Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who) opinion about the episode was divided; the writing and Minogue's performance were both praised and criticised. The episode continues from the end of the third series finale "Last of the Time Lords", when the TARDIS collided with the "Titanic". To investigate further, the Doctor runs the TARDIS's self-repair programme and boards the "Titanic", where he discovers that the "ship" is an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. Modelled after the Earth ocean liner of the same name, the ship is orbiting present-day Earth to observe "primitive cultures"–specifically, Christmas. He decides to stow away, only telling waitress Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue)
Astrid Peth to say yes to being beamed into millions of homes in the run-up to Christmas. She's got a duff album to sell. In truth, Kylie should be grateful to ["Doctor Who"]." David Belcher of "The Herald" wrote that Minogue looked too old to play a waitress. Sam Wollaston of "The Guardian" claimed Kylie's performance was "disappointing" and did not live up to those of Freema Agyeman or Billie Piper in "Doctor Who". Jim Shelley of "The Mirror" stated that Minogue did not "look vivacious enough to be worth all the fuss". Conversely, Paddy Shennan of the "Liverpool Echo" accused the