VOD News | On 08, Dec 2024

Doctor Who will return on Christmas Day to spread Joy to the World, and a new trailer gives us a first look at the festive special.

The episode introduces Joy, starring Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls), 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, everywhere, all at once?

Guest stars or the special include Steph de Whalley as Anita, Jonathan Aris as Melnak, Joel Fry as Trev, Peter Benedict as Basil, Julia Watson as Hilda, and Niamh Marie Smith as Sylvia.

You can see them in action at 5.10pm on Christmas Day. Here’s the trailer:

 

First look: Doctor Who’s 2024 Christmas special

27th July 2024

This year, all the Doctor wants for Christmas is a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte – or, at least, to give them to the right person. A new trailer for the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special gives us a first look at who that is: Nicola Coughlan.

The Derry Girls and Bridgerton star unveiled the Christmas special at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, with a recorded video message that announced she would be guest-starring in the festive outing.

“I am thrilled to be joining Doctor Who for the Christmas special this year, and I am so excited for you to meet my character, Joy,” she told fans at the convention.

The episode, penned by Steven Moffat, sees the Doctor head from 1940 Manchester to London 2024, where Joy is checking in to a hotel, only for a locked door to open up on an unexpected visitor.

What happens next we’ll have to wait until Christmas to find out, when the seasonal special will air on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and – outside of the UK – Disney+.

The episode was unveiled alongside a spin-off series, The War Between the Land and the Sea, which confirms the Beeb’s and Disney’s ambitions to expand the Whoniverse over the coming years. Read more about the spin-off here, or head this way for our dedicated Whoniverse channel.

Add to Watchlist