Doctor Who Christmas special reveals Nicola Coughlan as Joy

Season 14 of the latest incarnation of Doctor Who may have only ended last month, but we are already looking ahead to the Christmas special 2024 that the return of Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor, together with a very special guest. This year's special was announced at San Diego Comic-Con during the “Into the Whoniverse” panel and will – you guessed it – air again on Christmas and contains many surprises. not least Bridgerton with Nicola Coughlan.

Coughlan was present during the SDCC panel via video (via YouTube) to introduce the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special, Joy for the worldin which the actress will play the character Joy (of course). “I am very happy to be part of Doctor Who for this year's Christmas special”, She said: “And I’m so excited for you to meet my character, Joy.” Coughlan later described her new addition as “determined woman whose life changes forever when she meets the Doctor.”

Before their introduction, there was a long clip of Joy for the worldin which Gatwa, as a Time Lord, travels from Manchester in 1940 to the Orient Express in Italy in 1962, then on to Mount Everest in 1953 and finally to modern-day London in 2024, as he appears to be just trying to bring a nice tray of a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte to anyone who will accept the snack. Meanwhile, Joy has checked into a hotel for a week and is met by a Silurian before the Doctor makes his grand entrance. Watch the clip below.

Russell T. Davies calls the new Doctor Who Christmas special “crazy”

Doctor Who

4.5/5

Doctor Who originally premiered in 1963 and is a science fiction series that follows a powerful being known as a Time Lord, referred to as the Doctor. Using an interdimensional time travel ship called the TARDIS, the Doctor travels through time and space with various companions as they solve numerous problems and help avert disasters while nearly causing them. Although the Doctor is always the same character, they experience regenerations, allowing them to be recast as a unique immortal being with new personality traits every few seasons.

Release date

December 25, 2023

Main genre

Science fiction

Pour

Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, Susan Twist, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Jemma Redgrave, Yasmin Finney, Anita Dobson

Seasons

2

The Doctor Who Christmas specials are a relatively new addition to the franchise considering its long history dating back to 1963. In the classic era, there were only a few episodes mentioning the holiday, and it wasn't until the modern era, which began in 2005, that they became a regular occurrence, with Christmas specials airing every year and the occasional New Year's special added to round it all out. To date, there have been 19 holiday specials in total, with the upcoming 2024 special being the 20th.

What can fans expect from Joy for the worldnot much has been revealed other than that there will be a new companion played by Varada Sethu, but what about the overall plot, which was written by Steven Moffat? Showrunner Russell T Davies isn't saying much, but recently gave a sneak peek in a behind-the-scenes video of the final episode of season 14, Realm of Deaththat this year’s Christmas spectacle “one of the craziest” episodes that long-time fans of the series have ever seen.

“Now the Doctor travels on, and guess what keeps happening to the Doctor? Christmas. Christmas is coming. I can't give much more away, but work has already started on it, and it's crazy, it's one of the craziest Christmas specials you'll ever see. It's epic, it goes to so many different places. And it's a great story about who the Doctor is when he's alone.”

Related

Doctor Who SDCC panel reveals return of 50-year-old villains for new spin-off series

The world of Doctor Who just got bigger thanks to the announcement of a limited spin-off series bringing back the classic villains from 1972.

With a promise like that, we'll definitely have our pumpkin lattes ready this Christmas to see what new adventures the Doctor has in store for us next.