It has been reported that Doctor Who is going to skip its annual Christmas Special this year… but fans will get a holiday-themed treat nonetheless.
Former showrunner Steven Moffat may have already clued fans into this shift when he talked about last year’s Christmas Special, noting that they’d mined Christmas for a long while, and Peter Capaldi’s last episode more or less ignored it. This year, the Christmas Special will be skipped in favor of a New Year’s Day sojourn.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall hinted this to fans at San Diego Comic Con this year, when he noted that they were filming eleven episodes, even though Jodie Whittaker first season is only set to be ten episodes. But this will mark the first time that the show hasn’t produced a Christmas Special since its revival in 2005.
It is also possible that the New Year’s episode will be the only Doctor Who that fans see in 2019; Whittaker’s next season isn’t slated for filming until early 2019, which puts it behind in terms of a fall 2019 season. It is possible that we’ll see a Christmas Special next year, however, in lieu of season twelve.
Check out the Daily Mirror‘s report for more details.