N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

Unearthly Times takes a side-step back from its Torchwood side-step for Doctor Who‘s 2006 Christmas Day episode.

The Runaway Bride sees the return of killer Santas, the addition of Christmas bauble bombs and the introduction of a certain Donna Noble who, although we didn’t know it at the time, was set to play a big part in the Doctor’s life.

“Who are you? … Where am I? … What the hell is this place?”

Donna, The Runaway Bride

If you were dozing after your Christmas lunch in 2006, Catherine Tate would certainly have woken you up. Donna spends much of the episode giving the Doctor the hairdryer treatment for inadvertently kidnapping her as she was walking up the aisle.

Given the Doctor is pining for Rose, she is probably exactly the kind of companion he needed for his next adventure. And as it turns out, Donna is rather fortunate the Doctor was hovering in space nearby, as hubby-never-to-be Lance is working for the Empress of the Racnoss, played with suitable hoarse-throat-inducing relish by an unrecognisable Sarah Parish.

I do love how Donna somehow managed to miss the Doctor’s two most recent big battles on Earth — first by having ‘a bit of a hangover’ for the attempted Sycorax invasion and then by SCUBA-diving in Spain during the Battle of Canary Wharf. But it’s a pity the Doctor pooh-poohs her suggestion of there being dinosaurs at the earth’s core. The Doctor Who universe is certainly big enough for a bit of Edgar Rice Burroughs silliness.

Overall, The Runaway Bride is perhaps a little too breakneck and full-on for my liking. When it does take a bit of breather — on the rooftop, in the final scene, for example — it’s all the better for it.

And, despite this being a step away from my recent run of Torchwood episodes, I was nonetheless amused to discover that Torchwood’s supposedly secret base under the Thames Barrier is also heavily branded. It seems that organisation just can’t help itself.