The Doctor Who holiday special will release on New Year’s Day. When Russell T. Davies relaunched Doctor Who back in 2005, he swiftly established a tradition of holiday specials. Under Davies and his successor Steven Moffat, these tended to air on Christmas Day, making for a welcome festive treat for fans. The Doctor Who team took full advantage of the timing, facing the Doctor with killer Santas, murderous Christmas trees, and deadly snowmen.
Current showrunner Chris Chibnall has avoided making his stories too festive, allowing the BBC to decide whether to air the specials on Christmas Day or on New Year’s Day. This year’s holiday special was thankfully filmed before the coronavirus pandemic shut production down for several months, but Chibnall and his crew have refused to say exactly when it would air. In truth, this was probably much more difficult for BBC execs than usual, because production of several other shows has been disrupted as well, so the Christmas schedule will have been challenging to put together.
The BBC has released a new trailer for the Doctor Who holiday special, finally confirming it will air on New Year’s Day. This allows the broadcaster to stagger prime-time viewing across the whole festive period, and its timing will no doubt be appreciated by British families who will be unable to celebrate the New Year together due to restrictions imposed against the pandemic.
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There’s an odd sense in which this year’s Doctor Who holiday special feels more like a continuation of the season 12 story than an event in its own right. The story is expected to deal with the repercussions of the Timeless Child reveal, as the Doctor is forced to redefine her identity now she knows she is not actually a Time Lord at all. The trailer focuses upon the Doctor’s friends, who believe they have been abandoned by the Doctor and are simply trying to get on with their life on Earth. Unfortunately it looks as though they will find themselves confronted with a terrifying threat – Daleks in 10 Downing Street, with the Machiavellian aliens manipulating both British and American politicians in order to find a new way to attack the Earth. They’ll be assisted by John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness, a man who knows a thing or two about defending the Earth without the Doctor’s help.
The trailer is the smartest promotional strategy possible. It spends precious little time on the Doctor, reminding viewers she is imprisoned by the Judoon, and avoiding giving any hint of how she breaks out. One popular theory is that the Doctor will actually need help – from Jo Martin’s mysterious Fugitive Doctor, the only one who could conceivably know where she is. If so, the Doctor Who trailer avoids dropping any hints. Viewers will have to wait until New Year’s Day to learn the truth.