Steven Moffat has written the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas Special entitled Joy To The World.
Almost as soon as Russell T Davies announced he was returning as showrunner on Doctor Who, fans began speculating about who else might be returning. Top of the list for many was Steven Moffat, who’s clocked up more Doctor Who scripts than any other writer.
Rumour turned into fact earlier this year, when it was confirmed that Moffat had indeed returned to the fold to pen the third episode in Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson’s debut series, entitled Boom. Set to be darker in nature than the opening two episodes, the official synopsis reads as follows:
Caught in the middle of a devastating war on Kastarion 3, the Doctor is trapped when he steps on a landmine. Can he save himself and Ruby, plus the entire planet… without moving?
Steven Moffat let slip in an interview with TV Times that it didn’t take him long to get back to the keyboard, because he has written the 2024 Christmas special. While he didn’t reveal any plot details, he said that the title is Joy To The World. He also confirmed that he has not written any episodes of the 2025 series.
The only other concrete details we have about the special is that it was directed by Alex Pillai and will see Nicola Coughlan, Joel Fry and Timothy West among the guest cast. Although it hasn’t been confirmed officially, we can probably assume it will be broadcast on Christmas Day.
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”.
Elsewhere in the interview, Moffat talks about pitching ideas for the new series and, perhaps most intriguingly, alluded to knowing about the finale of next year’s series but not the current one. He said, “I have not read the finale [The Legend Of Ruby Sunday and Empire Of Death, both written by Russell]. Although, bizarrely enough, I have read the finale of the following season – for reasons that will become apparent… he said cryptically!”.
Boom will be available on BBC iPlayer from midnight on Friday 17th May. It will then be broadcast on BBC One at 18:50 on Saturday 18th May.
