Doctor Who Is NEW: Joy To the World

Welcome to another edition of Doctor Who Is NEW!

 

And the focus of today’s post is the 2024 Christmas Day special “Joy To the World”.  

 

The Doctor’s TARDIS has landed in 43rd century London at the Time Hotel. 

 

Each room is a portal to specific events in the past.  

 

A mysterious man checking into the Time Hotel with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist catches the Doctor’s attention.  The Doctor finagles Trev, the Hotel’s concierge, to help him investigate the mysterious man and his briefcase. It’s funny how Trev goes from being distrustful and not knowing who this “Doctor” is to being all in to help him, no matter what.  

 

Sadly and tragically, Trev is doomed.

 

The briefcase transfers itself from person to person in it’s nefarious mission. The previous person to have the briefcase disintegrates. The new person becomes mind controlled to carry out the purpose of the briefcase.  

 

The briefcase is the nasty work of the weapon makers of Villengard are up to no good, using the time mechanics of the hotel in a nefarious scheme to build a star from a star seed that when it goes online will destroy the Earth.

 

And that includes an innocent woman who has checked into a hotel in London in 2024 on Christmas Eve. 

 

Joy gets a room in the vaguely depressing Sandringham Hotel from desk clerk Anita.  Turns out this old hotel connects to the Time Hotel and the latest courier of the briefcase enters her room followed by the Doctor.

 

Of course Joy becomes the next target of the briefcase.  The Doctor can’t resist looking inside the briefcase which triggers a self destruct thingy that will destroy Joy.  Thankfully the Doctor (?) enters the room through the time portal and tells himself the code to stop the self destruct and before escaping with Joy, the Doctor tells himself he will find out what happens next but he will need to go the long way around.  

 

The Doctor goes to Anita to book Joy’s room for the next year.  

 

The  following sequence tracks the Doctor’s year at the Sandringham as he earns his keep by doing odd jobs around the hotel and also develops a friendship with Anita. And I will attest it is the part of the Christmas special that I was most emotionally invested in. For a minor functionary character as the hotel desk clerk, who anticipated how much we would care Anita? Or how much it would break our heart when the Doctor and Anita have to say good-bye at the end of his year at the Sandringham.   

 

The Doctor is now on the outside of the time portal door to burst into the room to give himself the code and escape with Joy because she’s still attached to that damn briefcase.  

 

Since so much of what happens centers around Joy, it’s a bit frustrating that as a character, she feels underdeveloped. We have a stronger connection to Anita and Trev. 

 

Considering the criticism of the previous season that the Doctor felt sidelined in his own adventures, it was good to see the Doctor being more active and the center of the action.  

This special gives Ncuti Gatwa a solid chance to show all he can do as the Doctor, an effective reminder of all he can with the role that I feel he hasn't had a chance to do since last year's Christmas special. 

Nicola Coughlan from Bridgerton got all the pre-show publicity but her role as Joy is not the best supporting part in this special. Those accolades go to Joel Fry (Our Flag Means Death) as Trev and especially Stephanie de Whalley (very slim resume so far, a few independent films) as Anita.   

All in all, "Joy To the World" was an enjoyable romp and a good example of Doctor Who when it is at it's best, even if there was a nagging feeling this special lacked making a more substantive impression.