Doctor Who

Reckon you know what really happened in ‘Day of the Doctor’? Liar. Even the most hardcore Whovian must have found it difficult to pick apart the alternative timelines and Time Lords. And why has Matt Smith now been anointed the thirteenth Doctor when he was widely assumed to be the eleventh? For most of us, however, all this is beside the point. The real joy came from watching Messrs Smith, Tennant and Hurt having so much fun together amid the ultimate solemnity of the story.

It’s probably safe to expect similar emotional peaks from Smith’s swansong tonight; at their best, ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas specials flit between comedy and tragedy with consummate ease. Peter Capaldi, we know, will make an appearance tonight (bets are doubtless already being taken on his first lines), but first there’s the small matter of the Doctor rescuing Clara from Christmas dinner and whisking her off to a quiet planet with an ominous future.