Doctor Who (2005)

The Runaway Bride

Season 3, Aired 12/25/06

Episode Summary

Location: Earth
Date: Christmas 2007
Enemy: Empress of the Racnoss, Roboforms

As Donna is about to marry her boyfriend Lance on Christmas Eve, she suddenly finds herself on board the TARDIS. As the Doctor tries to get Donna to the church on time, the alien Empress of the Racnoss watches closely from the throne in her spaceship above. How is Donna the key to an ancient plot to destroy the Earth? With time running out, can the Doctor solve the puzzle, defeat the Empress and stop her army of robot Santas?moreless

8.5

EPISODE RATING: Great

483 votes

Your Rating: 10

"Perfect"
Your Rating: 9.5

"Superb"
Your Rating: 9

"Superb"
Your Rating: 8.5

"Great"
Your Rating: 8

"Great"
Your Rating: 7.5

"Good"
Your Rating: 7

"Good"
Your Rating: 6.5

"Fair"
Your Rating: 6

"Fair"
Your Rating: 5.5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 4.5

"Poor"
Your Rating: 4

"Poor"
Your Rating: 3.5

"Bad"
Your Rating: 3

"Bad"
Your Rating: 2.5

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 2

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 1.5

"Abysmal"
Your Rating: 1

"Abysmal"

Rate It

Watch Online

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

David Tennant

The Tenth Doctor
Catherine Tate

Donna Noble
Paul Kasey

Robot Santa

Fan Episode Reviews (30)

See All

We missed you Doc.

9.2

"Superb"

By peggy777, Feb 01, 2011 Report Abuse

What a great beginning for a new season. It is great to see the Dr. back and in action. When I first started watching this show it took a time for me to warm up to it. I'm not sure what it was, maybe because sometimes the other aliens are so far off the wall that for me it was not very believable. But now, I really do enjoy the show, even with the unrealistic aliens. This episode I was touched because it showed how much the Dr. missed Rose and I know the fans will too. Never the less the run-a way bride was hilarious and definitely kept the Dr. busy with a new adventure. Welcome back Doc.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
2 0
My favourite Christmas episode.

9.1

"Superb"

By ben-the-hen, Sep 03, 2008 Report Abuse

This episode is definately my favourite christmas special episode. It included Catherine Tate who is my favourite comedienne. Donna is a classic character and I'm glad they brought her back in the 4th series. The Racnoss was a marvellous enemy, a giant spider, genius! At first I thought it was CGI at first, but Sarah Parish pulled off a brilliant performence. The Christmas episodes are always exciting, apart from Voyage of the Damned. I think this episode set things up for later seasons.

The idea of the story was very good, and you didn't see the surprise twist coming, you really didn't know that Lance was in on it.

Very good.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
1 0
Just when I was getting bored watching TV, the Doctor comes back.

9.5

"Superb"

By QuakertownBob, Jul 11, 2007 Report Abuse

I forgot how much this show entertained me. I made a big mistake and got some DVD's of the original and this blows it away. I think this is version is the best from what I have seen. What are they going to do next? This show keeps surprising me, and I cannot wait to see the next twist and turns this series has in store.
Is this Doctor better than Egglesworth, will the new woman be better than Rose. I will reserve judgement, sometimes change is better, sometimes it is not. So far I like everything I have seen. This is great.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
2 0
I would have scored this a perfect ten if some of the London accents weren't so thick-sounding.

9.1

"Superb"

By Carycomic, Jul 07, 2007 Report Abuse

Then, again; I'm a bloody Yank. So, what do I know? Well, I know what I like. And, for the most part, I liked this episode! The mystery of how the titular bride got aboard the TARDIS is solved during the prologue of the episode. But, it was still hilarious to see and hear David Tennant's shock at finding Donna (brilliantly played by Catherine Tate) there, at all. I also loved the chase scene on the highway, with the Doctor trying to keep the TARDIS from crashing while engaged in conventional flight. Not to mention Donna's reaction to the sight of a flying blue police box. "You've gawt to be kidding me." Absolutely priceless! But, it was the revelation of who owned the H.C. Clements Company, and the identity of the villainous masterminds that really took me by surprise. When I first saw those long spindly legs, I thought it might be an escapee from the Planet of the Spiders (3rd Doctor era). However, the fact that the Empress was the sole survivor of another evil race (apparently wiped out by the Time Lords), and that Donna's fiance' Lance was collaborating with her, completely floored me!!! In short, this third season premier was smashing.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
2 0
Catherine Tate and David Tennat work together to produce a christmas special.

