Spoilers follow for "Joy to the World."
If there's one thing Steven Moffatt loves to do with Doctor Who, it's to find a monster buried in the mundane. He's made statues, shadows, lost children and even the idea of silence into some of the show's most terrifying villains. Sadly, the mysterious extra door you often find in older hotel rooms isn't as universal a concern, but it's still a rich seam for him to mine. That's the inspiration for "Joy to the World," Doctor Who's 2024 Christmas Special. Which is light, fun and a little bit scattershot, much like Christmas is meant to be, right?
When Doctor Who returned, the show was woven back into the UK's cultural firmament in a way it never had been before. Part of that process was adding the show to the BBC One Christmas Day schedule, making it a universal cultural touchstone. For most of its post-2005 run, it has aired an episode next to the Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders' festive specials. Imagine the British equivalent to those everyone-gathered-around-the-TV events like the Super Bowl or the Macy's Day Parade, but on Christmas Day. Even if you don't like any of the fare on offer, you're still expected to sit with the family and consume it.
With these specials, the prestige timeslot, longer runtime and bigger budget are burdens as much as they are benefits. The show has to play to a far broader audience than normal, with diehard fans sitting elbow-to-elbow with elderly relatives filling every silence with gossip about their neighbor's garden project. Consequently, the story needs to be a little looser, with less need for the
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