The Doctor Who Christmas specials are a tradition for many fans of the franchise, especially since they typically feature guest stars who otherwise might not be spotlighted in a regular series episode. The 2024 special is no exception.
Showrunner Russell T. Davies announced the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, revealing a first-look clip with a pre-recorded video introduction from a very familiar face. Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan will take center stage in this year’s special, entitled “Joy to the World,” as the titular character.
“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, a determined woman whose life is changed forever when she meets the Doctor,” Coughlan told panel attendees in Hall H. “I had the best, best time shooting this episode with Ncuti [Gatwa, who plays the Doctor] and the whole crew.”
The plot of the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special
The Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special clip shows the Doctor arriving in an elderly couple’s room at the Queens Hotel in Manchester, England in 1940 with a pumpkin latte and a ham and cheese toastie. Air raid sirens blare outside as bombs are dropped, and he leaves as quickly as he arrives. Then the scene changes to show the Orient Express chugging through Italy in 1962, where the Doctor offers the same treats to a dark-haired woman reading a letter.
This goes on for two more shots, with the Doctor appearing at a Mt. Everest base camp in 1953 and then finally arriving at Sandringham Hotel in London in 2024. Moments before he arrives, Joy steps out of a black taxi cab and books a single room at the hotel for one week. She has a brief conversation with a fly, then wields her hotel-issue hair dryer like a gun against a suited Siluian who walks through a mysterious, locked door in her room. The Doctor walks through the same door, offering a satisfied smile when he sees Joy. She’s the recipient of this pumpkin latte and ham and cheese toastie.
Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat wrote this year’s Christmas special. Tonally, this short clip feels like his work, though we hope Joy doesn’t meet a fate similar to other women he’s written. But aside from Coughlan’s reflection on Joy’s arc, brief comments from the writers, and the clip revealed at SDCC 2024, we don’t know much about the story yet.
That said, Davies teased in a behind-the-scenes video, “It’s one of the maddest Christmas specials you’ll ever see. It’s epic, it goes to so many different places. And it’s a great story of who the Doctor is when he’s alone.”
Where and when to watch the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special
The Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special will stream on Christmas Day, December 25, on Disney+ and BBC iPlayer. Season 1 of the recently-rebooted series is currently streaming on both platforms, and Season 2 is expected sometime in 2025.
Published: Jul 27, 2024 04:54 pm