The TARDIS collides with a spacefaring replica of the Titanic, in orbit around the Earth. Its passengers have come to visit yuletide England, and even the robotic Host servitors are outfitted like Christmas angels. The Titanic is protected against an approaching meteor shower by powerful shields -- until they're disabled by Captain Hardaker. Soon, the crippled Titanic is on a collision course with the Earth. With the help of a plucky waitress named Astrid and a motley group of survivors, the Doctor must unearth the reason for the sabotage and stop the ship's descent, even as they're hunted by the suddenly murderous Host.

For the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special, executive producer Russell T Davies decided that the time was ripe to tackle a genre the programme had largely avoided in the past: the disaster epic. Davies was a fan of the 1972 classic The Poseidon Adventure, in which an ocean liner flipped over after being hit by a freak wave, forcing a few intrepid survivors to manoeuvre through the upside-down vessel and escape via the hull before it sank. He thought that a similar event, set in space, would be a suitable hook for his programme's now-annual yuletide escapade. To add further intrigue, Davies decided that the starship in question should be based upon the twentieth century's best-known watercraft: the ill-fated RMS Titanic.

The pride of the White Star Line, the Titanic was reputed to be unsinkable, but failed to survive its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Infamously, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, about six hundred kilometres south-east of the island of Newfoundland, and capsized on April 15th, 1912. Of the more than two thousand people aboard, fewer than one-third survived. In the decades following the tragedy, the Titanic was kept alive in the public imagination through movies such as 1953's Titanic with Barbara Stanwyck, books like Walter Lord's 1955 work A Night To Remember (itself adapted as a film in 1958), and musicals such as 1960's The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Most notably, James Cameron's cinematic phenomenon Titanic, starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet, became the highest-grossing movie ever and won eleven Academy Awards following its release in 1997. Davies thought that an apparent collision between the TARDIS and the Titanic would provide a suitably enigmatic tease at the end of Last Of The Time Lords, the finale of Doctor Who's twenty-ninth season. By early 2007, he was already developing ideas for what he initially dubbed “Titanic II” and then “Starship Titanic”.

In early March, Dennis Hopper's agent shared a plane ride with director James Strong

By this point, the enormous success of Doctor Who in Britain had begun to attract attention on an international scale. As a result, the production team was surprised to field interest from not one but two major stars about appearing in “Starship Titanic”. The first was Dennis Hopper, the star of movies such as Easy Rider and Blue Velvet. In early March, his agent happened to share a plane ride with James Strong, who had just finished directing Daleks In Manhattan / Evolution Of The Daleks for Season Twenty-Nine. Strong had already been assigned to the Christmas special, sparking a conversation about Hopper's potential involvement.

Meanwhile, on March 21st, the press launch for Season Twenty-Nine took place at The May Fair hotel in London, during which Davies officially confirmed that a 2007 Christmas special was in development. One of the highlights of the new run was the on-screen appearance of Mark Gatiss as the eponymous villain of The Lazarus Experiment; he had previously written scripts for both the 2005 and 2006 seasons. He was supported at the event by his friend, Will Baker, the creative director for Australian singer/actress Kylie Minogue. As the man primarily responsible for the striking visual aesthetics of Minogue's concert tours, Baker had previously incorporated imagery inspired by Doctor Who. Now he suggested that the 2007 Christmas special might be a suitable platform for one of Minogue's occasional forays back into acting.

On March 26th, Minogue met with Davies and executive producer Julie Gardner in London. For the second year in a row, the Christmas special would see the Doctor travelling without a companion, and it was suggested that Minogue could play a one-off character to fill this role. She would be Astrid, a waitress on board the Titanic, who assisted the Doctor throughout the story but ultimately did something of which he severely disapproved, prompting him to leave her behind at the adventure's conclusion. Minogue affirmed her interest in the part, although the flexibility of her schedule remained uncertain. Nonetheless, the press was already reporting on her casting -- to various degrees of accuracy -- as early as April 22nd.

From this stage, Davies developed “Starship Titanic” with Minogue in mind. A key influence was Halo Jones, a science-fiction heroine created by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson for the comic book 2000 AD in 1984, who served for a time as an interstellar stewardess. By late April, the interim companion had become known as Peth -- later acquiring the surname Harmone -- and, by the time Davies began writing his first draft on May 16th, he had decided that the best possible exit for the character would be in the act of sacrificing her life to save the Doctor. The special was retitled Voyage Of The Damned in late May, when Davies learned that former Doctor Who script editor Douglas Adams had designed a 1998 computer game called Starship Titanic.

