Paul Evans It's Christmas Eve 1851, and the Doctor lands, with no companion, he encounters Rosita, searching for her Doctor, who turns out to be David Morrissey. The Doctor thinks he's his future self, but certain things don't quite make sense, a pocket watch may hold the key. New Doctor explains the Cybermen are at work in the area, aided by local Miss Hartigan. At the funeral of the local Reverend Miss Hartigan turns up wearing a bold red dress, and a Cyber attack takes place on the gathered guests, killing some and rounding up select members. They then round the children into the workhouse, with one aim, re birth of the Cyber king.There are quite a few surprises in store, the Cybermen pop up in some unexpected ways.I think the scene when Miss Hartigan attends the funeral in that red dress is one of the most visual I can think of in the show's history, it looks so good. The episode rather a fun romp. Dervla Kirwan is rather brilliant as Miss Hartigan. I must applaud David Morrisey, no wonder he was touted to play the Doctor, he was so brilliant, I loved his performance. A slight tease as Morrisey was tipped to take over the reigns of the TARDIS at the time. A Christmasy Oliver feel, the Children, the Workhouse etc. Not so sure about the Cyber King, it's a little bit over the top. Overall it's fun and quite heart warming. 7/10

gpeevers The "Next Doctor" while perhaps an adequate episode, is for me the least effective and the least memorable of the "Doctor Who" Christmas specials.The story has a familiar Christmas setting with shades of Dickens, from the Victorian setting to the orphans and the work houses, but it doesn't really seem to have the essence of the Christmas Spirit.The performances overall are OK, David Morrisey is good as the next doctor but David Tennant is a little too subdued in my opinion.The baddies for this episode just aren't inspired, we have seen plenty of Cyberrmen by now and the new Cyber creatures really do look just like guys in suits (harkening back to the classic series). Perhaps the biggest flaw lies in the lead antagonist Miss Hartigan. Her motivations while possibly working well to define the character do very little for the story.As with most of the specials that would make up the following season I really felt the lack of a companion affected the formula and chemistry of the show, there were some strong guest stars who sometimes filled the companion role to a lesser or greater degree but it wasn't enough.The "Next Doctor" seems to have all of the necessary ingredients to create a compelling episode but they just don't add up to what they could have.

Theo Robertson ... And that is the DOCTOR WHO specials are festive frivolity lacking in hard drama and substance .I'm sure everyone was looking forward to this Christmas special especially when it was announced beforehand that David Tennant would be leaving the show . Somewhat intriguingly the underrated David Morrisey was one of the bookies favourite to succeed Tennant in the title role and with a title of The Next Doctor this special must be a type of turning point for the series right ? . Add to this the return of the legendary Cybermen and what could go wrong ? Quite a few things actually First of all was RTD's script which is just basically a runaround with several aspects involving an ice maiden villainess , modified Cybermen , a Cyber-king and children from the work house . But none of this really jells . In many ways the plotting resembles that of a Hollywood blockbuster with spectacle overkill replacing everything else . A giant Cyberman stomping across Victorian London might be a good concept on paper but on screen it can be surprisingly dull There's also an aspect of cheating too when it's revealed that Morrisey's " Doctor " isn't in fact a future incarnation of the timelord but is something entirely different . It's interesting to note how perceived fan wisdom preferred the " doctor " performance of Morrisey but I disagree since he just comes across as an equally irritating version of Tennant's mockney geezer which I dislike . Morrisey performance improves when his character realises he's a mere mortal human DOCTOR WHO Christmas specials have quickly become national institutions since December 2005 but while they are welcome , and not to mention are massive rating success , they lack substance and I hope the next special the intriguingly named Planet Of The Dead will live up to the title of special

ShadeGrenade The Tardis lands in Victorian London at Christmas. Hearing someone calling his name, the Doctor rushes off, to find a young woman cowering in terror from something behind a locked door. A young man ( David Morrissey ) in Dickensian clothes appears, proudly announces himself as the Doctor, and takes charge of the situation...Another Christmas, another 'Dr.Who' Christmas Special. I enjoyed this one, but for a change I'll start this review by stating what I did not like about it. Firstly, the Cybershades were awful, reminiscent of the sticky tape and cardboard box monsters of the classic series. It was impossible to be unnerved by creatures that looked exactly like what they were - blokes in gorilla suits wearing coal scuttles. Worse, there was no need for them to be there. Cybermats could have been used instead. Secondly, the mystery of the 'next Doctor' was unnecessarily protracted. All the Doctor had to do was to whip out a stethoscope and listen to Lake's heart ( apparently such a scene was filmed but deleted from the finished broadcast ) to see if he was a Time Lord. Lake believed himself to be the Doctor after being exposed to a backfiring info stamp. Now we know Morrissey will not be the eleventh Doctor - thank heavens for that. Colin Baker was wrong when he said the role of the Doctor was 'actor proof'. The wrong person in the role would kill the show forever. Morrissey was hammy as 'the Doctor' yet first-rate as 'Lake'. Loved his 'sonic screwdriver'! His 'companion' was called 'Rosita' in a nice homage to Billie Piper's 'Rose'. The Cybermen seemed a bit wasted, getting to do little more than march about and look menacing. The scene in which they attacked funeral mourners was brilliant though, emerging through a snowstorm just as they did back in 1966's 'The Tenth Planet'. The real villainy came from sexy Dervla Kirwan as 'Miss Hartigan', easily the best female villain in the show for some time. She had joined forces with the Cybermen to help them construct a 'Cyber King', a giant Cyberman who proceeded to stamp Godzilla-like on poor old London Town.Why did the Cybermen need children to work in their factory? Surely adults could have done the job more efficiently.Tennant as ever performed wonders with what was basically an average script. The appearance of the earlier Doctors was nice, and there were some good jokes. As I said earlier, I liked this very much, and, following its repeat at Christmas 2010 ( presumably to take away the bad taste left by the appalling 'A Christmas Carol' ) enjoyed it even more. The Russell T.Davies era of 'Dr.Who' looks more and more impressive with each passing year.