ʼDoctor Whoʼ Christmas Special Gets Trailer And Will Continue Turning Up The Music

Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor is here and he’s ready to dance and hear a song this Christmas

Saturday’s premiere of Doctor Who’s final 60th anniversary special “The Giggle” saw quite a unique and eventful entrance for Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. Managing closure and heading off with a clean, guilt-free slate of sorts, the on-screen text read Destination Christmas, and that’s exactly what’s up next. Of course a trailer for the Christmas special “The Church on Ruby Road” was released immediately following, and was much more open and straightforward than the last four specials had.

Right away, all of Ncuti’s proud gay energy shines through, clubbing in a tank top and twirling in his kilt. The Doctor’s wearing a kilt let’s gooooo! Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson likes what she sees and he wishes her a merry Christmas. Soon she’s clinging to a ladder as the Doctor runs roofs to catch up to her and introduce himself. But it’s no ordinary ladder, it’s one leading up to the goblins’ ship. And they’re no ordinary goblins, they’re pirate goblins! Eyepatches, bandanas, the ship itself, the whole ordeal. We even see Fifteen using what was confirmed by the show Sunday to be his new Sonic screwdriver, and it’s quite the change. But more on that another time. As Fifteen and Ruby leap off the ship, he asks her to hold on.

But that’s not all. “The Church on Ruby Road” will be continuing the show’s musical kick following the Master’s performance to Boney M.’s “Rasputin” in “The Power of the Doctor” and the Toymaker’s lip-sync to the Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life” in “The Giggle” itself. Both incredible performance. This time however, it’s an original song from composer Murray Gold and writer Russell T Davies: “The Goblin Song”, sung by the episode’s featured goblins. Who’s singing? We don’t know, but we might when it’s released as a digital single on Monday, December 11 via BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. All proceeds will go to BBC Children in Need. Heck for all we know, we might even be getting the return of “Merry XMas Everybody” by Slade, a fixture in Davies’s Who Christmas specials in his initial tenure, but last showed up in “Last Christmas”, the special after series 8, the first for Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi.

In talking about the single, showrunner Davies remarked: “We’re releasing this as an early Christmas present for everyone. And if you want to see how the Doctor and Ruby escape from the Goblin King at the end of the song, you’ll have to watch on Christmas Day!” Indeed, “The Church on Ruby Road” airs Christmas Day on the BBC and Disney+. Except instead of the 6:30 PM GMT time slot of the anniversary specials, it will air at 5:55 PM GMT, which is anywhere from 9:55 AM Pacific to 12:55 PM Eastern (and 1:55 PM Atlantic) across the (continental) United States and Canada.

Source: Doctor Who