Outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall has revealed that Jodie Whittaker almost starred in a Doctor Who special on Christmas Day.
Chris Chibnall has revealed that Doctor Who almost returned to the Christmas slot during his time as showrunner – but the special was moved after being considered “too scary”.
The sci-fi show, which returns later this year with Russell T Davies as showrunner, aired Christmas Day specials every year from 2005 until 2017, after which Doctor Who would air on New Year’s Day instead.
Chibnall, who left the show with Jodie Whittaker at the end of last year, told Radio Free Skaro that he wanted to bring back the Doctor Who Christmas special but was discouraged by BBC bosses.
“I know some people are really like, ‘Why is there no Christmas special with Jodie?’ as if it’s like a militant policy and it was like we had a conversation at the start,” he said. “The BBC was saying, ‘There’s been a lot of Doctor Who Christmas specials, there’s been a lot of stories with snow in.
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“Also a lot of their big dramas were premiering on New Year’s Day… Sherlock would play there, Dracula would play there, Happy Valley plays there now. So it’s like, well, let’s try that the first year and see what happens.”
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He added that Spyfall, a festive special that aired on New Year’s Day in 2020 and saw Sacha Dhawan make his debut as The Master, was due to air on Christmas Day but was considered too frightening for the slot.
“It’s not like I hate the Christmas specials,” Chibnall continued. “I love them! I love them. And actually Spyfall was going to go out on Christmas Day, and then it was too scary. It was the editorial policy.
“Also it’s like, where do you put the second part? So there was a moment where that was gonna be Christmas Day – Boxing Day.”
The special, which starred Sir Lenny Henry, Stephen Fry and Shobna Gulati as guest stars, followed The Doctor (Whittaker) after being enlisted by MI6 to investigate extraterrestrial attacks on intelligence agents across the world.
While Doctor Who hasn’t aired a Christmas special in six years, Russell T Davies announced last year that he is writing one for 2024.
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
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