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"'''Joy to the World'''" is an episode of the British ] series '']''. It was broadcast on ] on 25 December 2024 as the fifteenth ] since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by ] and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. It stars ] as the ] and ] as his ] Joy Almondo.<ref name=":0"/>
"'''Joy to the World'''" is an episode of the British ] series '']''. It was broadcast on ] and released on ] on 25 December 2024 as the fifteenth ] since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by ] and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. It stars ] as the ] and ] as his ] Joy Almondo.<ref name=":0"/>
Davies was reportedly writing the 2024 Christmas special by December 2022. In May 2024, former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat confirmed that he had written the 2024 Christmas special instead, and that it was entitled "Joy to the World". Working titles for the episode included "The Time Hotel" and "Christmas, Everywhere All at Once". Moffat once again assumed an executive producer role during production of the episode.
In November 2024, Moffat described some plot details in an interview to BBC South East, centering around a scenario where a hotel chain would have time travel. He stated that the hotel would "realize they have an opportunity to sell all the unsold nights in their old hotels history." A sneak preview, in order to boost the charity event Children in Need, was shared in November as well. It saw the Doctor and Joy "confronting a sinister briefcase" belonging to the "Villengard Corporation". The Doctor previously confronted them in the series 14 episode "Boom".
Casting
In November 2023, Nicola Coughlan was announced to be appearing in an undisclosed role of an upcoming Doctor Who episode. It was later reported that Millie Gibson, who portrays the Doctor's current companion Ruby Sunday, would not appear in the 2024 Christmas special. The following May, it was revealed that Coughlan would star as the Doctor's one-off companion.
Principal photography began on 23 October 2023 at Bad Wolf Studios, with the 2024 Christmas special "Joy to the World" assigned to the first block, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. Filming for the episode continued through November 2023. Post-production ended on 29 August 2024, with the final sound mix.
Broadcast and reception
Broadcast
"Joy to the World" was broadcast on BBC One and released on BBC iPlayer on 25 December 2024 at 5:10 PM GMT. In the United States the episode was released simultaneously on Disney+ at 9:10 AM PT. Disney also handled international distribution of the episode outside of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.
