Former showrunner, Steven Moffat, has revealed that he’s written this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, titled Joy to the World.
And it’ll be his 50th script for the show!
He says:
“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.”
This is Moffat’s first festive Doctor Who story since Twice Upon a Time in 2017 — but he has a great history with the season, having written, for instance, A Christmas Carol, The Snowmen, Last Christmas, and The Husbands of River Song, among more.
The next time we see Moffat’s Who is this Saturday though! He’s written Boom, the third episode of Doctor Who Series 14, the first episode of the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) era not written by Russell T Davies. The story features the Doctor in the middle of a warzone, having to beat a largely-unseen enemy without moving… because he’s stepped on a landmine. Top set-up!
So far, all we know about Joy to the World is that it was directed by Alex Pillai, and stars Nicola Coughlin, Joel Fry, and Timothy West. It’s also set during the Second World War (so if this is Moffat’s last, there’s a cyclical nature to this, seeing as his first was The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances, also set during the period), and will probably air on Christmas Day 2024.
