studioAT I think it's a sign of the times that the BBC were just pleased that this episode got into the top 10 in terms of ratings over Christmas. Years ago it would have been the top rated programme.But times change, just ask the Doctor. Capaldi's Doctor has divided opinion more than any other Doctor, and he's not been helped by weak writing, or in this case, just a weak plot.There are moments of quality, that's actually the frustrating thing, but there's nothing in this episode to make me alter my opinion that Capaldi leaving with Moffatt is perhaps the best thing to try to revive a flagging show before the BBC wields the axe.Perhaps it's time anyway.

Tweekums This Christmas special opens in New York City with the Doctor hanging outside the window of young Grant Gordon; once inside he gives Grant a small crystal which he mistakes for medicine and swallows… it is no ordinary crystal; it has the power to make the users dreams come true and this young boy dreams of having similar powers to Superman! Twenty four years later the Doctor is back in New York investigating the sinister Harmony Shoals Corporation; also there is reporter Lucy Fletcher and Nardole, who has become The Doctor's latest companion. The find a room full of brains in jars; brains that want human hosts as part of an alien invasion plot! They are captured but then they are rescued by a flying superhero known as The Ghost. We soon learn that he is Grant Gordon and when he isn't The Ghost he is working as Lucy's nanny. It turns out he has known her since they were children but she has no idea that he has superpowers. Lucy is determined to find out more about The Ghost but he tries to keep his identity secret. While this is going on The Doctor tries to find the details of Harmony Shoals' plans and with the help of The Ghost thwart them.When I saw trailers for this special I wasn't too optimistic; it looked like an attempt to cash in on the popularity of superhero lately and the New York setting made me think the creators were just trying to attract more US viewers. It is possible that this was true but ultimately it didn't matter as the story was rather good. I liked the alien invaders; they were suitably unpleasant and were just about as scary as one could hope for in a show aimed at a family audience; the way their heads opened was delightfully disturbing. The story played with the conventions of the superhero genre in an enjoyable way; never taking itself too seriously but equally not being deliberately silly. The cast did a fine job; Peter Capaldi continues to impress as The Doctor and Matt Lucas made a surprisingly good companion in the role of Nardole… I know there will be a new female companion next year but he showed that a male companion can work. Justin Chatwin did a solid job as Grant/The Ghost and Charity Wakefield was pretty good as his love interest Lucy. Tomiwa Edun and Aleksandar Jovanovic also impress as the story's villains. Overall this was a really solid episode which thankfully didn't overdo the fact that it is a Christmas special.

Abe Dein So, it's been a year since The Husbands of River Song, with only the spin-off, Class, to enjoy in a year of mad politics and no Doctor Who. But this Christmas blockbuster felt fresh from the Christmas specials of the recent past where the characters were the sole focus rather than stories with Christmas as the backbone and the focal point. Here, Moffat created a story, ironically ripping-off a DC Superman movie and putting it in a Doctor Who episode. Hilarious comparisons include Lois Lane becoming Lucy nee Lombard Fletcher and that scene with the telephone conversation and the screen splits paralleling the comics.The prolonged pre-title sequence was very cute but worked tremendously. The pacing of the episode worked well with decent directing by Ed Bazalgette (The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived).Peter Capaldi, once again displayed his wonderful acting skills with his wit, his ignorance of popular culture and pure Doctor-ness. For me, Capaldi is becoming very close to knocking a certain David Tennant off the top of my favourite Doctor rank. Overall, this pretty 'un-christmassy' Christmas special proved how far Doctor Who can go in its wide range of styles and genres making this episode, in my opinion, Moffat's best ever Christmas Special after 2014's 'Last Christmas'

Samuel Its Christmas time again, thus we are treated to our first Doctor who episode in an entire year and... well... the word dull comes to mind. First things first this was supposed to be a Christmas story, think back to the 'Christmas invasion' where the Earth was saved by a satsuma and ended with a charming scene of the Doctor opening presents and pulling crackers or a Moffat era story like 'The snowmen' maybe not the most Christmassy episode ever but it was set at Christmas time with a Christmas themed villain, now look at this years special, which bar an opening scene had little to nothing to do with the actual holiday. The theme was "super heroes" the genre I'm sure we all associate with the winter season and not, you know, like the summer when all the major superhero movies come out. That's not exactly a bad thing and I wouldn't hold this against the show if the story was good but I'm a huge superhero fan and I've read, watched and played stories so much better than this. The show felt like a golden age comic come to life with all the nonsense plot points, technobabble and leaps in logic that were products of a shoe string budget and a system were the art was drawn before the story was written. Doctor who does not have these excuses yet still comes off like babies first Superman story. The Doctor takes a back seat in his own special only appearing to act like the whimsical madman with no room for character development, this is, I'm afraid the legacy the Moffat will leave for his era of Doctor who, the earl of Deus ex machina who only exists as a plot device to move the plot forward, never breaking for character development. This episode spends far too much time with characters who are really bland, the point of Clark Kent is that he's dull and mild mannered to contrast with the Superman persona yet so why does the show stick us with the Ghost, a character whose boring and underdeveloped with powers never defined so I never get the sense anyone is in danger because much like Sup's in the 90's Ghost could just pull out a new power from anywhere and snap his fingers till the bad guys poof away. The episode climaxes with the Ghost catching a falling space ship but we're never shown the limits of his strength so the character never seems like he's in any danger. Sadly the show takes one to many directions from the 90's when it comes to the art style, it loses the vibrant colours that were a staple of the type of stories the episode references and tries to emulate. The episode has a gray filter hanging over it and if it wasn't for the accents the show could have taken place on a mild June night in Manchester. The bad guys are all right one part face hugger, one part Krang from TMNT with the kind of plan you'd expect from a race that can build faster than light spaceships but not exist outside of jars without help. Nardol, the character that people expected to be the downfall of this episode added a sweet bit of comic relief and made the show that little bit more bearable with some genuinely funny lines and this episode gave us the first look at the new season so watch it if you've got the time but it might be worth downing an energy drink cause the dull tone and grey filter might just send you off to sleep.