All 13 Doctor Who Comedy & Charity Specials, Ranked

The hit British sci-fi show Doctor Who has seen plenty of comedy and charity specials air over the years, and while some were better than others, all gave audiences an enjoyable insight into the show’s world. Since Doctor Who‘s initial release in 1963, and especially so since its reboot in 2005, Doctor Who has aired sketches, skits, and everything in between in the name of charity. Primarily, they’ve been broadcast for the charity television specials of Children in Need and Comic Relief, both of which are prominent live events in the UK.

With Doctor Who being such a staple in British culture, it’s been parodied many times, but only a selection has come from the show itself. A Doctor Who special generally keeps its in-universe characters or includes some of its most notable actors, but still within the context of the show. The Time Lord has also appeared in other skits, but these weren’t necessarily from Doctor Who and generally included other BBC drama shows. With an incredible 60 years under its belt, it’s no surprise that Doctor Who has had some hilariously funny and brilliantly written specials.

13
The Weakest Link

Children In Need 2003

In 2003, Children In Need saw a special episode of the iconic game show The Weakest Link, which featured the return of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh. It also saw John Leeson reprise the voice of Doctor Who’s favorite robot dog, K9, while various comedians took on the roles of the Fourth Doctor (Jon Culshaw) and presenter Anne Robinson (Jan Ravens). Alongside them, some of the show’s most recognizable aliens take to the podium, including a Sea Devil, a Sontaran, and a Cyberman.

Unfortunately, the bitter Anne Robinson didn’t feel that any incarnation of the Doctor was worthy of a place on her show. In fact, the Doctors themselves fought amongst each other over who should be the next to go. While there’s been no confirmation, it’s interesting to consider whether this sketch may have influenced the Anne-droid in Doctor Who season 1.

12
Dimensions In Time

Children In Need 1993

One of Doctor Who‘s two-part skits aired in 1993 as a part of Children in Need, in a crossover between the show and the long-running soap opera Eastenders. Split into two episodes at five and seven minutes each, “Dimensions in Time” saw the last on-screen appearance of Kate O’Mara as the First Rani, who entraps several versions of the Doctor and their companions through time in Albert Square, a well-known location in Eastenders. For those who lived in the UK, this was a hilarious watch, especially seeing the various Doctors interact with some of Eastenders’ biggest characters.

11
The Naked Truth

Children In Need 2011

While brief, the 2011 Children in Need special, “The Naked Truth,” is best remembered for seeing Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor losing his clothes. According to the Time Lord, his undressing was for the sake of charity, literally giving “the clothes off his back.” Despite stepping out of the TARDIS fully dressed and supposedly wearing “hologram clothes,” this fourth-wall-breaking piece saw the Doctor imply that with the press of the red button, his guise would disappear, and his face as this happens was nothing short of hysterical.

10
The Great Detective

Children In Need 2012

The Children in Need minisode, “The Great Detective,” served as a prequel to the 2012 Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Snowmen.” Unlike previous skits, this one veered from humor and saw the Eleventh Doctor grieving for the Ponds, his retirement, and his new life in Victorian London with the Paternoster Gang. While it was hard to see the Doctor in such an emotional way, any viewer of Doctor Who knew this wouldn’t last for long. This minisode set up the introduction of Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald, despite her not appearing, although an official trailer for the episode followed after this.

9
Destination: Skaro

Children In Need 2023

“Destination: Skaro” saw David Tennant’s first proper appearance as the Fourteenth Doctor after it was revealed he was returning to the show in the episode “The Power of the Doctor.” In celebration of the show’s 60th anniversary, Doctor Who sent the Doctor back to the creation of their greatest enemy, the Daleks. This skit stands out for not only addressing the character design of Davros but also the Doctor’s panic over discovering he was the one who gave Skaro the name for the Daleks and their hilarious facial expressions when realizing where he’d crashed.

8
Born Again

Children In Need 2005

Tennant also made his first appearance in the show, other than the initial regeneration scene, in another Children in Need skit. “Born Again” gave some fascinating insight into the companion’s reaction to the Doctor’s physical changes, with Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) stunned at seeing them in the Ninth Doctor’s (Christopher Eccleston) iconic leather jacket. This sweet moment between the Doctor and Rose is a brilliant reflection of their relationship and beautifully adds to the opening scene of Tennant’s first full story, “The Christmas Invasion,” considered one of Doctor Who‘s best stories.

7
From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love

Comic Relief 2009

While most Doctor Who Comic Relief specials featured the titular character, one of its spin-offs, The Sarah Jane Adventures, aired a special for charity in 2009. Sarah-Jane (Elisabeth Sladen), her son Luke (Tommy Lawrence Knight), and his friends Rani (Anjli Mohindra) and Clyde (Daniel Anthony) are shocked by the arrival of a secret Slitheen, portrayed by legendary British comedian Ronnie Corbett. This sweet skit gave a great insight into the lives of the Doctor’s companions after leaving the TARDIS, but its best moment was easily seeing K9 wearing a red nose.

