The third Doctor Who Christmas special aired on December 25, 2007 and was called The Voyage of the Damned. The highest rated of all the Christmas specials managed an 86% share of the ratings with 13.3 million viewers. The companion this time was Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue. The adventure takes place after Martha has gone so it means that Freema was the only companion not to be in any of the Christmas specials.
The episode was filmed from July 9th through August 8th, 2007 and used the Exchange Building in Swansea as the reception area, the Coal Exchange inn Cardiff Bay was where the reception area and where the storeroom where the TARDIS arrives was built and the Johnsey Estate in Pontypool was where the Titanic corridors, Host storage, the kitchens and the stairwell scenes were filmed.
Filming was interrupted for a few days during the shoot so that David was able to be by his Mother's side when she passed away and then again so he could attend her funeral.
Bernard Cribbens made his first appearance in the new Doctor Who in this episode as the newspaper seller, he appeared in the movie Dalek's Invasion Earth: 2015. He turned up on the day with his own costume suitcase and used his own gloves, red wool cap and a sprig of holly pinned to it. When he turns up later as Wilf we see the same cap and with his Regimental Badge pinned to it.
Clive Swift appears as the tour guide Mr. Copper, he is probably best known for his portrayal of the hen- pecked Richard Bucket from the BBC series Keeping Up Appearances.
The Doctor gets his wish of being able to finally say Allons-y Alonso to Russell Tovey's character, Russell would go on to star in Being Human as the werewolf.
One of the street signs that can be seen in the London scene is Donovan street which was a nod to Kylie's Neighbors co-star Jason Donovan.
On July 31th the 6th Doctor, Colin Baker visited the set, this was the night the Bernard Cribbens was filming his scene, they had worked together in 1981 in a TV movie called Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective.
The show was dedicated to Verity Lambert, the founding producer of Doctor Who, she passed away on November 22, 2007, one day short of the shows 44th anniversary.
If you look at the band in the reception scene you might recognise Murray Gold, the shows composer playing the piano and Ben Foster, the shows arranger and conductor, playing the guitar.