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Doctor Who festival special: Everything we know about this year’s winter holiday episode

Annabel Nugent
·2 min read
(BBC)
(BBC)

Fans have finally been given a first look at this year’s Doctor Who festive episode.

The episode will pick up where the last season left off, with the Doctor serving a life sentence for her “crimes” in the universe.

An image of Jodie Whittaker sees the Doctor wearing a red jumpsuit and looking distressed, as she marks off the time that she has been trapped in her prison cell since the finale of series 12.

But what does a life sentence mean for someone who constantly regenerates? “We may discover that,” Whittaker answered during this year’s Comic-Con virtual panel in October, before quickly adding: “Or maybe we won’t.”

The festive episode will pick up where season 12’s finale left offBBC
The festive episode will pick up where season 12’s finale left offBBC

According to the newly released synopsis, while the Doctor is stuck in space-jail, the rest of the crew will have to face the Daleks alone.

The synopsis reads: “Far away, on Earth, her best friends, Yaz, Ryan and Graham have to pick up their lives without her. But it’s not easy. Old habits die hard. Especially when they discover a disturbing plan forming. A plan which involves a Dalek. How can you fight a Dalek, without the Doctor?”

A second teaser photo shows Ryan, Graham and Yaz (Tosin Cole, Bradley Walsh and Mandip Gill) looking serious while sitting around a table.

In the Doctor’s absence, Ryan, Graham and Yaz will have to face the Daleks aloneBBC
In the Doctor’s absence, Ryan, Graham and Yaz will have to face the Daleks aloneBBC

Speaking on the panel, Gill said the three characters are “back in Sheffield, trying to get on with our own lives” when they come across a “plot to do with a Dalek”.

“How do we, as a three, save mankind?” added Bradley Walsh. “Talk about being thrown in at the deep end.”

A one-minute trailer introduces a slew of guest stars who will appear in the special. Both John Barrowman and Chris Noth will reprise their roles as Captain Jack Harkness and Jack Robertson respectively.

Dame Harriet Walker, who recently appeared as assassin Dasha in season three of Killing Eve, and Misfits’s Nathan Stewart-Jarrett are also set to star in the highly anticipated new year's instalment.

Doctor Who “Revolution of the Daleks” will air on BBC One on 1 January 2021