The official synopsis for Doctor Who‘s 2024 seasonal special has been unveiled, revealing its full cast while teasing the return of an old foe. Picking up after the events of Doctor Who season 14, the episode will see the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) drawn to a hotel that offers a selection of rooms from across human history. With Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday reconnecting with her family, Bridgerton and Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan will take on the role of new one-time companion Joy.
With less than 30 days until “Joy to the World” airs, the BBC Media Centre has released a full synopsis for the upcoming Doctor Who seasonal episode as part of their Christmas Day television guide. As Joy checks into a seemingly ordinary hotel, she is drawn into an adventure with the Fifteenth Doctor across Earth throughout its history, though there is far more in store for the two of them. Check out the synopsis below:
Ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte? The Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, returns this Christmas for a time-hopping trip through the history of Earth. 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?
In addition to the synopsis, the full cast list for “Joy to the World” was unveiled. Alongside Gatwa, Coughlan, and the previously seen Jonathan Aris as the Silurian Melnak, the episode will feature Our Flag Means Death and Cruella‘s Joel Fry as Trev, Dark‘s Peter Benedict as Basil, Steph de Whalley as Anita, Julie Watson, and Niam Marie Smith as Sylvia.
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One returning villain has already been confirmed to play a role in the upcoming seasonal special. After making their return in season 14’s “Boom,” it has been confirmed that Melnak is associated with arms manufacturer Villengard, a group the Doctor previously brought down in his ninth incarnation. While it is unlikely that they will play a major role, the cover of Doctor Who Magazine‘s upcoming issue featured a nod to Prisoner Zero, the main antagonist of Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor debut, “The Eleventh Hour.”
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However, also featured in the background behind Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor was a Christmas-inspired pattern featuring a Dalek. Yet to be seen on-screen in Gatwa’s era, it was teased by executive producer Joe Collins and production designer Philip Sims that not only would the Daleks return, but they would have a redesign too. Though Villengard is seemingly the force responsible for the Doctor’s upcoming seasonal woes, it would not be out of character for the Daleks to manipulate ambitious and greedy parties to do their bidding, so their presence on the magazine cover could be a subtle hint of their involvement.
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Currently, “Joy to the World” is a standalone adventure that will have a break from the threads that Doctor Who season 15 will pick back up on. According to writer Steven Moffat, he was given the freedom to develop his own story while showrunner Russell T Davies continued to develop the main series. As such, the episode could offer plenty of freedom for some classic foes to make a return without having to worry about carrying over into the upcoming 2025 episodes.
With less than a month to go, viewers may not have to wait long until new hints about the special’s foes emerge. Alongside the upcoming issue of the magazine, new trailers may offer a hint about just what is behind the events of Doctor Who‘s 2024 seasonal special.
Source: BBC Media Centre