Joy to the World will be landing on our screens this Christmas.
As Doctor Who fans eagerly anticipate Steven Moffat‘s writing return on the series in this week’s episode, Boom, it has now been confirmed that Moffat has also written the upcoming Christmas special.
Speaking to Tom Spilsbury for Total TV Guide, the former Doctor Who showrunner revealed that he has penned the 2024 Christmas special, which is titled Joy to the World.
The festive special will end up being Moffat’s 50th script he has written for the series in total, with Boom set to be his 49th.
Chatting to Total TV Guide, Moffat said: “I should probably introduce that one from an armchair, ‘Here we are — number 50.’
“But I’m not involved in next year’s series. There are other things coming for me, so I might never write for Doctor Who again.
“As I got to the end of Joy to the World, I did think, ‘Is that it? My final moment?’ So that could be my goodbye. Number 50? I’ll take that.”
As for whether or not we can believe that Moffat won’t return to the world of Doctor Who again, fans will know to take his current statements with a pinch of salt.
Of course, the former showrunner batted away rumours of a possible return for the current season, previously telling RadioTimes.com: “The truth is, if I say anything negative about Doctor Who it goes everywhere, like boom, everywhere, right?
“It doesn’t exactly bring joy to the world that I just say something negative about Doctor Who. The fact is, it’s fine without me.”
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But really, were those clues to his return? Seeing as Moffat mentioned ‘boom’ and ‘joy to the world’, was Moffat underlining his return to the sci-fi series before it was even on many people’s radar? Quite possibly.
However, it has been rumoured for a little while that Moffat would be penning the Christmas 2024 script, after Alison Sterling’s CV had been updated to note she had worked on the show’s 2024 Christmas special and stated that the writer was Moffat.
At the time, the notes had been removed, and when approached by RadioTimes.com the BBC declined to comment.
As for what the 2024 Christmas special will be about, we know that it’s set during the Second World War, and that Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan will be starring in the episode as a guest star.
She will, of course, be joined Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, and Coughlan will be the Doctor’s one-off companion, with first-look images showing the actress in a red jacket and matching beret.
Whovians have the upcoming Boom episode to look forward to for now, with our own review calling it a “heart-stopping return” for Moffat, teasing that the episode marks something a bit different for the writer, who is known for providing some of the series’s most chilling monsters and storylines.
Revealing more about Boom on the official Doctor Who podcast, Russell T Davies teased: “We’re on war-torn planet Kastarion 3. It’s bleak, it’s scary, it’s muddy, it’s foggy, it’s dangerous, and that throws Ncuti’s Doctor into the most extraordinary situation in which both he and Ruby have to act at the height of their powers and use all their wits to escape from this.
“There’s a great supporting cast and there’s a great supporting character called Splice, and one thing I would say in this story is be very careful about saying Splice’s father’s name out loud.”
Doctor Who continues on Saturday 18th May on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Previous seasons are 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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