period, a quick trip to town soon transpired into a fight for survival for companion Rose Tyler and her ever faithful tin dog Mickey Smith. When they found themselves being ambushed by a seemingly harmless brass band, all of whom were fittingly disguised as Santa Claus (at least they made the effort), it was a race against time for our time travelling heroes as it was revealed that the roboforms were working on behalf of the Sycorax to scavenge the Doctor's post-regenerative energy and use it as fuel. Why can't everyone just get along!? Fans digged their flame throwing trombones, though - that would certainly add a new dimension to your local carol service! Not content with imprinting the image of evil Santa's on just one Christmas, Russell T Davies brought them back the following year, in The Runaway Bride, in which they were working under the allegiance of the Empress of the Racnoss to keep track of Donna Noble, an unbeknownst pawn in a plot to take over the world. One even managed to kidnap Donna whilst posing as a taxi driver, resulting in one of Doctor Who's most breathtaking action sequences of all time. "Santa's a robot," Donna announced as the TARDIS pulled up alongside the cab in the middle the motorway. Yes, Donna. Everyone had already figured that.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