6
One Born Every Minute

Comic Relief 2013

2013 saw a great crossover between Doctor Who and Call the Midwife, entitled “One Born Every Minute,” a reference to the British documentary series of the same name. In the 1950s, the Eleventh Doctor is called to assist with the birth of a set of twins but fears that they will one day become a great threat to the universe. The babies, named Jonathan and Edward, are a joke on the Irish duo Jedward, who famously competed on The X-Factor, and a hilarious reference for British and Irish audiences.

5
Space & Time

Comic Relief 2011

As a part of Comic Relief 2011, Doctor Who released a two-part special entitled “Space” and “Time.” In typical Doctor style, the Eleventh Doctor manages to mess up while trying to do maintenance on the TARDIS, leaving himself, Rory (Arthur Darvill), and Amy (Karen Gillan) stuck in a time loop that traps them inside the ship. These minisodes saw Amy Pond meet herself once again, having met young Amelia (Caitlin Blackwood) in the season 5 episode “The Big Bang,” but before she’d famously cross paths with her elder self in the season 6 episode “The Girl Who Waited.”

4
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

BBC’s Red Button Service

One of classic Doctor Who‘s best stories, “The Five Doctors,” was actually a part of Children In Need, but doesn’t count as a special as it was a full 90-minute episode. However, upon the Doctor Who 50th-anniversary special in 2013, its cast gathered to create “The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot” as a part of the BBC’s Red Button service. This saw several of its actors return as themselves to parody the highly anticipated anniversary, including Tennant, McCoy, Baker, and Peter Davison, who portrayed the Fifth Doctor.

The skit hilariously made fun of Georgia Tennant, who played Jenny in season 4 and is also Davison’s daughter, and the several children she and Tennant share, while her husband failed to join her while she gave birth due to filming the Doctor Who anniversary special episode. It also poked fun at the several classic-era Doctors, especially those who hadn’t been invited back to be a part of the celebrations. It saw a huge amount of cameos from Doctor Who alumni over the years and was a brilliant way to hype up “The Day of the Doctor.”

3
Crossover With The Catherine Tate Show

Comic Relief 2007

Following the popularity of Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble in “The Runaway Bride,” she invited David Tennant to take part in a crossover special with her show, The Catherine Tate Show. The skit saw one of her best-known characters, belligerent teenager Lauren Cooper, be taught by Tennant at school. Throughout, there are repeated jokes about Tennant being the Doctor, and at one point, Lauren even asks him, “Do you fancy Billie Piper, sir?“

Despite trying to hide as “Mr. Logan” and his constant denial, Lauren is convinced that her new English teacher is the Time Lord. He eventually gets so fed up with her being outspoken and disrespectful that he reveals himself to be the Doctor, hilariously turning her into an action figure of Rose Tyler with the sonic screwdriver. Despite being an inanimate object, it doesn’t stop Lauren from quoting her legendary phrase at the Doctor: “I still ain’t bovvered!“

2
Time Crash

Children In Need 2007

Children in Need 2007 saw a first for Doctor Who, with “Time Crash” seeing a classic-era and modern-era Doctor cross paths for the first time. This skit saw Tennant as the Tenth Doctor opposite his future father-in-law, Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor, and serves as a prequel to “Voyage of the Damned.” It was a great way to see the various generations of Doctor Who combine, with the Fifth Doctor initially thinking the Tenth was a member of the group LINDA, a reference to the season 2 episode “Love and Monsters.”

The end of the previous episode, “Last of the Time Lords,” was used to explain how the two Time Lords ended up together. The two TARDISes combined after the Tenth’s defenses were let down, resulting in the Titanic crash and the Fifth’s appearance in the console room. This skit was also written by Steven Moffat, who would go on to serve as showrunner of Doctor Who with season 5, kicking off Matt Smith’s era as the Doctor.

1
The Curse of Fatal Death

Comic Relief 1999

While there have been several great Doctor Who specials, “The Curse of Fatal Death” stands out for many reasons. This was the first Doctor Who story written by Steven Moffat, and while not exclusively canon, it is still considered an official Doctor Who skit. “The Curse of Fatal Death” aired one year after the Doctor Who TV movie, which introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and parodied the possible personalities of the future incarnations of the Time Lord.

The special saw several famous British comedians, including Joanna Lumley, Rowan Atkinson, and Hugh Grant, portray their own version of the Doctor. Throughout the skit, multiple jokes about the show as a whole are made, especially the Time Lord’s run-ins with various versions of the Master and the Daleks. While still respectful of the show, “The Curse of Fatal Death” did a great job of parodying Doctor Who and was so well-remembered that it was rebroadcast in 2017 in honor of Comic Relief.