'Doctor Who's 2024 Christmas Episode Sneak Peek Coming in November
The tradition of families gathering around the telly at Christmas in the U.K. to watch Christmas specials from their favorite series has been going on since the early 1980s; however, it wasn't until the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who that it gained enough cultural cache to earn one. Almost 20 years on, Doctor Who Holiday episodes have practically become an institution unto themselves, having only skipped out on the seasonal special once, in 2022; even in years when there's been no season (2009, 2013, 2016), there has at least been a Christmas Day (or New Year's Day) installment, (which is how Peter Capaldi wound up doing two Christmas themed episodes in a row during his Twelfth Doctor tenure).
When Russell T. Davies rebooted Doctor Who the first time in 2005, the holiday editions weren't necessarily holiday-themed. Sure, the Tenth Doctor Regeneration episode introducing David Tennant was called "The Christmas Invasion," and "The Runaway Bride" had exploding Santas. But fans were just as likely to get Kylie Minogue on the Spaceship Titanic or the return of the Time Lords. It wasn't until Steven Moffat took over as Showrunner in 2010 that Christmas Episodes became Christmas-centric, even if it was something as dumb as Matt Smith regenerating in a town called Christmas. It was notable that when Chris Chibnall took over from Moffat, he tried to un-Christmas these specials to make them more universal to viewers who aren't Christian or from the Western traditions, to the point that he even had them air on New Year's Day.
Since Davies' re-reboot brought back David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor, the Christmas specials have returned to December 25th; "The Church on Ruby Road" returned to his old habits of setting adventures at Christmas time, even if the plot centered around non-holiday stories, like a bunch of Rock'n'Roll Goblins living their best musical life on a flying pirate ship. But for the show's upcoming 2024 edition, featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, Davies has called upon Moffat to do the honors, making this our first Very Christmas Episode since 2018.
