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Joy to the World (Doctor Who)
"Joy to the World" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One and released on Disney+ on 25 December 2024 as the fifteenth Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005.
In the episode, the Fifteenth Doctor discovers a mysterious briefcase in a strange hotel that harnesses the power of time travel as a gimmick. While investigating, he meets one-off companion Joy Almondo (Nicola Coughlan) who helps him solve the mystery.
"Joy to the World" was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. It was filmed in October and November 2023. The episode was seen by 5.91 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
The Doctor arrives at the Time Hotel in London, an establishment in the year 4202 that uses time travel to offer hotel rooms at various points in history. The Doctor enlists Trev, a hotel employee, to investigate a man handcuffed to a mysterious briefcase. As each new person is tricked into taking the briefcase, including Trev, it takes control of their body and the previous carrier disintegrates. The briefcase is eventually passed to Trev's manager, a Silurian, who the Doctor follows to Joy Almondo's room at the London-based Sandringham Hotel in 2024.
After Joy takes the briefcase, the Doctor opens it to find a strange device inside. Before the briefcase can disintegrate Joy, a Doctor from the future arrives from the Time Hotel and gives the override code. The future-Doctor takes Joy back to the Time Hotel, trapping the contemporary Doctor in 2024. He takes a job at the Sandringham Hotel and befriends the manager, Anita, while he waits for the door to the Time Hotel in Exeter Hotel in New York City to reopen following Christmas.
On Christmas Eve 2025, the Doctor re-enters the Time Hotel and returns to the room in 2024; he gives his past self the override code and takes Joy to the future, completing the causal loop. They open a door to 65 million years ago where the Doctor frees Joy from the briefcase by provoking her anger at partygate, when she was unable to be with her mother, who died on Christmas Day 2020, due to COVID-19 lockdowns. He learns the briefcase is made by Villengard, a weapons manufacturing company, and the briefcase is an incubator for a "star seed"; the company plans to use the hotel's time-travel system to allow the seed to grow in the past, then detonate it to provide an energy source.
A Tyrannosaurus rex eats the briefcase and chases the Doctor and Joy back to the Time Hotel. Trev, now deceased but still psychically linked to Villengard's system, leads the Doctor to a shrine with the briefcase sealed inside. The Doctor opens it to disarm it, but Joy takes the star seed outside and allows it to enter her. She (and the others killed by the seed) pilot it safely into space to detonate, becoming the Star of Bethlehem. At various points in time, the star gives hope and comfort to those who see it, including Joy's dying mother and Ruby Sunday.
Russell T Davies, the Doctor Who showrunner, initially began writing the 2024 Christmas special. Davies had sent a portion of the script to former showrunner Steven Moffat to get his opinion on it. At the time, Davies was in discussions with Moffat to have him write a script for the fifteenth series. When Davies realised he was too busy to complete the script, he shelved it and asked Moffat to write the Christmas episode instead. Moffat considered writing a farce, but decided against it, believing that such an episode would be better suited mid-series. Despite this, he said the episode still had a comedic tone with emotional elements.
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Joy to the World (Doctor Who)
"Joy to the World" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One and released on Disney+ on 25 December 2024 as the fifteenth Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005.
In the episode, the Fifteenth Doctor discovers a mysterious briefcase in a strange hotel that harnesses the power of time travel as a gimmick. While investigating, he meets one-off companion Joy Almondo (Nicola Coughlan) who helps him solve the mystery.
"Joy to the World" was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. It was filmed in October and November 2023. The episode was seen by 5.91 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
The Doctor arrives at the Time Hotel in London, an establishment in the year 4202 that uses time travel to offer hotel rooms at various points in history. The Doctor enlists Trev, a hotel employee, to investigate a man handcuffed to a mysterious briefcase. As each new person is tricked into taking the briefcase, including Trev, it takes control of their body and the previous carrier disintegrates. The briefcase is eventually passed to Trev's manager, a Silurian, who the Doctor follows to Joy Almondo's room at the London-based Sandringham Hotel in 2024.
After Joy takes the briefcase, the Doctor opens it to find a strange device inside. Before the briefcase can disintegrate Joy, a Doctor from the future arrives from the Time Hotel and gives the override code. The future-Doctor takes Joy back to the Time Hotel, trapping the contemporary Doctor in 2024. He takes a job at the Sandringham Hotel and befriends the manager, Anita, while he waits for the door to the Time Hotel in Exeter Hotel in New York City to reopen following Christmas.
On Christmas Eve 2025, the Doctor re-enters the Time Hotel and returns to the room in 2024; he gives his past self the override code and takes Joy to the future, completing the causal loop. They open a door to 65 million years ago where the Doctor frees Joy from the briefcase by provoking her anger at partygate, when she was unable to be with her mother, who died on Christmas Day 2020, due to COVID-19 lockdowns. He learns the briefcase is made by Villengard, a weapons manufacturing company, and the briefcase is an incubator for a "star seed"; the company plans to use the hotel's time-travel system to allow the seed to grow in the past, then detonate it to provide an energy source.
A Tyrannosaurus rex eats the briefcase and chases the Doctor and Joy back to the Time Hotel. Trev, now deceased but still psychically linked to Villengard's system, leads the Doctor to a shrine with the briefcase sealed inside. The Doctor opens it to disarm it, but Joy takes the star seed outside and allows it to enter her. She (and the others killed by the seed) pilot it safely into space to detonate, becoming the Star of Bethlehem. At various points in time, the star gives hope and comfort to those who see it, including Joy's dying mother and Ruby Sunday.
Russell T Davies, the Doctor Who showrunner, initially began writing the 2024 Christmas special. Davies had sent a portion of the script to former showrunner Steven Moffat to get his opinion on it. At the time, Davies was in discussions with Moffat to have him write a script for the fifteenth series. When Davies realised he was too busy to complete the script, he shelved it and asked Moffat to write the Christmas episode instead. Moffat considered writing a farce, but decided against it, believing that such an episode would be better suited mid-series. Despite this, he said the episode still had a comedic tone with emotional elements.