Donna Noble at her splendid shoutiest: what more could anyone want from a Doctor Who Christmas, really?
Just what we needed after a very sad Tenth Doctor burned up a sun to say bye to Rose Tyler, 2006’s ‘The Runaway Bride’ is unapologetically silly, with just enough punch of emotion.
The Robot Santas from ‘The Christmas Invasion’ are once again menacing the streets of Cardiff London and Donna makes an excellent case for the fact that all women’s dresses should have pockets, especially wedding dresses.
And yet, in spite of all of its’ ridiculousness and fun, ‘The Runaway Bride’ also taps into something terrifying, namely the idea that someone who, for all intents and purposes, seems to love you very much, actually doesn’t like you at all. Never mind the Racnoss, were I not a happily married writer, I’d probably still have a deep-seated paranoia that anyone who seems to fancy me is secretly faking it for nefarious purposes.
It’s quite nice watching this with the knowledge that Donna goes on to become a companion in her own right in Season 4, and seeing the early seeds of that later friendship with the Tenth Doctor sewn here. After the heartbreak of ‘Doomsday’, it was important to have a silly reprieve before launching into Martha’s unrequited feelings, and it’s immediately very clear that the Doctor Who team were onto something special with the Tennant-and-Tate double act.
Bonus fun fact: Sarah Parish, who plays the Empress, went on to play BBC employee Anna Rampton in the series W1A, which was narrated by David Tennant.
> Buy the Christmas specials box set on DVD on Amazon.
> Buy the Christmas specials box set on Blu-ray on Amazon.
What’s your favourite moment in ‘The Runaway Bride’? Let us know below…