Paul Evans This instantly picks up where The Parting of the ways left us, Tennant is now the Doctor and suffering trauma from his regeneration. Rose heads for her mum's place to spend Christmas but is soon being chased by Robotic killer Santas and lethal Christmas trees. The Sycorax make their first and only appearance, positioning their ship above London and controlling people with A+ blood. PM Harriet Jones pleas for the Doctor's help, who is bed ridden. The Doctor recovers in the nick of time to save the day.The humour once again belongs to Jackie and Mickey, there are some great lines throughout, my favourites being Jackie's 'I'm gona get killed by a Christmas tree,' and Harriet's 'did we ask about the Royal family, oh they're on the roof,' love it!! The concept of the killer Santas acting as pilot fish for something bigger is a clever one. Harriet Jones (love or hate I know) shines once again, she goes from scatty and lovable to cool, controlled and scared at the end where she destroys the Sycorax. The Sycorax themselves are extremely well designed. We only get about 16 true minutes of David Tennant, but what we get is brilliant. Moment of the episode must be the destruction of the Sycorax ship, and the Doctor's reaction to Harriet.The imagery again is superb, it looks so good, its production values are extremely high, the scene of the mass of people walking onto the rooftops is a very powerful one. I applaud the Christmas Invasion for its originality, it would become the format for the annual seasonal adventure. Had this one not worked it would never have recurred. The Christmas link is well devised, it doesn't feel forced. It's a great episode, with some real high points, it's hard really to pick fault with it.What is the significance of the 6 words? was it paranoia that caused Harriet's demise?I was a huge Eccleston fan, but it wasn't long before Tennant surpassed Eccleston in the role to become arguably the best Doctor to date. I can remember watching the Coming Soon trailer, and being utterly blown away by it.9/10

Theo Robertson I know many , many people were looking forward to seeing this . The British TV audience had just been treated to a story featuring Christopher Eccleston regenerating into David Tennant at the end of Parting Of The Ways , one of the most beautiful , heart touching scenes the programme has ever or will ever succeeded in doing . Would Russell T Davies be able to keep up the momentum ? Yes is the answer but I shouldqualify this by saying The Christmas Invasion is wonderful in someplaces and rather mediocre in other places Without doubt RTD knows what makes the show work - imagery . If you're my age you'll remember peers discussing the show with phrases like " I remember the one with the giant maggots ...the giant spiders ...the monsters that came out of the sea " In years to come this story will be remembered as " The one where the Christmas tree comes to life and tries to kill Rose , Jackie and Mickey " . This is a great and amusing scene and as Jackie screams " I'm gonna be killed by a Christmas tree " you'll be totally amused . Almost as good is the scene where Rose and Mickey dodge the killer Santas with their ray guns . If you find all this bizarre and far fetched then I'm afraid you just don't understand the spell DOCTOR WHO has cast over generations of audiences for decades and I pity you There are problems and like the successes they're down to RTD . Why is it he has to give a ridiculous name for an alien race ? In this case it's the Sycorax who come across as bad pantomime pirates . Another point is the continuity where the Doctor gets his hand sliced off but is able to grow a new one because several hours after a regeneration a time lord can do this which sounds like cheating and I don't believe for a moment RTD envisaged the severed hand as a plot point for season three of the show . Tennant spends most of his debut in bed which in hind sight is something I'd wished he'd do in all of his stories . I certainly didn't take to him as he falls out of the TARDIS bellowing " I dunnit " in his irritating mockney geezer accent but while being better in latter stories he is often quite worse so The Christmas Invasion deserves at least seven out of ten

dragondeathlord One of the best Shows on television and One of the best episodes EVER! The new doctor is Witty as he is Hyper active! The Doctor fresh from regeneration is helpless as earth is invaded! But Rose is in the center stage as the aliens invade! She finds her self facing down the alien leader. And has to over come her fears and doubts as the man she come to love has been reborn as a total stranger! This episode more than any other establishes the future of the show!Lots of references in future episodes will come back to this show even up to current 3/13! So do not miss it! Or you will be wondering about the hand! Not to mention how vengeful a Time Lord can be with 7 WORDS!

bob the moo Fresh from a transformation, the Doctor and Rose return to Earth to spend Christmas with her family. However when trees and Santa's start playing up it is apparent that this is no ordinary Christmas and some sinister force is at work. Still in a weakened state, the Doctor loses consciousness and cannot be revived by Rose. Meanwhile a spaceship positions itself above London and uses some power to control a large section of the population and make them stand on high buildings, ready to jump. The Prime Minister is desperate but seems left with no option but to make a deal with the powerful Sycorax.I watched this special again last week on UK Gold, away from the hype and worry that came with it the first time round. This was the bridge between the "first" "new" series and the second or, more importantly, the bridge between Eccleston being the Doctor and David Tennant taking over the reins. As such there was always going to be an element of making that leap and then also the emphasis on Tennant making the role his own so that the new series could just start with the majority of the fuss over and done with. The first half of the special keeps the Doctor tucked away and builds the plot while also using this as a way of emphasising his entrance when it comes. The story is a good one which does more or less manage to bring in all the elements that the family audience (and big audience at that time of the year) requires. Although it is obviously restricted by the child element of the audience, the tension is built well and the aliens have a genuine threat. The spinning trees etc were all a bit silly but I suppose that does seem to come with the territory now.Of course the big thing in the special was Tennant and I have to say that this didn't win me over to him. As his seasons at the helm continue I have come to like him more but I suspect that has an element of me accepting him rather than him being brilliant. Here I felt he was too over-the-top and I wanted someone to tell him that just because it was Christmas it didn't mean he had to go over the top as if he was in panto at Blackpool. This is maybe a bit harsh but in the series he tends to get a mix of this and quieter stuff to work with to act as balance – for most of his short time here he does rather overplay it somewhat. Of course it works for the type of thing this special is aiming for but viewers who like their sci-fi to be a little darker will have been worried by his appearance in this manner – particularly coming after the slightly grittier turn from Eccleston. Piper continues to be as good as she was in her first season and it is to her credit that she does pick up well with her new co-star. Wilton Jones was good as the PM but Clarke's Mickey continues to grate somewhat.Overall then an good special that does the two things it sets out to do (entertain the family and get the new Doctor in the door and settled before the new season starts) and does it in a reasonable good way even if no one part of it is done really well. Fits well with the tone of the season that followed it though.