Although Doctor Who has aired a special episode at Christmas for every year since it's reboot in 2005, the showrunner Chris Chibnall has confirmed that the current season won't have a Christmas special. But it's not all bad news! Instead of Christmas, a special one-off episode will instead be shown on New Year and will relate to the arrival of 2019. Speaking at the San Diego Comic Con, Chris said: "We seem to be filming 11 episodes, and it's only a series of 10. I would definitely think there's another episode after the end of the series."
© Photo: BBCThe episode will air on New Year instead
Steven Moffatt, who was the showrunner during Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi's time on the show, previously revealed that it was difficult to come up with new ideas relevant to Christmas. He said: "I sort of think we might have mined, and possibly over mined, every single thing we could about Christmas in Doctor Who and the last time we more or less ignored it." Speaking about the new series, a source added: "BBC bosses have already made the bold move of shifting the entire series from Saturday to Sunday nights so they won’t be scared about moving the festive special from Christmas to New Year."
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However, BBC have already revealed an exciting Christmas line-up, including a Watership Down mini-series with an all-star cast. It was recently revealed that Sam Smith has recorded a new song, Fire on Fire, for the show. Speaking about his involvement, he said: "I am so excited and honoured to be a part of this new adaptation of Watership Down. This story is so powerful and timeless, and it has been thrilling to work with Noam and his team and the incredible Steve Mac on this song for it. I hope everyone loves it as much as I do."
