'Doctor Who' Christmas Special "Joy To The World" Timeslot Revealed
Find out when you’ll be watching the Doctor’s next adventure
It had been assured for quite a considerable while that Doctor Who’s upcoming Christmas special “Joy to the World” was going to air on the BBC in a manner that more catered to the holiday customs of its home country, the United Kingdom, which the Disney+ viewers in the rest of the world would have to adhere to. A simultaneous release that would be evening at home, but afternoon to late morning in the contiguous United States. Christmas can be a bit…looser for where it places its programming. For example, while the 60th anniversary specials had a nice round 6.30 PM GMT time slot (1:30 PM Eastern/10:30 AM Pacific), “The Church on Ruby Road“ was given a 5:55 PM timeslot (12:55 PM/9:55 AM). As of Monday, we have our answer for this year.
“Joy to the World” is set to air on BBC One, and release on iPlayer and Disney+ on Christmas Day, December 25 at 17:10/5:10 PM GMT. On a channel with uninterrupted programming as it functions without commercial advertising, that is essentially one standard drama timeslot sooner than last year. That’s 12:10 PM Eastern, 9:10 AM Pacific. In addition, its Doctor Who Unleashed episode will run from 7:10 PM to 7:40 PM that night on BBC Three. That doesn’t need time zone conversion because it doesn’t leave the UK.
While letting the home country take the lead would be the expectation from any viewer of international programming, this comes off of how the ensuing regular season that aired over this past May and June. It was positioned as a 7 PM primetime Friday release for the American Disney+ audience in the Eastern time zone, a late afternoon 4 PM Pacific. This equated to a midnight release on iPlayer domestically, three-quarters of the day or so before its linear BBC airings that Saturday evening. While it was transparently obvious why they had done it, the downsides were similarly easy to pick up.
The cast as we know it so far includes Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor, Nicola Coughlan as Joy, Jonathan Aris as the Silurian Melnak, Joel Fry as Trev, Peter Benedict as Basil, Julia Watson as Hilda, Niamh Marie Smith as Orient Express passenger Sylvia, our Everest climbers Phil Baxter as Edmund Hillary and Samuel Sherpa-Moore as Tenzing Norgay, and Steph de Whalley as hotel clerk Anita. The story as we know it so far sees the Time Hotel is the destination of choice for guests in the 41st century as it allows customers to visit notable moments in history. The Doctor investigates, time-hopping through history via several of the Time Hotel’s portals offering room service, namely ham and cheese toasties and pumpkin lattes. Joy checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her quiet stay is anything but ordinary. The adjoining door to her room turns out to be a Time Hotel secret portal. Silurian enters, likely Melina carrying a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist containing a Star Seed. Arms manufacturer Villengard wants to activate the Star Seed as an unlimited energy source, regardless of the potential catastrophe to everyone in Earth’s entire timeline.
Sources: Digiguide via CultBox