The BBC have released a new look at Joy to the World, the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas Special and it looks every bit the bonkers brilliance we’d expect from the The Doctor’s (Ncuti Gatwa from Sex Education) festive outings.
The new trailer gives us a much bigger glimpse of the ‘Time Hotel’, a secret venue in which guests can stay in rooms throughout the hotel’s history, bending the rules of time and space to spend a night or two in the past. We also meet Nicola Coughlan’s (Derry Girls) Joy, a one off companion and mysterious guest of the hotel. As Joel Fry’s (Game of Thrones) concierge Trev puts it, it’s “Christmas, everywhere, all at once”. There’s also runaway trains, a hungry T-Rex, ancient tombs, and the small matter of a second Doctor.
The special will air on BBC One and be available to stream on BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day in the UK, with international viewers able to stream on Disney Plus. And it promises to be quite the present to unwrap as “the episode introduces Joy, who checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her quiet stay is anything but ordinary. When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas. Where has the Doctor been? What is going on in Joy’s hotel room? An old enemy of the Doctor’s is lurking in the wings and all of human history hangs in the balance. Can the Doctor save Christmas?”
While Russell T. Davies is now back on board as showrunner for this new era, the 2024 special is penned by another former head honcho – Steven Moffat. Moffat ran the show during the tenures of the Eleventh (Matt Smith) and Twelfth (Peter Capaldi) Doctors, producing what many fans would argue are the best Christmas specials the show has aired. Add that to the fact that a Christmas Day visit from the Doctor only made its return last year after somewhat of a hiatus (although there were a few New Years episodes during that time), and it’s safe to say excitement is out of this world.
The new special continues somewhat of a reboot phase for the show, which rebranded to season one when Ncuti Gatwa took the reins for his first full season earlier in the year. The return of Davies as showrunner signaled an attempt to recapture the heights of the David Tennant era, even going so far as to sneak the actor back in as the Fourteenth Doctor, a short tenure between Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor and the current incarnation that lasted through just the three 60th Anniversary Specials.
Gatwa took over after the bi-generation in that mini-run’s finale and had his debut proper in last year’s Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road.” But with an entire season under his belt, it’s all now business as usual for Gatwa, who excelled in the role throughout the eight-episode run, delivering one powerhouse performance after another. The Christmas specials are normally fluffier affairs than the likes of space racists and vengeful ancient gods, so this should be an opportunity for Gatwa to have some fun with the role. Although if the adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor so far are anything to go by, while snow may not fall this Christmas, tears certainly will.