The Doctor Who Christmas special is a staple of festive TV, and has been for the best part of 20 years, and the show's guest stars help make it even more magical.

With 13 Christmas specials under its belt (and a 14th on the way), here's a look at some of the biggest stars to have landed a guest spot in the festive editions of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who Christmas special guest stars - Dame Penelope Wilton

Back in 2005, Doctor Who Christmas specials weren't a thing. Yes, a couple of the classic series' episodes had aired on or around Christmas, but the show had never had a dedicated Christmas special before.

In 2005, this all changed with The Christmas Invasion. Christopher Eccleston had just regenerated into David Tennant, Billie Piper's Rose was helpless and, to make matters worse, aliens were on their way to enslave humanity.

And at the centre of it all was Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, played by Penelope Wilton.

Wilton was best known for appearing in Ever Decreasing Circles in the 80s, as well as featuring in The Borrowers and Shaun of the Dead.

In 2005, she appeared in two Doctor Who episodes of the show before returning as a guest star for the Christmas special.

She later returned to the show in 2008, where she was exterminated by Daleks whilst attempting to protect the Earth.

Catherine Tate

Just moments after saying a heartbreaking goodbye to Rose (Piper), the Doctor encountered Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate.

Alongside loudmouth runaway bride Donna, the Doctor fought the Racnoss (a big red spider), saving Christmas - and the world - in the process.

At the time, Tate was best known for her sketch series, The Catherine Tate Show, as well as the dark comedy Wild West.

Tate returned to the show in 2008 as a fully-fledged companion, leaving at the end of Series 4 in heartbreaking circumstances.

She returned briefly in David Tennant's final episodes, before reuniting with him last year for three episodes to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary.

She thankfully received a happier ending this time around.

Doctor Who Christmas special guest cast include famous singers including Kylie Minogue

In news that shocked pretty much everybody back in 2007, it was revealed that Australian pop sensation Kylie Minogue would be appearing in that year's Christmas Special, Voyage of the Damned.

Minogue played Astrid Peth, a waitress on the doomed spaceship, Titanic, which was circling the skies of planet Earth on Christmas Eve.

Alongside the Doctor, she stopped the Titanic from crashing into the planet, saving the world. However, she heartbreakingly sacrificed herself to save the day.

Poor Kylie.

David Morrissey

In the 2008 Christmas special, The Next Doctor, David Morrissey played a possible future Doctor - except he didn't. It's complicated.

Before his stint on the show, Morrissey had made a name for himself appearing in dramas such as State of Play and The Deal, which saw him pick up awards.

He had also featured in Blackpool alongside David Tennant and The Other Boelyn Girl.

Since fighting the Cybermen on Doctor Who, he has continued to star in a wide range of shows and movies, including Sherwood, The Walking Dead, and Daddy Issues.

Katherine Jenkins

In 2010, Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins made her acting debut in Matt Smith's debut Christmas special, A Christmas Carol.

Set on the planet Ember, the story followed the miserly Kazran, the controller of the weather on the planet. After refusing to move the clouds so a crashing spaceship could land, the Doctor took Kazran on a journey throughout his life in a bid to turn him into a kinder man.

Along the way, Kazran came to meet Abigail (Jenkins) who he fell in love with. However, Abigail only had a few days left to live, making their love story that much more heartbreaking.

Since Doctor Who, Jenkins has only done a couple of other acting gigs, those being a TV movie adaption of the Dylan Thomas drama, Under Milkwood, and an appearance in the feature film Minimata.

She has continued to sing, releasing six albums since her days on Doctor Who.

Sir Ian McKellen

Technically, he did appear in a Doctor Who Christmas special, just not in person.

Sir Ian - or to be more precise, his voice - featured in the 2012 Christmas special, The Snowmen, where he voiced the Great Intelligence, a corporeal enemy of the Doctor's last seen in the 1960s.

Does Sir Ian need any introduction? Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, Magneto in X-Men, more Shakespearean plays than you can shake a stick at, The DaVinci Code, Sherlock Holmes in Mr Holmes, and we're not even scratching the surface...

It's just a shame he hasn't appeared on the show in person. Well, yet, anyway...

Nick Frost

In 2014, during Peter Capaldi's first season of Doctor Who, Nick Frost was brought in as a guest star to play Santa in a Christmas special.

In the festive episode, titled Last Christmas, the Doctor, Clara (Jenna Coleman), Santa, his elves, and a group of arctic explorers fought the Dream Crabs, who would create dream scenarios that were almost impossible for our heroes to escape from.

Before his Doctor Who stint, Frost had co-led the hugely successful Cornetto trilogy - Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End - alongside Simon Pegg (another Doctor Who alumni). He had also appeared in Attack the Block in 2011, which also featured future Doctor Jodie Whittaker.

Since donning the iconic red suit and white beard, Frost has starred in Sicknote, Into the Badlands, and voiced a droid in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

Matt Lucas

Matt Lucas is one of the very few guest stars to have appeared in three Doctor Who Christmas specials.

The comedian first appeared in the 2015 special, The Husbands of River Song, where he played the Doctor's wife's assistant, Nardole.

He returned in the 2016 special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, this time as a fully-fledged companion, and again in the 2017 special, Twice Upon A Time, where he briefly popped up to say goodbye to Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor.

Away from Doctor Who, Lucas is best known for Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, as well as appearances in Bridesmaids and Paddington.

Since Doctor Who he has been a guest panelist on The Masked Singer and a presenter on the Great British Bake Off. His most recent movie role was in the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II.

Davina McCall has been a guest star in more than one Doctor Who Christmas Special

Last Christmas saw Davina McCall appear in Doctor Who for the second time in her career. Yes, you read that correctly. The second time.

When was the first time, you ask? Well, it was back in 2005, during Christopher Eccleston's series finale. Davina voiced the Davina Droid in a futuristic version of Big Brother that the Doctor found himself in.

Fast forward 18 years, and Davina returned to the show - as herself, this time - in Ncuti Gatwa's first full episode, The Church on Ruby Road.

Davina was helping Ruby find out who her birth mother was on her TV show, before being unceremoniously killed by goblins, who dropped a Christmas Tree on her.

However, at the end of the episode, Davina was saved by the Doctor, who stopped the Christmas tree from falling on her.

"Merry Christmas, Davina McCall," he said with a wink. Quite.

Nicola Coughlan in the Doctor Who Christmas special 2024

This Christmas, Nicola Coughlan will hop aboard the TARDIS in Joy to the World.

Nicola will play Joy, a young woman who books a room at the Time Hotel. This puts her on a collision course with the Doctor, Silurians, dinosaurs, and a mysterious briefcase.

Viewers will recognise Coughlan from her roles on Derry Girls and Bridgerton. She was co-lead of the latest series of Bridgerton, where her character, Penelope Featherington, fell in love with Colin Bridgerton.

She is set to appear in a movie adaptation of The Magic Faraway Tree, which will also star Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, and Michael Palin.

The Doctor Who Christmas special will air on Christmas Day at 5.10pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.