The time of the Doctor (Matt Smith)

(Amazon UK link)

We very much enjoyed rewatching series seven of Doctor Who recently. It was the last full series with Matt Smith, whom we had started to appreciate very much with his somewhat eccentric - and occasionally clumsy - portrayal of the Doctor. We then watched the 50th anniversary special, ‘The day of the Doctor’ a week or so back, and thought it excellent.  

Next in the series is the 2013 Christmas special, one which we had seen about ten years ago (on someone else’s i-player), but had totally forgotten. I spent some time trying to find it as a standalone DVD but ended up having to buy it on a ‘Christmas specials’ DVD set, which included three others which we had already seen, and had as part of their series (or, in the case of ‘The doctor, the widow and the wardrobe', as a standalone).

This wasn’t sold as part of series 8 for two reasons, or so I'm assuming. The first is that, rather than being Peter Capaldi’s first episode as the twelfth doctor, it’s Matt Smith’s final episode; he regenerates right at the end. The second is that series 8 didn’t start until August 2014, eight months after this one was broadcast.

It’s quite a complex episode - but I no longer try to understand everything in Doctor Who. Perhaps when we watch these for the third time in another decade or so, I’ll grasp more of it; certainly I’ve had more of an idea of what was going on in the recent series, and the anniversary special.  But ‘The day of the doctor’ is even more confusing from a time-travel perspective, at least to me.

The Doctor and Clara start out in Trenzalore, where the Doctor is supposed to die. They learn that thousands of alien/enemy spaceships are orbiting it, but not attacking. Apparently there’s some protection by an ancient cult - or church - which, as far as I could understand, worshipped a mainframe computer. The Doctor and Clara start exploring and find a crack - similar to the ones that ran through the sixth series - and hear voices, asking ‘Doctor who?’  It appears that the time lords and Gallifrey are caught in the time vortex, having been rescued in ‘The day of the Doctor’, and want the Doctor to reveal his real name. But he’s not willing to do that.

He sends Clara back, as he thinks, but she clings onto the tardis and returns hundreds of years later. She has not changed in this time, but the Doctor has grown noticeably older. I was very impressed with both the make-up and the acting which made Matt Smith look at least a hundred years old; still active in mind, but walking slowly with a stick. He says he has no more regenerations, and that he’s going to die there…

It’s not really very Christmassy, except that Clara is taken from a stressful family Christmas lunch at the beginning, and the town where the Doctor settles is called ‘Christmas’. Everyone seems to be happy there, at least when they first get there, although by the end there are enemies - mostly familiar Doctor Who aliens - invading regularly. 

I didn’t entirely understand why the Doctor was in fact able to regenerate again, but perhaps that will become clear in future episodes. 

So we get a brief cameo of Peter Capaldi at the end, confused and shaken after the regeneration, and unsure how to fly the tardis.

It was quite moving as a farewell episode to Matt Smith, and we quite liked the ‘extras’ that came with our set. But it wasn’t one of my absolute favourites.

Worth seeing if only as a bridge between the seventh and eighth series, but it makes more sense if ‘The day of the Doctor’ is seen beforehand. It still only seems to be available on DVDs with the other 11th doctor Christmas specials. 

 Review copyright 2026 Sue's DVD Reviews