Deck the TARDIS: Doctor Who Christmas Books

 By Theresa Gauthier

To the casual Doctor Who fan, December may bring thoughts of the Christmas or New Year’s specials, but to the lifelong Whovian, it also conjures hopes for a Christmas book. With anthologies of Christmas tales as well as the occasional stand alone novel, Doctor Who literature has long embraced the season. 

    In Doctor Who Short Trips: The History of Christmas, there are 24 short stories featuring each of the Doctors and their companions—though to be clear, there were only eight Doctors at the time. I can remember the joy I felt when I first read it as I realized the first story in the book, "The Lampblack Wars" by Matthew Sweet is a Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith story. I’ve always adored Sarah Jane and felt it a good sign that she was in the opening story. 

The tale takes place in Victorian London—14 December 1861 to be precise, and and Sarah Jane’s observations that perhaps the Doctor (as played by Jon Pertwee) might look a little too Victorian seemed authentic.

The story is fast-paced. In ten short pages we learn of the death of Prince Albert, and uncover a war that’s been going on for thousands of years. With just enough Victorian color to keep it feeling so very British, this short story never fails to entertain no matter how many times I’ve read it.

The selection of stories in this book all seem short—shorter than I’d imagined the first time through, and, back then I remember longing for something longer, but I’ve aways appreciated the craft. These authors captured the tones and voices of the Doctors and their companions. Each is a joy to read. 

The first sentence of the next story, which features the sixth Doctor, is too good not to share.

Christmas Eve, and I’m looking for Elvis to come flying over the horizon, too late to stop my house from going up its own chimney.

As you read on, you realize it takes place in Australia with the sixth Doctor battling one of the fires that have become so commonplace.

My next volume is two stories featuring the Eleventh Doctor with Amy and Rory. It’s a lovely edition with a TARDIS blue cover featuring the full-length novels The Silent Stars Go Byby Dan Abnett and Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris. 

I couldn’t tell you which I like best because both are brilliant stories that read like the best of Eleven’s episodes. In Silent Stars, an entire community on an alien planet is threatened with failing crops, sickening livestock, and falling temperatures, things aren’t at all what they seem. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory have to figure out just what is going on, before it’s too late. 

I’m being vague on purpose; Spoilers! 

In Touched by an Angel, a man has a chance to save his dead wife. The trouble is, the man has become a weapon for the Weeping Angels. Just what are the Angels doing, and how can the Doctor stop them? 

I can’t recommend these more. Both are essential for any Doctor Who Fan!

    In The Twelve Doctors of Christmas, we’re much closer to present day in the Doctor’s world. With one story for each of the twelve—at the time—Doctors, fans of every era will have a favorite. A wonderful addition to this volume is the collection of full color illustrations for every story.  

This book starts with a William Hartnell story and closes with Peter Capaldi. Keeping it chronological is fun but hardly prerequisite for a Doctor Who Anthology. One of the utter delights of this collection is the detailed explanation of the line rom the episode “The Doctor Dances” when Rose accuses the Doctor of beaming like Father Christmas, and he tells her, “Who says I’m not red-bicycle-when-you-were-12?”

The first story has a memorable exchange between Ian and Barbara and Vicki when Vicki doesn’t understand their references to Christmas. It’s a mix of classic and New Who when the Second Doctor has to deal with the Slitheen. 

Have you ever wondered what happened to Jackie Tyler during “The Christmas Invasion” when Rose and Mickey and the Tardis were transported up to the Sycorax ship? She was spending time with another of the Doctor’s incarnations.

    With The Wintertime Paradox, we get another 12 Christmas stories this time not in any sort of order at all. The first of the tales features the Tenth Doctor and Rose attend a theater.  Rory visits River in prison, the Twelfth Doctor and Bill have a problem with memories, and even Missy makes an appearance traveling on a train on Christmas Eve with a just-fired detective.

All of these selections are a wonderful way to spend the Christmas season. Since the dawn of New Who, we’ve come to expect the Doctor at Christmastime, and these books make for welcome excursions into the Whoniverse. Happy Who Year!