Fans of Doctor Who can look forward to some holiday cheer from the upcoming New Year’s Day special, the episode’s director Annetta Laufer has promised.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview, the Eve of the Daleks director said that showrunner Chris Chibnall wanted the festive special to be upbeat this year.
“Chris had said he wanted to have an episode that had a bit more of a positive, magical element to it, because the previous ones had been more serious, and less of the festive mood.
“And I guess because of the year we’d been having, he wanted something more festive so I knew that was coming.
“And then he basically pitched it as a romcom, but with Daleks. Which I thought was really exciting, because the two just really don’t go together [laughs]. So I thought it would be a really fun way to sort of bend that genre, really.”
The upcoming special guest stars Aisling Bea as storage company manager Sarah and Adjani Salmon as Nick, a customer who harbours romantic feelings for her.
As for how festive the special gets, Laufer added: “It’s set on New Year’s Eve, but…I don’t know how much I can say!
“But yeah, at the end, you go, ‘Yes, this is a festive episode.’”
Laufer also revealed that the episode will put a new twist on the familiar time loop format, with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and her friends being hunted by Daleks over and over again.
Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton.