After saying goodbye to Ruby Sunday (Mille Gibson) for now (we know she’ll be back), the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) could probably use a little joy in his life. So when better than the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special to bring a character with just that name into his life?
Nicola Coughlan stars as Joy alongside Gatwa in the special, premiering on December 25 at 12:10 p.m. ET. She jumped at the chance to work with Gatwa. “Ncuti is one of the best actors of my generation, and I’d been a fan of him for a couple of years and had always wanted to share the screen with him,” she tells TV Insider.
In “Joy to the World,” when Coughlan’s character checks into a London hotel in 2024, she opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel — discovering danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas.
The Doctor and Joy are “a really unlikely pairing,” says Coughlan. “She is quite meek and doesn’t want to draw attention to herself and the Doctor can’t do but draw attention and he is so bubbly and full of life, but that you realize how much they really, really need each other, so them coming together in the episode is a really special thing.”
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What’s different about their dynamic is the “speed with which the Doctor has to get to know her,” adds former showrunner and the special’s writer Steven Moffat. “He knows there’s an emergency, she’s in effect chained to a bomb. He’s got no time. He can’t do his usual leisurely chat up. He can’t even show off the way he normally does to impress. He’s just got to get to know her really, really well so fast, which makes him almost a little bit cruel.”
“The thing I always find slightly chilling about the scene where he tears her apart is he does that to everyone he meets. He just doesn’t do it out loud,” he continues with a laugh. “That’s the Doctor.”
Showrunner Russell T Davies points out that with a one-off Christmas special, they can do things they wouldn’t normally. For example, “I don’t think you’d start a normal regular series with a new companion with her being so sad,” he admits. “I think it would be an odd step for someone to come into the show’s life to do that. With a one-off Christmas special, you can do that, you can risk that.”
In fact, he says, “There’s kind of sadness to Christmas full-stop. It’s jolly and happy and therefore sad at the same time. So Steven grabbed that, that lovely opportunity to do something that’s actually profoundly different to anyone that’s been there before. It’s great. I love it so much.”
For Moffat, Christmas is “always about who’s not there this time. Mark Gatiss always says Christmas stories should be lovely, but they should be sad and they should be scary as well.” (Gatiss has guest starred in and written Doctor Who episodes as well as worked with Moffat on Sherlock.)
Coughlan is best known for playing Penelope on Bridgerton, and while the star says there are some similarities and both are shy, “Penelope has more bite to her where whereas Joy has a real hard time—I think Joy will let herself be pushed over a lot and not fight back. The Doctor sees that in her and he sees that there’s a need for her to fight back.” Because of that, “meeting the Doctor is a really important thing that is going to happen to her in her life.”
She also sees Joy as someone who could travel and go on adventures with the Doctor full-time. “I think she finds it terrifying and discombobulating, but when she gets on board with the Doctor, she’s like, okay. And I think she’s quite smart and useful.”
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But, of course, Joy can help the Doctor, too. “She sees someone who is a bit lonely,” says Coughlan. “I think they’re kind of a mirror to one another. Joy’s going to spend her time alone at Christmas. The Doctor’s traveling the universe in search of—what is he in search of? They’re two people who are sort of lonely together sort of realizing that and finding one another.”
Moffat puts it perfectly: “The Doctor just needs someone to be the Doctor to. I think he goes a little bit blank and then goes off and does something stupid like invent steam submarines or something.” Davies agrees, “He just draws people to him.”
What are you hoping to see in this year’s Christmas special? Let us know in the comments section below.
Doctor Who, 2024 Christmas Special “Joy to the World” Premiere, Wednesday, December 25, 12:10 p.m. ET, Disney+
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