Max Capricorn was originally seen in the ballroom during the opening scenes

Davies' initial draft of the Christmas special was completed on June 5th. Foon was originally called Struzie, and both she and her heroic demise were inspired by Belle Rosen, the portly survivor played by Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure. At different times, Alonso Frame had the first name Bosworth and the surname Blane. Having come to feel that Peth worked better as a last name, Minogue's character would now be Astrid Peth. Bannakaffalatta was going to be blue, but Davies made him red so that he would be visually distinct from the Moxx of Balhoon, an alien who had been played by the same actor, Jimmy Vee, in 2005's The End Of The World. Max Capricorn was initially Mr Maxitane and then Max Callisto, and was originally seen to be a passenger on the Titanic in a cordoned-off area of the ballroom during the episode's opening scenes; he was not confined to a life support machine at this point. Abandoned at an early stage were plans to include the Judoon -- an alien police force introduced in 2007's Smith And Jones -- at the adventure's conclusion.

By mid-June, it was clear that the script was much too effects-intensive, and severe cuts would have to be made. The most significant change was to the scene involving Buckingham Palace: originally, Davies had planned for the Titanic to cleave the structure in two, leaving Queen Elizabeth furiously shaking her fist after the retreating vessel. This was changed to the more light-hearted and heroic action of the Doctor arresting the ship's descent at the last moment. Also excised were much grander scenes of destruction and chaos when the Titanic was hit by the meteors. At the same time, it was agreed that Astrid's sacrifice needed to be played up more. The business with the forklift was added, while script editor Brian Minchin suggested that Davies should make use of the teleport bracelet to somehow save Astrid. This notion prompted the inclusion of the scene in which Astrid appeared as stardust, following the Doctor's failed rescue attempt.

On June 15th, Minogue's representatives finally confirmed that the actress would indeed be available for three weeks to record Voyage Of The Damned. The BBC publicly confirmed the news on July 3rd. Another small but notable piece of casting for the special came in the form of Bernard Cribbins as Stan, the newspaper vendor. An actor with a career spanning more than half a century, Cribbins had previously played a Doctor Who companion of sorts when he co-starred in the 1966 Aaru Pictures movie Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD, which was based on the 1964 serial The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. Meanwhile, consideration had been given to casting Hopper as either Mr Copper or Max Capricorn, since it was clear that his availability would be limited. Finally, around the start of July, it became apparent that a deal could not be reached before filming was due to begin, with the Doctor Who production office and Hopper's representatives mutually agreeing to end their negotiations.

On July 10th, David Tennant left Upper Boat to be present during his mother's final moments

Like The Runaway Bride, the previous year's Christmas special, Voyage Of The Damned was made on its own at the start of the Doctor Who production calendar. Strong's schedule began with four days -- July 9th to 12th -- at Doctor Who's usual studio home in Upper Boat. The principal concern was material on the bridge over the chasm, which was dubbed “the strut” in the script, to differentiate it from the command bridge. It had originally been hoped that these scenes would be recorded on location, but no suitable venue had been identified. For David Tennant, this work marked his return to Doctor Who after four months away. Unfortunately, a pall was almost immediately cast over the proceedings on the second day, when the actor learned that his mother, Helen McDonald, was on the verge of losing her five-year battle with cancer. Tennant immediately left Upper Boat to be present during his mother's final moments. A rearrangement of the shooting schedule was therefore necessary: Strong spent the 11th on “strut” shots which did not require Tennant, and most of the 12th on effects work against a green screen. On July 13th, material in the Titanic reception area was recorded at the disused Exchange Building in Swansea, alongside the Max Capricorn promotional videos. The production was then suspended until Tennant was able to return -- a stressful situation given Minogue's short window of availability.

As it transpired, however, the hiatus was brief: sadly, Helen McDonald passed away on July 15th. Tennant threw himself back into his work the next day, with the team stationed at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff through the 18th for sequences in the entertainment lounge. Unusually, Doctor Who's composer and arranger, Murray Gold and Ben Foster, were both present, alongside soul singer Yamit Mamo. It had now become traditional for Gold to write an original song for the Doctor Who Christmas special, and this year he had developed The Stowaway, featuring vocals by Mamo. All three appeared as members of the Titanic band, with Gold on guitar and Foster on piano.

