While Jodie Whittaker is yet to say goodbye to Doctor Who, fans can’t wait for the 60th anniversary – and it’s rumoured that Russell T Davies, David Tennant and Catherine Tate may not be the only staples returning to the show.
Doctor Who is reportedly in talks with BBC bosses to bring back the show’s Christmas Day slot, which was scrapped back in 2017.
According to TV Zone, incoming showrunner Davies is leading conversations between the Doctor Who production team and the BBC to begin an annual run of Christmas specials from 2023 onwards.
These specials would reportedly follow on from those set to feature Tennant and Tate, who’ll be reprising their roles as the iconic Time Lord and his companion Donna Noble.
The BBC declined to comment on the matter when approached by RadioTimes.com.
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Doctor Who regularly returned for a Christmas Day special throughout Davies and Steven Moffat’s eras as showrunners, from 2005 up until 2017, which was the last time we saw the TARDIS on Christmas Day.
Since then, the BBC One show has filmed New Year’s Day specials featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker.
The move to New Year’s didn’t come as a huge surprise, after previous showrunner Moffat hinted at the time of the 2017 Christmas special that the team were running out of festive ideas.
“I sort of think we might have mined and possibly over-mined every single thing we could about Christmas in Doctor Who and the last time we more or less ignored it,” he told RadioTimes.com.
Russell T Davies will be returning to the show for its 60th anniversary in 2023, and will also be introducing the next Doctor – Ncuti Gatwa.
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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