The Christmas Invasion

In the episode, principally set in London, the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) is out of action, leaving Rose (Billie Piper), Mickey (Noel Clarke) and Jackie (Camille Coduri) to combat the invasion of an alien race known as the Sycorax, demanding that either humanity surrenders or one third of them will die.


This episode features the first full-episode appearance of Tennant as the Doctor and is also the first specially produced Christmas special in the programme's history which was commissioned following the success of the first series earlier in the year to see how well the show could do at Christmas.


"The Christmas Invasion" was watched by 9.8 million viewers, and an average of 9.4 — the second highest rated programme of the evening, behind EastEnders.^[1] This episode was the highest-rated episode of the Tenth Doctor, with final ratings at 9.84 million, up until the "Voyage of the Damned", which achieved an audience of 13.8 million viewers. The episode received positive reviews from critics, who welcomed Tennant to the show, and is considered one of the best Christmas specials of the show.^[2] The success of the episode led to the Christmas special becoming an annual tradition.^[2]