Strong's team then shifted to the Johnsey Estates factory at Pontypool. Material in Host storage and the various Titanic corridors and stairwells was filmed there from July 19th to 27th, omitting only Sunday the 22nd. Tennant was again released on the 21st to attend his mother's funeral. Cast and crew returned to the Exchange Building on both July 28th and 30th for additional reception scenes; the arrival of the TARDIS was also recorded on the latter day. More green screen work was completed at Upper Boat on the 31st. Later that day, the sequence in which the tour group visited London was performed around St John Street in Cardiff, and wrapped up Minogue's time on Doctor Who. July 31st was also the only day on which Cribbins was required. He threw himself into the role of Stan -- even bringing holly from his garden to adorn his toque -- and he quickly established himself as a popular presence on set.

August 1st saw additional effects work conducted at Upper Boat, while the concluding scene with the Doctor and Mr Copper was filmed at the WDA Compound on the Cardiff Docks. Ironically, this waste ground would subsequently be redeveloped as the home of the Doctor Who Experience, a museum and interactive exhibit which operated between 2012 and 2017. Scenes on the Titanic bridge were recorded at Upper Boat on August 2nd, followed by those in the ship's kitchens at the Johnsey Estates on the 3rd. After the weekend, cast and crew were back at the former factory on August 6th, when the remaining material in Host storage was filmed. More sequences on the bridge were then completed at Upper Boat on the 7th and 8th.

The majority of Voyage Of The Damned was now complete, and most of what remained was taped on August 21st. This included the newsreader footage at BBC Broadcasting House in Cardiff, and action inside the TARDIS, using the standing set at Upper Boat. The interior of Buckingham Palace was really Cardiff City Hall, while the Queen waved to the Doctor outside the nearby National Museum of Wales. The production team had approached Prince Charles about making a cameo appearance in Voyage Of The Damned, but he declined the request; Angharad Baxter instead played Queen Elizabeth, with Jessica Martin subsequently dubbing the monarch's dialogue. Finally, on October 20th, an insert for Morvin's fall down the chasm was recorded at Upper Boat. In the meantime, a special contribution had been filmed in London which featured Nicholas Witchell, who had been the BBC's royal correspondent since 1998.

Although he trimmed as much material from Voyage Of The Damned as possible, Strong found that Davies' tight script and the linear nature of the plot precluded extensive editing. As a result, it appeared that it wouldn't be possible to accommodate the intended one-hour duration without making a major change to the narrative. However, with Doctor Who continuing to enjoy the massive popularity it had established following its return to television in 2005, Gardner was able to convince the schedulers to give the Christmas special a seventy-minute timeslot. Gold took the opportunity to craft a new version of the Doctor Who theme music. It incorporated elements of the arrangement composed by Peter Howell in 1980, which had first been heard on The Leisure Hive.

Added to Voyage Of The Damned was a dedication in memory of Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert

In October, the production team was forced to make a significant change to the plans for Season Thirty following the death of Howard Attfield, who was intended to play Geoff Noble in several stories. Remembering the positive impression Cribbins had left on the cast and crew, he was invited to reprise his role from Voyage Of The Damned, effectively taking Attfield's place in the 2008 episodes. Cribbins accepted, and Davies decided to rename the character Wilfred Mott. Since he had not been called Stan on-screen, only the end credits for the Christmas special had to be suitably amended. Also added to Voyage Of The Damned was a dedication in memory of Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert, who passed away on November 22nd.

For the third year in a row, Doctor Who was a centrepiece of BBC One's Christmas Day schedule. Propelled by the added spark of Minogue's star power, Voyage Of The Damned was watched by a jaw-dropping audience of 13.3 million viewers. This figure was more than three million in excess of those achieved by the two previous Christmas specials, and represented Doctor Who's best ratings since 16.1 million had watched the fourth episode of City Of Death in October 1979 while industrial action kept the screens dark at rival network ITV. Even more impressively, Voyage Of The Damned placed second amongst all programmes for the week, trailing only the second of two Christmas Day editions of EastEnders. This marked the first time that Doctor Who had ever been positioned so highly. Indeed, the show had previously managed nothing better than a fifth-place finish for the second installment of 1975's The Ark In Space. Was it now just a matter of time before Doctor Who finally claimed the mantle of the week's most-watched broadcast...?

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #20, 19th November 2008, “Christmas Special: Voyage Of The Damned” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #57, 2017, “Story 188: Voyage Of The Damned”, edited by Mark Wright, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (2008), BBC Books.