Joy to the World

Ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latté.

The Fifteenth Doctor

Synopsis

When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the earth, just in time for Christmas.

Review

I hope that all my followers had a great Christmas! This year’s special was definitely different from what we got last year, which is a great demonstration of how Doctor Who can continue to change without the lead or companion changing.

Package deals for all of history’s biggest hits? No wonder there’s no room at the inn.

The Fifteenth Doctor

It is my honest opinion that Steven Moffat’s Christmas specials are better than those written by Russell T Davies. I think that Moffat has a clearer view of how the show can work at Christmas than Davies, and he seems to relish the chance to write something that can be both a good episode of Doctor Who and solid festive entertainment. The Time Hotel is a good concept, and certainly felt appealing to me. Those who know me know that I studied history at university and that if I had a trip in the TARDIS, I would definitely go back in time and spend a night in history. Whilst the Time Hotel is merely the setting, I think that there is definite potential for further stories set in this location, which allows the Doctor and other characters to time travel without the TARDIS. In Joy to the World, we get scenes set in the Blitz to the Jurassic Era, and that just reminds you of the canvas that the show can play around with.

The star seed plot is perhaps not the strongest, but it certainly gives the story enough impetuous to keep it going. Moffat brings back Villengard, whose weaponery was last seen in Boom and debuted all the way back in The Doctor Dances. The plan is to establish a star to use as a source of renewable energy, however, the resultant birth of a new star will result in the deaths of everyone on Earth. Growing a star takes time, which is why Villengard need the Time Hotel, allowing them to leave the star seed to develop in Earth’s history. In getting the room service food, the Doctor learns that the Time Hotel’s kitchens are 30 minutes in the future so that food ordered can be delivered as soon as it is ordered, but the food is still microwaved, in one of Moffat’s best jokes. Ultimately, the Time Hotel serves the same function, with time, allowing Steven Moffat to give us two Fifteenth Doctors to resolve the issue of the code for the suitcase.

I feel that I must touch on the ending briefly. I am a Doctor Who fan and a Christian, and I have always almost dreaded Doctor Who touching on the Christmas story as told in the Bible. Several podcasts I listen to have speculated that Moffat would want to touch on the Christmas story, which has always made me slightly sceptical about how this would play out. Joy to the World does this in a very sensitive way, making the star that Joy becomes the star that brings hope to humanity and, ultimately, the star that will lead the Magi to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. I think that, as the show continues to have Christmas specials, it was only possible to shy away from showing something to do with this incident for so long, so I am glad that it is, at the time of writing, not going to be the central theme of a Christmas special. I feel like this is the best way around it; whilst the resolution that the star seed becomes the Christmas star may feel inevitable, that’s as far as I’m comfortable with the show going.

There is a strong guest cast here, even if the majority feel slightly underserved. Joel Fry in particular feels as though he was a character who I could have seen a bit more of, but the stakes of the Villengard suitcase do need to be established early on so that there are stakes when the suitcase gets attached to Joy’s wrist later on in the story. The standout is Steph de Walley as Anita, the hotel owner that the Doctor befriends during his year stuck at the Sandringham Hotel, who has a really touching relationship with Gatwa’s Doctor, forged over their days sat meeting in his hotel room.

Where Anita flourishes, the story struggles with the titular Joy. Whilst Nicola Coughlan does what is asked of her, Joy is sidelined for a lot of the story whilst the Doctor is going the long way round to get back to the Time Hotel. She has a lot of guilt and feeling that she let her mother down for not breaking the lockdown rules. That feeling is something shared with Trev, who tells the Doctor that he will not let him down, to ultimately feel that he has before his death. The scene where she expresses her rage at the fact that she followed the rules whilst those making them flaunted them does really hit home, even if you did not lose anyone as a result. Ultimately, Joy does not feel as though she has enough screen time to make too much of a lasting impact, but Coughlan does enough to make the character engaging and likeable.

That is why nobody likes you! You have to be mysterious all the time! That’s why everyone leaves you. That is why you are always alone.

The Fifteenth Doctor

It’s interesting to see this Doctor given the opportunity to be nasty and angry for a change. This Doctor is highly emotive, which has seen some criticism online but this nasty side of the Doctor isn’t one that we’ve seen before. Gatwa remains magnetic as the Doctor, but I still don’t think he’s had his standout moment yet.

Verdict: Joy to the World is a solid Christmas special, which is a lot of fun despite some flaws. 8/10

Cast: Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Nicola Coughlan (Joy Almondo), Joel Fry (Trev Simpkins), Steph de Walley (Anita Benn), Jonathan Aris (Hotel Manager), Julia Watson (Hilda Flockhart), Peter Benedict (Basil Flockhart), Niamh Marie Smith (Sylvia Trench), Phil Baxter (Edmund Hillary), Samuel Sherpa-Moore (Tenzing Norgay), Ruchi Rai (Receptionist), Jonathan Leese (Mr Single), Ell Potter (Server), Liam Prince-Donnelly (Barman) & Fiona Marr (Angela Grace).

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Alex Sanjiv Pillai

Producer: Alison Sterling

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 25th December 2024

Behind the Scenes

• Joy to the World follows the tradition of Steven Moffat penned Christmas specials in that the title pays homage to another piece of Christmas media, in this case, the song ‘Joy to the World’.

Cast Notes

• Joel Fry has previously appeared in Quicksilver, playing Kinvar and Rogers, and No Place, playing Justin.

Best Moment

The cold open.

Best Quote

Wherever there is a corporation, there is PR; they just can’t stop themselves. Evil… goes global.

The Fifteenth Doctor

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