9.6

"Superb"

By chazzock, Apr 20, 2007 Report Abuse

A good episode to watch after christmas lunch, I liked the revival of the evil santas. The plot was original but not the strongest one in the world.

Catherine Tate brings light comic relief to the episode with many brilliant one liners.

The relationship between the Doctor and the bride was slightly odd, they didn't seem to understand each other at all.

I loved the scene with the TARDIS flying down the motor way chasing after the taxi, the special effects were brilliant. I didn't know the TARDIS could be flown like that, but obviously it can be.

I look forward to watching the coming series 3.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
1 1

Write a Review

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

Trivia
ADD TRIVIA
- As The Doctor is applying his sonic screwdriver to the mobile phone he borrowed from one of the wedding guests, to trace the ownership of H.C. Clements, the webpages for U.N.I.T. and The British Rocket Group, who designed Guinevere One in The Christmas Invasion, flash briefly on the screen. Edit
- In the opening credits of this episode, the Doctor Who logo has changed. It is now the logo identical to that on the merchandising, rather than the different one used for the first two series. Edit
- When the Doctor and Donna went back to watch the creation of Earth, the Doctor stated that this was the furthest back in time he had ever been. However, in Castrovalva (series 19 of the classic series), the TARDIS went back to the big bang, the creation of the Universe. The Doctor had also previously returned to near the big bang in Edge of Destruction - in the very first series of the classic series. Edit
Notes
ADD NOTES
- For legal reasons, the production team made obviously fake banknotes for the scene where money comes flying out of a cashpoint. The £10 notes feature The Doctor's face and the phrases 'I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ten satsumas' and 'No second chances — I'm that sort of a man'. The text is taken from The Doctor's lines in The Christmas Invasion. There were also £20 notes featuring producer Phil Collinson. These had the phrase 'There's no point being grown up if you can't be a little childish sometimes' on them, a misquote of the line originally spoken by the Fourth Doctor, in Robot. The notes have become collector's items, regularly selling for £50 or more. Edit
- This was the first Doctor Who story to be broadcast with in-vision British Sign Language interpretation, in a UK repeat on 30 December 2006. Edit
- International Air Dates: Australia: 28 June 2007 Canada: 19 June 2007 United States: 6 July 2007 New Zealand: 19 August 2007 Thailand: 7 October 2008 Turkey: 10 October 2010 Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- Donna: Santa's a robot! Edit
- Donna: Who are you? The Doctor: I'm the Doctor. You? Donna: Donna. The Doctor: Human? Donna: Yeah. Is that optional? The Doctor: Well, it is for me. Donna: You're an alien? The Doctor: Yeah. Edit
- (The Doctor looking down into the tunnel in the floor) Empress: Down and down all the way to the center of the Earth. The Doctor: Really? Seriously, what for? Donna: Dinosaurs! The Doctor: What? Donna: Dinosaurs! The Doctor: What do you have with dinosaurs? Donna: Like in that film, under the Earth, with dinosaurs! Trying to help! The Doctor: That's not helping. Edit
Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Wedding Videographer They said send it to "You've Been Framed". I said more like the news.
  You've Been Framed is a show similar in format to a number of shows worldwide, including America's Funniest Home Videos and Australia's Funniest Home Video Show. In a deal with various foreign producers of similar shows, many imported clips are used, in exchange for home-grown videos from the UK. Edit
- Lance: This time it's personnal! This references the tagline of the 1987 American movie "Jaws: The Revenge" (i.e., "Jaws 4"). The featured tagline was "This time it's personnal!" although the phrase has entered into common parlance as a tagline for any sequel, often in movie parodies seen on shows like The Simpsons. The movie has become synonymous with bad sequels, and features a shark seeking revenge on the sons of the man who killed it three movies ago. Edit
- Donna: Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?
  This refers to common writer's tricks to get out of dangerous situations in Sci-Fi. Warp and Beam are definite references to Star Trek. Reverse, whilst possibly simply being the act of going backwards, also alludes to the classic Who techno-babble of "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow". Edit