It’s all change again for series eleven, as news arrives via the latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine (as reported by Doctor Who News) that the now-traditional Christmas Day episode will instead air on New Year’s Day.
Since 2005, BBC One has welcomed a festive Doctor Who special on the 25th of December, but this year, the extra episode that Chris Chibnall revealed was being filmed in addition to series eleven will air a week later, on the 1st of January.
The move had been rumoured for a little while, with some speculating that the Christmas special was being done away with altogether. That won’t be the case, but neither will Who fans be able to enjoy the traditional hiding-in-another-room-wearing-headphones-because-families-won’t-stop-talking-through-TV-you-care-about Christmas experience. We’ll have to do it a week later.
It does makes sense, when you think about it. After all, everybody in the country of UK is exhausted on Christmas Day from going to war with the country of Turkey and eating the Turkey people for Christmas dinner, like savages.
And it’ll give us more time to work on our offerings to the great god Santa, with his fearsome claws and wife, Mary, to boot.
More news on the New Year’s special as it arrives.