Doctor Who fans will be treated to four festive specials this Christmas.
December 23: The War Games – new colourisation
BBC Four and BBC iPlayer from 9pm
The 1969 second Doctor serial The War Games features the TARDIS team, including companions Zoe and Jamie, as they discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. The serial has been colourised and enhanced with updated visual effects edited into a new 90-minute feature-length experience with updated sound and a new score. The episode will also feature the Second Doctor’s never-before-seen regeneration into the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) plus recovered footage not seen since the original broadcast.
December 24: Doctor Who at the Proms 2024
BBC Two and iPlayer from 4.10pm
Catherine Tate presents a concert of music composed by Ron Grainer, Murray Gold and Segun Akinola performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Specially-edited sequences from the series accompany the music. Monsters old and new make dramatic appearances in the hall. The concert includes a never-before-seen short film by showrunner Russell T Davies, Pantheon of Discord, featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, Nicholas Briggs as the voice of The Vlinx and Jinkx Monsoon as the god of music, Maestro. Mrs Flood, played by Anita Dobson, makes a surprise guest appearance.
December 25: Doctor Who Christmas special Joy to the World
BBC One and iPlayer from 5:10pm
Joy (Nicola Coughlan) checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her quiet stay is anything but ordinary. When she opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). A deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas. Where has the Doctor been? What is going on in Joy’s hotel room? An old enemy of the Doctor’s is lurking in the wings and all of human history hangs in the balance. Can the Doctor save Christmas, everywhere, all at once?
December 25: Doctor Who: Unleashed – Joy to the World
BBC Three and iPlayer from 7:10pm
Host Steffan Powell is on set with Nicola Coughlan and Ncuti Gatwa as they film this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special Joy to the World, Steven Moffat tells what it takes to write a festive episode, and Powell gets a prosthetics makeover.