Doctor Who‘s upcoming Christmas special should break the usual festive formula to deal with the Timeless Child. Jodie Whittaker had barely settled into her TARDIS when the long-running Timeless Child storyline was introduced, but it wasn’t until Doctor Who‘s season 12 finale that answers finally arrived, and the truth rocked Doctor Who to its core. Meeting with the Master on a decimated Gallifrey, the Doctor learned her true past. As a youngster, the Doctor dropped from a rift and was adopted by Gallifrey, whose scientists engineered her natural regeneration ability to create the Time Lords. The Doctor was then recruited into a mysterious unit known as The Division and burned through regeneration after regeneration before her memory was wiped and she turned into William Hartnell.
Doctor Who‘s 2020 Christmas special, “Revolution of the Daleks,” presents the first opportunity to catch up with the Thirteenth Doctor since that seismic, franchise-shifting reveal. Whether airing on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, or somewhere in between, the Doctor Who Christmas special has become an annual tradition since 2005. Regeneration episodes aside, Doctor Who‘s festive output usually follows the same template – an adventure-filled romp through time with a festive edge and a happy, uplifting ending that audiences can enjoy over their Christmas leftovers. Oftentimes, a Christmas special will end with some setup for the season to come, but the real meaty stuff is almost always saved for later.
In all likelihood, “Revolution of the Daleks” will follow the same pattern. The Doctor has to escape her mysterious prison, reunite with her companions, halt the titular Dalek uprising, and find time to squeeze in a few holiday-themed gags. With such a packed to-do list, can Doctor Who‘s 2020 Christmas special dig into the aftermath of the Timeless Child? How will the Doctor react to learning her shocking true history? Will she suffer an identity crisis and question the fidelity of her memories? And now the door has been unlocked, will the Doctor begin to remember other repressed memories from her days in the Division? Doctor Who could spend a whole episode on Whittaker’s reaction to the Timeless Child and still have material to spare.
Needless to say, “Revolution of the Daleks” won’t take that route, but neither can the episode afford to ignore how last season rewrote over half a century of Doctor Who history. There’s a danger that the Thirteenth Doctor will compartmentalize her knowledge of the Timeless Child and focus squarely on the Dalek danger at hand. Any and all reaction to the Timeless Child would be deferred until Doctor Who season 13, allowing the Christmas episode to remain a run-of-the-mill Dalek caper. In this scenario, the Timeless Child would become a giant elephant in the room, as Doctor Who fans are concerned about little else right now. To focus on a light-hearted romp after the heavy business of season 12’s finale would be like mowing the lawn when the house is on fire – Doctor Who should have other priorities.
In an ideal universe, Doctor Who‘s 2020 Christmas special would find a balance between the usual festive fun and tackling the ramifications of the Timeless Child, perhaps even combining the two. Maybe the Doctor uses her newfound knowledge to gain an advantage over the Daleks, or perhaps the Daleks discover the true origin of the Time Lords and alter their tactics in response. After all, if the Doctor is wiped from existence, the entire Time Lord race comes to an end. Doctor Who needs to have these big conversations sooner rather than later.
