hannah132016 If I was to summarise this episode in one word it would be crap. Didn't feel Christmassy in any way. Probably the worst episode of modern Who ever. After seeing the previous Christmas special "The Husbands of River Song" which was good, the 2016 Christmas special was a complete and utter piece of crap. Didn't make me feel in a Christmas mood at all, but instead made me as bored as hell. Why oh why did they have to put a flipping superhero into the mix. The worst episode ever! Do yourselves a favor and watch, the Time of Doctor or The End of Time for God sake two of the best Christmas specials so far. Although I reckon Twice Upon A Time will be amazing. Can't wait to see that episode and I definitely won't be switching off this time!

DCSassyQueen 8.5I am a sucker for superhero-inspired TV shows and I loved this. Grant was basically Superman with a Batman costume. It was such a fun time & it really made me see how much Clara was weighing the Doctor down. Nardole is so funny & I hope he remains a companion for a while because he makes the 12 Doctor better.Ready for Season 10 !!!!

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.

Theo Robertson Okay it's Christmas time so let's tick off the checklistNice Xmas card from Bob The Moo ? Check Ton of food from a kitchen I work in ? Much better than the food at the care home last year . Check DOCTOR WHO Christmas special ? Check Don't get your hopes built up about it ? Check My enthusiasm if not my addiction to the show has become increasingly diluted over the years . This is entirely down to the direction of the show under Moffat and catching a couple of trailers late in the day I noticed thus year's special revolves around superhero mode . Well let's be honest and like them or not Super-heroes are very popular in popular culture but does DOCTOR WHO have to follow trends ? Especially since it has been rewriting icons from the show such as The Master played by John Simm all the way back to the RTD era as literal comic strip characters That said this special remains rather low key compared to many of the other specials and overblown season finales . It's basically a run around type of adventure involving an alien invasion where the aliens have all ready landed and it's up to the Doctor and a masked hero to save the day . There's not much you haven't seen here before but one noticeable thing is that the villain isn't a White Anglo Saxon Protestant type . Foreign type dude wants to destroy New York in a big explosion . Don't worry about any controversy because it's a family show so that makes it all right In all a relatively enjoyable though forgettable special . Of course it always helps that you're not expecting too much of a feast