A Very Doctor Who Gift Guide for Christmas 2025

Ho ho ho! What do you know? It’s December, and Christmas is coming (it comes around quicker every year, doesn’t it?). It is a time for forgiveness, thanksgiving, and spreading yuletide cheer. But more importantly than that, it’s a time for us Doctor Who fans to acquire some new trinkets to add to the ever-growing shelves and cabinets, because we have been particularly good this year.

Of course, many of us face a quandary this holiday season… You have that Doctor Who fan in your life, and you’re trying to find an answer to the first question, the oldest question in the universe; the question you’ve been running from all of your life… what do you get them? The answer eludes you. And it is particularly important that this year, of all years with no Christmas Special to look forward to, that you can gift them something to warm their Whovian cockles.

Fret not! I am here to save your Christmas in an adventure far more exciting than all the classics like The Polar Express or Elf. Moreover, it’ll be more exciting than most of the Doctor Who Christmas specials. Which means to say… I’m just gonna tell you what kind of things you could buy for that Doctor Who fan that you know.

So warm up the Christmas Pudding, put on some Christmas Jazz, check that your Christmas Tree hasn’t been sent by aliens to kill you, and let’s unwrap this present…

A Doctor Who-related Piece of Home Media

Every Doctor Who Collector has their favourite line of items to collect. Some revel in catching every single Battles in Time trading card, while others buy every offering from Big Finish. However, I think it is probably a safe bet that if you are a Who Fan, you cannot resist a nice, shiny VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray. Truly an enriching gift, where your Who fan gift recipient can enjoy hours of fun rewatching their favourite episodes, and diving into treasure troves of special features.

Particularly on the Collection Blu-Ray sets, the value-added material is worth the price of the sets alone (more so than the newer TV episodes when they get releases – the special features are normally just taken from the YouTube channel, so you don’t actually need to buy the set to watch them). These are available in the UK from the usual places like Amazon, HMV, Zavvi and Palewaves (if you’re outside the UK, check your usual online retailer) and typically have the last few releases in stock.

Now this is a slightly tricky one, because I think of all the things you could suggest that you buy a Doctor Who fan, they’ve probably bought these already. We pick up them Blu-Rays and Steelbooks like London seems to pick up alien invasions every Christmas – no, scratch that, every week – in the Doctor Who universe. So you gotta get creative here.

Maybe take a peek at their shelves next time you visit them… is there a season they are missing? Perhaps they don’t normally buy the animations, so you can pick one of those out for them? If you are feeling particularly generous, maybe dig around eBay for a collector’s item like a steelbook of their favourite season or an old VHS for some vintage appeal?

Although if their favourite is series 9, don’t bother trying to find an affordable steelbook of that one. I know it’s Christmas, but that’s a miracle that can’t be worked.

A Doctor Who-related Piece of Reading Material

I don’t know about you, but I love to curl up over the Christmas season with a good book. And it’s even better if it’s of the Doctor Who variety.

Doctor Who fans love books! Whether it’s to read them or to simply hold on to them because they look nice and sit nicely on the bookshelf gathering dust, they spark so much joy for us. A perfect stocking filler for that Who fan that you know.

But there are so many books, which ones do you choose? Honestly, take your pick, because they all offer something unique of value.

You have the Target novelisation range, known for providing Classic Who fans the opportunity to revisit the TV episodes, and still continuing for the modern series for nostalgia purposes. You can opt for a more recent episode from Ncuti’s era – the covers are beautifully designed, and may provide the receiver of the present a gateway into the backlog of various modern Who novelisations, and novelisations of pretty much all of the classic series. Another safe bet would be picking the target novel of one of the ‘fan favourites’ – this could be The Caves of Androzani, The Three Doctors, Genesis of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, The Daleks… the list goes on (and there is more than just Dalek stories).

While on the subject of The Daleks -David Whittaker’s novelisation of their first television appearance, also known as Dr Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks – there is also the absolutely GORGEOUS illustrated edition of the novel in big hardback format, with the pictures drawn by Robert Hack. Another edition of the sort was made for Russell T Davies’ novelisation of his episode Rose, and both of these are two of my favourite Doctor Who books that I own. They provide a fun, alternative way to experience the novels and make for great coffee table books.

While on the subject of coffee table books, you always have the option of picking up the Doctor Who Annual, or whatever the latest reference or non-fiction book is centred around the show. The latest release I’ve spotted is Doctor Who: The Art of Time Travel by Peter MckInstry, which is a behind-the-scenes book showcasing lots of different Doctor Who art. But there are millions of books like this to choose from – from years gone by, my favourites have been The Vault (which celebrated the 50th anniversary), The Time Traveller’s Almanack (which basically describes the timeline of the history of the universe in Doctor Who) and The Doctor Who Encyclopedia (in its various forms).

Don’t worry if the Who fan in your life has too many of these sorts of books – we absolutely love flicking through these while sipping tea. There can never be too many (unless your Who fan happens to be a minimalist).

