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[tindogpodcast]

TDP 1329: #DoctorWho Christmas 2025 Joy To The World REVIEW

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

312 – "Joy to the World" Doctor Who episode

Promotional poster, featuring the caption "Joy to the Worlds"

Cast

Doctor

Ncuti Gatwa – Fifteenth Doctor

Companion

Nicola Coughlan – Joy Almondo

Others

Millie Gibson – Ruby Sunday

Joel Fry – Trev Simpkins

Steph de Whalley – Anita Benn

Jonathan Aris – Hotel Manager

Peter Benedict – Basil Flockhart

Julia Watson – Hilda Flockhart

Niamh Marie Smith – Sylvia Trench

Phil Baxter – Edmund Hillary

Samuel Sherpa-Moore – Tenzing Norgay

Ruchi Rai – Receptionist

Joshua Leese – Mr Single

Ell Potter – Server

Liam Prince-Donnelly – Barman

Fiona Marr – Angela Grace

Production Directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai Written by Steven Moffat Script editor David Cheung Produced by Alison Sterling Executive producer(s)

Russell T Davies

Julie Gardner

Jane Tranter

Joel Collins

Phil Collinson

Steven Moffat

Music by Murray Gold Running time 54 minutes First broadcast 25 December 2024 Chronology

← Preceded by "Empire of Death" Followed by → —

List of episodes (2005–present)

"Joy to the World" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One and released on Disney+ on 25 December 2024 as the fifteenth Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005.

In the episode, the fifteenth incarnation of The Doctor discovers a strange hotel at Christmastime that has harnessed the power of time travel and finds a mysterious briefcase. While investigating, he meets new companion Joy Almondo (guest star Nicola Coughlan) who helps him solve the mystery.

"Joy to the World" was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. It was filmed in October and November 2023.

Plot

[edit]

The Doctor arrives at the Time Hotel, an establishment in the year 4202 that allows guests to visit various points in history, several of which the Doctor visits during the episode. The Doctor enlists the aid of Trev, a worker at the hotel, as he investigates a mysterious man holding a briefcase. As each new person is tricked into taking the briefcase, it takes control of them, and the previous carrier disintegrates. Trev's Silurian manager arrives in Joy Almondo's London hotel room in 2024 with the briefcase, and the Doctor following him.

The briefcase takes control of Joy, and the Doctor opens it, finding a strange device inside. The briefcase is about to disintegrate Joy, when a Doctor from the future arrives from the Time Hotel and gives them an override code. The future Doctor then returns to the Time Hotel with Joy, stranding the current Doctor in 2024. He takes a job working at Joy's hotel, befriending the manager Anita, and awaiting an opportunity to get back to the Time Hotel the following Christmas.

A year later, the Doctor re-enters the Time Hotel, and gives his past self the code (which he'd obtained by the bootstrap paradox), then departs with Joy. They open a door to the distant past, where the Doctor frees Joy from the briefcase by provoking her anger at being unable to be with her dying mother due to COVID-19 lockdown. The briefcase reveals itself to be of Villengard origin, with plans to detonate a "star seed" to use as an energy source, using the hotel's time travel to allow it to grow in the past.

The briefcase is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex, and the Doctor and Joy flee. Trev, who connected psychically to Villengard's system before he died, contacts the Doctor through his sonic screwdriver. Trev reveals the briefcase's location, and the Doctor finds it sealed in a shrine. The Doctor is able to open it, but Joy takes the briefcase outside, and lets the star seed enter her. Joy and the other people killed by the seed pilot it into space, where it detonates safely. At various points in time, the star gives hope and comfort to those who see it, including Joy's dying mother and Ruby Sunday. The Doctor sees that that the star was also the Star of Bethlehem.

Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]

Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat penned the episode.

