The episode addresses numerous plot threads developed over the course of Smith's tenure, while also dealing with the regeneration limit established in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin.

"The Time of the Doctor" was the most-watched episode of the show in the United States, and obtained a 30.7% viewer share in the UK.

The Eleventh Doctor and Clara are offered the opportunity to explore to find the source of the message on the planet by the church's head, Tasha Lem.

Owing to his work on Lost River, which required him to have a buzz cut, Matt Smith had to wear a wig to mimic the Doctor's signature hairstyle.

[5] In August 2013, it was revealed that the Cybermen would feature in the Christmas episode, when one of the show's regular stunt artists,[6] Darrelle "Daz" Parker, tweeted that she would be playing a Cyberman.

Elizabeth Rider had voiced the evil satnav system ATMOS in The Sontaran Stratagem in 2008; and Lady Ellen in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode Lost in Time in 2010.

Gillan, like Smith, had to wear a wig (in her case, made from her own hair) after shaving her head to appear in the film Guardians of the Galaxy.

[12] The location was Lydstep Flats, which had been previously used in Series 1 as the Powell Estate where Rose Tyler lived with her mother Jackie.

[citation needed] On 19 September 2013, scenes were being filmed in the evening at Puzzlewood with fake snow being scattered over certain areas.

[21] On 17 December 2013, BBC One released another Christmas trailer, featuring Clara calling the Doctor during a Cyberman attack on the TARDIS.

[28] The episode was also shown on 25 December in the United States on BBC America,[29] where, with 2.47m viewers, it achieved the highest ever audience figures for the channel, beating the previous record set just over a month beforehand with "The Day of the Doctor".

[31] In Australia it aired on 26 December on ABC1,[32] and in New Zealand, it screened on Prime Television during Boxing Day evening with 106,390 viewers.

He wrote that Steven Moffat had "performed the fourth remix of the show's mythology in a row, tying up strands that date back to the beginning of Matt Smith's run."

"[40] Mark Snow of IGN gave the episode a score of 8.4, "GREAT", writing that "'The Time of the Doctor' was an exemplary exercise in celebrating the departure of a loved one.

While criticising its "rapid, almost breathless pace", he concluded, "It was a melancholic yet ultimately merry end to one of the show's best Doctors to date.

"[36] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times said that Matt Smith exited "with comic energy" and "grace", stating, "The Christmas special embodies the heartfelt style and playfulness that Matt Smith brought to his spell as the Time Lord.

He criticised the pacing, noting that "viewers hoping for an all-out intergalactic bloodbath must've left feeling disappointed, hundreds of years of inter-species warfare were skipped over in the blink of an eye".

[43] Morgan Jeffrey of Digital Spy gave the episode 4 stars out of 5 and said that "Matt Smith steals the show, his final turn on Doctor Who is one of his very finest, perhaps even his absolute best."

He also was positive towards Clara and suggested that she was now being written in a more human, empathetic way "in the wake of the Impossible Girl arc", although such efforts were "well-intentioned but rushed", he felt that there were "steps being taken in the right direction" with the character.

He is alternately grumpy, funny, awkward, flirty, inquisitive, giddy, and heartbroken, and that simply covers the bits up to the reveal of the crack in reality.

He’s the Doctor, more than any other, who has run away and not wanted to be tied to any one place or time... compelled to stay put to save each and every life he can."

The final scene "[allowed] the Eleventh Doctor to go out with dignity and both appreciate the sadness of leaving without casting a pall over the new."

"[45] Tim Martin of The Telegraph gave the episode three stars, criticising the complexity of the episode and the fact that loose plot holes were all left to be answered in just 60 minutes: "Every time the Gordian plot-knot gets sonic-screwdrivered into submission for the 60-minute limit, the writers just tap the remnants into Later.

Perky, resourceful, best-friend material, Jenna Coleman's Clara has a tangible echo of Lis Sladen's Sarah about her."

[51] Selected pieces of score from "The Time of the Doctor", as composed by Murray Gold, were released on 24 November 2014 by Silva Screen Records.