Doctor Who Christmas special confirmed... but not this year!

15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa stands with a white shirt and undone grey tie.
Russell T. Davies has confirmed that festive specials are still part of Doctor Who's future! (Image credit: BBC Studios)

Doctor Who fans have got even more to look forward to for 2023, as returning showrunner Russell T. Davies has confirmed that we're getting more festive specials in the near future.

In a chat in the latest issue of Doctor Who magazine, Davies said: "For the first time ever, I'm writing a Christmas Special... at Christmas!" 

He went on to clarify that he was actually working on the special set to air in 2024, meant we were getting at least two new festive specials. He added: "The 2023 script has been long since signed-off. The new one is for end-of-year 2024!"

Whilst he didn't clarify whether these two new episodes would be airing on Christmas Day or New Year's Day, this is still bound to be welcome news for Whovians for two big reasons. 

For a start, we already knew that this forthcoming special would be the 15th Doctor's first proper outing as he takes control of the TARDIS, so we're looking forward to finding out what he has in store for Ncuti Gatwa's first official episode. 

Plus, we're currently enduring a long wait between Doctor Who seasons whilst we look forward to the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials. This upcoming miniseries will see Tennant returning alongside his former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) to take on a villainous new foe played by Neil Patrick Harris. 

Since it's marking the show's 60th anniversary, though, the new mini-series won't be on our screens until November next year, meaning we'll have waited 13 months since Jodie's last episode, The Power of the Doctor was on our screens.

The most recent festive special was "Eve of the Daleks", which aired on New Year's Day in 2022. The special was the first of the three 2022 Doctor Who specials, making it one of Jodie Whittaker's final adventures as the Thirteenth Doctor. 

Key art for the 2021 Doctor Who Festive Special, Eve of the Daleks.

The Doc took on a squad of Daleks on New Year's Eve in the last festive special. (Image credit: BBC Studios/James Pardon)

Doctor Who returns in 2023. You can get caught up with previous seasons of the show on BBC iPlayer in the UK and HBO Max in the US, though Disney Plus is set to become Doctor Who's new home outside of the UK in 2023 thanks to a recently-announced partnership between Disney Branded Television and the BBC. 

Martin Shore
Staff Writer at WhatToWatch.com

Martin is a Staff Writer with WhatToWatch.com, where he produces a variety of articles focused on the latest and greatest films and TV shows. 

Some of his favorite shows are What We Do In The Shadows, Bridgerton, Gangs of London, The Witcher, Doctor Who, and Ghosts. When he’s not watching TV or at the movies, Martin’s probably still in front of a screen playing the latest video games, reading, or watching the NFL.