Russell T Davies, the Doctor Who showrunner, initially began writing the 2024 Christmas special. Davies had sent a portion of the script to former showrunner Steven Moffat to get his opinion on it. At the time, Davies was in discussions with Moffat to have him write a script for the fifteenth series. When Davies realised he was too busy to complete the script, he shelved it and asked Moffat to write the Christmas episode instead.[1] Moffat considered writing a farce, but decided against it, believing that such an episode would be better suited mid-series.[2] Despite this, he said the episode still had a comedic tone with emotional elements.[3]

Here's the pitch that got me the job. You know in just about every hotel room you've been in there's a locked door? It's weird, but there always is. Okay. We're about to blow apart the truth of that. In the far future there is a place called the Time hotel, and the Time Hotel has realised something brilliant, which is following the discovery of time travel they have an opportunity to sell all the rooms they failed to sell the last time. So they have built extensions into more or less every hotel room in history, and you get access to it occasionally.

— Steven Moffat, "The Joy Bringer", SFX 3 December 2024[3]

Half the script had been completed before Davies informed Moffat that Ruby Sunday wouldn't be in the special.[1] The character of Anita originally only had around ten lines but her presence was increased after the production team became fond of her.[4] Moffat had finished writing the episode by 20 July 2023.[5] Working titles for the episode included "The Time Hotel" and "Christmas, Everywhere All at Once".[6] The story further explores the "Villengard Corporation", a recurring fictional weapons manufacturing company that has been mentioned in a number of Moffat's Doctor Who episodes. The Doctor last confronted Villengard in the fourteenth series episode "Boom" (2024).[7][8] It is the ninth Doctor Who Christmas special to be written by Moffat who once again assumed an executive producer role during production of the episode.[2][9]

Casting

[edit]

In November 2023, Nicola Coughlan was announced to be appearing in an undisclosed role of an upcoming Doctor Who episode.[10] It was later revealed that Coughlan would star in the 2024 Christmas episode as the Doctor's one-off companion,[11] Joy Almondo, a guest at a hotel who "gets caught up in [the Doctor's] adventures."[12] Initial reports indicated that Millie Gibson, who portrays the Doctor's current companion Ruby Sunday, would not appear in the special.[13] Gibson however, made a brief cameo appearance near the end of the episode.[14]. Joel Fry was cast to play Trev, an employee at the Time Hotel while Jonathan Aris portrayed the hotel's manager.[12] Steph de Whalley appeared as Anita, the manager of another hotel whom the Doctor spends a year with.[15]

Niamh Marie Smith played Sylvia Trench, a passenger on the Orient Express in 1962, whom Moffat confirmed as the same character as the love interest of James Bond in the films Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963).[16][17] Historical figures Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were depicted, at a 1953 Mount Everest base camp, by Phil Baxter and Samuel Sherpa-Moore, respectively.[18] Sherpa-Moore is Norgay's great-great nephew.[19] Peter Benedict and Julia Watson appeared as Basil and Hilda, guests at the Queen's Hotel in Manchester during World War II.[20] The guest cast also included Ruchi Rai, Joshua Leese, Ell Potter, and Liam Prince-Donnelly.[12]

Filming

[edit]

Set design for the episode was underway at Wolf Studios Wales by 11 October 2023. The Mesozoic Era room was built on a gimbal that allowed the set to tilt to give the effect that it was being eaten by a dinosaur. The art department was working on graphic design by 17 October. The graphics team took fifteen 11-hour days to create enough artwork to fill the Doctor's hotel room. Seven different briefcases were purchased by the props department for use in the episode. A team at Millennium FX designed the Silurian prosthetics.[5]

Principal photography began on 23 October, with recording extending into November.[5] "Joy to the World" was directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai[21] in the first filming block of the fifteenth series.[22] For the Sandringham Hotel, the production team chose to purchase two floors of an actual hotel, but had to build the lobby on a soundstage. The top of the Orient Express set was built in front of a green screen and placed on rubber tyres to allow the special effects team to replicate the look of a moving train. Mika Orasmaa was the episodes director of photography.[4]

