Our take
A brand-new start served as a Christmas pantomime: goblins that sing, a baby to rescue and a foundling's mystery to keep you watching. Ncuti Gatwa arrives at full speed, all charm, with the seriousness there when it is needed, and Millie Gibson makes Ruby Sunday instantly likeable. Some will find the Goblin Song a step too far; most families will be singing it by Boxing Day. The show at its most openly festive and welcoming.
What happens
Long ago, on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow outside a church. She grew up as Ruby Sunday, living with her mum Carla and her gran Cherry, and little is known about where she came from. Now her life collides with the Doctor's, and with the mythical, mysterious goblins, who steal babies. Along the way the Doctor pops back in time to save Davina McCall from a falling Christmas tree. Ruby and the Doctor end up aboard a goblin ship, where the Goblin King is introduced with a musical number about eating a baby, and the Doctor rescues the stolen baby and saves his new companion from the goblins twice over. The Goblin King ends up impaled on a church spire. The Doctor opens up to Ruby about being an adopted foundling himself, and the pair set off on their first adventure together, while Mrs Flood breaks the fourth wall and seems to know far more than she lets on.
Can the kids watch it?
Rated PG by the BBFC for mild violence, threat and sex references; a bright, musical family special that suits most children from about 7.