You want more book recommendations? Well, there are always the new series tie-in novels; there have been a few recently from BBC Books featuring the fifteenth Doctor. Or you can shop some of the awesome books around the show from independent publishers. Not being sponsored here, but recently I have enjoyed The DNA of Doctor Who: The Philip Hinchcliffe Years – a collection of essays around every episode of those seasons – and Go Figure – a celebration of 20 years of Character Options figures – both by Roundell Publishing. So if the person you’re gifting likes Doctor Who and reading, you really are spoiled for choice.

A Doctor Who-related Figure

While on the subject of Character Options figures (I’m on fire with the segways today, aren’t I?), there is also the option to gift a Who figure to your Who fan. And this works for fans young and old. For the kids, they could receive a Cyberman to pair with their 8th Doctor action figure, and they can act out battles across space and time, which happen in their made-up 8th Doctor spin-off show. For the adults… they can do the same! You can’t go far wrong with any figure of any kind as a present under the tree.

Where do you source these figures? Well, it depends on what you are trying to get. Your Who Fan’s favourite monster may be hard to come by, so you might need to explore the recesses of eBay. If your Who Fan isn’t particularly picky (and well done, because you’re one of the lucky ones), you can just go into B&M and get whatever they have on the shelf. Gone are the days when the figures were absolutely everywhere, so to get a figure, you’ll have to go on a bit more of an adventure than if you were getting books or Blu-rays.

You could also go in a direction that the Who Fan will not expect… imagine this, they open up a present thinking ‘This feels very much like a Doctor Who figure’, and they open it and discover… it’s Dapol! Or it’s a 3.75-inch figure from a short-lived range where they were experimenting. A figure oddity might make for a memorable Christmas treat (or a disastrous one?). But if you want to just play it safe, Character Options 5.5-inch figures are sure to make anyone happy.

A Doctor Who-related Piece of Clothing

Again, lots of room to inject some of that Christmas creative license here. You could get your Who fan a pair of TARDIS socks (I received a pair last year from some of my best friends… and let me tell you, I wear them to conventions, or just on random days where I want a bit of a spring in my step, and I absolutely ADORE them). You could choose one of the limitless Doctor Who t-shirts. Or, if you wanted, you could browse the array of screen-accurate Doctor Who pieces of clothing from the legendary Lovarzi.

For me, potentially the all-time greatest piece of Doctor Who merch is the Fourth Doctor scarf made by Lovarzi (I ALWAYS wear this to conventions), and I believe you can get this in various sizes. Plus, you could get the Seventh Doctor’s question mark jumper, question mark umbrella, and the 13th Doctor’s scarf, which was only seen in one scene – but you can buy it! You could even spin it for a young Who fan that Santa Claus made a deal with the Doctor himself…

“No way, Dad, it’s the Doctor’s cardigan that he wore in The Ark in Space?”

“That’s right, Johnny. Father Christmas is mates with him, and the Doctor himself decided you should have one of his spare ones. Merry Christmas, my son.”

“How does the Doctor know who I am?”

“Urm… he knows everyone. Now shut up and wear your cardigan. And also, it’s great that a lad of your age watches Classic Doctor Who.”

“Oh, you know what it’s like, Old Man, when you’re disillusioned with the new series, and all you have to watch over Christmas is a spin-off about the Sea Devils.”

“That’s my boy.”

Anyway…

Honestly, Any Piece of Doctor Who-related Tat You Can Find, We Will Probably Love It

OK, this article has been a little bit tongue-in-cheek and is half me giving recommendations, half me just nerding out about the kind of merch I’m interested in. A lot of this stuff is quite pricey, and many of us might not want to spend that much for one reason or another. The good news is… Doctor Who fans will pretty much be happy with anything you get them.

That’s right! Slap Doctor Who on it, and we literally could not give a flying robot Santa.

Wanna give your Who fan some helpful household items? There are glasses with the TARDIS printed on them, coasters with Daleks on them, Sonic Screwdriver pizza cutters, pillows with Matt Smith’s face on them… you name it, it probably exists.

If you find something that is in some way Doctor Who-related, even if it is tenuous like a 1960s police box statue – not a TARDIS statue, a police box (although let’s be honest, they’re all TARDISes to us) – we would be very happy indeed. It would quite honestly make our Christmas.

So, actually, the solution to your problem is very simple. Buy the first bit of Doctor Who tat you see, and then Christmas is sorted.

Joy to the World!

To be honest, whatever you decide to gift that Who Fan in your life, it is the thought you’ve put into getting them something in the first place that will make them smile. Except maybe if you give them the Class DVD, they probably won’t appreciate that.

All jokes aside, what I actually think is that there are more important things about Christmas than the exchange of material goods. Wherever you’re at, whatever you’re up to… do something that makes you feel merry and bright. And while you’re at it, see if you can do something that makes a difference for someone else, too.

Happy Holidays, Who Fans.