Release and reception

[edit]

Professional ratings Aggregate scores Source Rating Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) 80%[23] Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score) 7.3/10[23] Review scores Source Rating A.V. Club B–[24] Bleeding Cool 10/10[25] Empire [26] GamesRadar+ [27] The Guardian [28] IGN [29] Radio Times [30] The Telegraph [31]

Broadcast and promotion

[edit]

"Joy to the World" was broadcast on BBC One and released on BBC iPlayer on 25 December 2024 at 5:10 PM GMT.[11][32] In the United States the episode was released simultaneously on Disney+ at 9:10 AM PT.[33] Disney also handled international distribution of the episode outside of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.[34]

A clip and trailer for the episode was released on 15 November as part of the 2024 Children in Need broadcast.[35] The press screening took place in the week prior to broadcast,[36] which was hosted by Angellica Bell.[37] Promotional posters released by Disney captioned the poster with "Joy to the Worlds", mirroring the title "Joy to the World".[38]

Ratings

[edit]

In the UK, Doctor Who was the sixth most-watched programme on Christmas Day, receiving 4.11 million viewers overnight.[39]

Critical response

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 15 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.[23]

Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Michael Hogan referred to "Joy to the World" as "the best Christmas adventure for more than a decade." He further elaborated by saying that "there's something here for all generations to enjoy" and praising the guest cast, namely Nicola Coughlan, Steph de Walley, and Joel Fry.[31] Authoring a review for Radio Times, Louise Griffin also praised the guest cast but felt that Coughlan had been underused.[30]

IGN's Robert Anderson wrote that the special "masterfully blends the show's signature whimsy with heartfelt storytelling, delivering a cozy, deeply human tale about the transformative power of friendship" and that "Moffat's excellent script is central to the episode's success."[29] The writing was also applauded by Adi Tantimedh, who writing for Bleeding Cool, said "Moffat pins down the core of what makes Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor different from all his predecessors."[25]

Stephen Robinson with the A.V. Club criticised the Doctor's characterization, saying the "there are key moments in the story that directly contradict the Doctor's former growth" and that "he's a mix of the 'lonely god' from Russell T Davies' first run and Steven Moffat's 'madman in a box,' and the effect is discordant."[24] Emily Murray from GamesRadar+ also criticised a portion of the episode, writing that the "villains quite frankly feel like an afterthought and feel threadbare."[27]

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[natasharedfox]

I realised that out of all the control room staff that appeared in the show, I have never done any Kirschenbaum. Allow me to rectify that.

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[sinnaminie]

A new Chernobyl Control Room fella: Igor Kirschenbaum

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[fortunaegloria]

CHERNOBYL EPISODES (4/5) → "The Happiness of All Mankind"

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Our plant boys ♥🍁.

Artists In Order:

Paul Ritter as Anatoly Dyatlov.

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[hypernet]

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Número de temporadas: 1 (mini serie)

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[yekuana]

🎬☢️🎞️ Chernobyl (Miniserie de TV) (2019) Sinopsis Miniserie de TV (2019). 5 episodios. El 26 de abril de 1986, la Central Nuclear de Chernóbil en Ucrania (entonces la Unión Soviética), sufrió una explosión masiva que liberó material radioactivo en Bielorrusia, Rusia, Ucrania, así como en zonas de Escandinavia y Europa Central. La serie relata, desde múltiples puntos de vista, lo que aconteció en 1986, en uno de los mayores desastres provocados por el hombre en la historia reciente, así como los sacrificios realizados para salvar al continente de un desastre sin precedentes. (Vía @FILMAFFINITY) Dirección Craig Mazin (Creator) Johan Renck Reparto Jared Harris Stellan Skarsgard Emily Watson Joshua Leese Ross Armstrong Año / País: 2019 / 🇺🇲 Estados Unidos __ Me genera suspicacia que la maquinaria del entretenimiento de EEUU eche este cuento, a quién beneficia y qué versión y enfoque darán? Ya les contaré cuando la termine... 👁️‍🗨️ https://www.instagram.com/p/ByZHjtanD3N/?igshid=10s8vh2dz6ubr

[whatsupfandompodcast]

NEW PODCAST EPISODE Josh sits down with #actor Joshua Leese to chat about acting, the differences between the US and the UK, #MrBlobby, his roles in #Chernobyl & #Extraordinary, the crazy way he watches #StarTrek, his upcoming projects, the Duke of Wellington's horse, & much more • Available wherever you listen to #podcasts (links in bio) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpnGeUbuqCx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kayjay63]

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[356mission]

List of artists who have participated in exhibitions at 356 Mission: 2013 Laura Owens Math Bass Mike Bouchet Sarah Braman Sara Clendening Barry Johnston Kricket Lane Daniel McDonald Pentti Monkkonen Matt Paweski Jennifer Rochlin Colin Snapp Jessica Stockholder Oscar Tuazon Daniel Turner Amy Yao Eric Palgon Yshai Yudekovitz Nicholas Arehart Bridget Batch + Kevin Cooley Danielle Bustillo Joey Cannizzaro Jamie Hilder Meghan Gordon Becca Lieb Mindy Lu David Sikander Muenzer Bryne Rasmussen-Smith + Andrew Smith-Rasmussen Tatiana Vahan Sturtevant Shimon Minamikawa 2014 John Kaufman Scott Reeder Oliver Payne Yuki Kimura Alex Katz Michael Dopp, Calvin Marcus, and Isaac Resnikoff Trevor Shimizu Becca Albee Brody Albert and Kaeleen Wescoat-O'Neill Lilly Aldriedge Katie Aliprando Mark Allen Dewey Ambrosino Marie Angeletti Eika Aoshima Jonathan Apgar Cory Arcangel Jacinto Astiazaran Lisa Anne Auerbach John Baldessari Judie Bamber Ray Anthony Barrett Peter Barrickman Darcy Bartoletti Math Bass Stephen Berens Jennifer Berger Molly Berman Cindy Bernard Amy Bessone Lucas Blalock Seth Bogart Jennifer Bolande Joseph Bolstad Elba Bondaroff Marco Braunschweiler Brian Bress Brian Briggs and Laura Copelin Delia Brown Sally Bruno Edgar Bryan Elizabeth Bryant Jedediah Caesar Jedediah Caesar and Kate Costello (Extraterrestrial) Sarah Cain Kristin Calabrese Ingrid Calame Ross Caliendo Joshua Callaghan Brian Calvin Andrew Cannon Ben Carlson Jae Choi Milano Chow Donna Chung Jonathan Clarke Sara Clendening Justin Cole Kelly Marie Conder Matt Connors Vanessa Conte Alika Cooper Liz Craft Meg Cranston Cameron Crone CH Cummings Lila De Magalheas Dave Deany Michael Decker Gracie DeVito Michael Dopp Katie Douglass Lauren Dudko Julia Dzwonkoski and Kye Potter Mari Eastman Brad Eberhard Clifford Eberly Shannon Ebner Benjamin Echeverria Ken Ehrlich Alyse Emdur Karl Erickson Ron Ewert Ann Faison Cayetano Ferrer Gabrielle Ferrer Luke Fischbeck Katy Fischer Morgan Fisher Jesse Fleming Maya Ford Simone Forti Brendan Fowler Magdalena Suarez Frimkess Erik Frydenborg Francesca Gabbiani and Eddie Ruscha Nikolas Gambaroff Kathryn Garcia John Geary Veronica Gelbaum Rashell George Laeh Glenn Samara Golden Piero Golia Sayre Gomez Hannah Greely Justin John Greene Cassandre M. 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[fortunaegloria]

CHERNOBYL EPISODES (5/5) → "Vichnaya Pamyat"