‘Doctor Who: Joy to the World’ Spoiler-Free Review – A Cozy Christmas Romp Across Time

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) Joy (Nicola Coughlan) and Hotel Manager (Jonathan Aris) | Photo Credit: Bad Wolf/BBC Studios/Disney+

It’s not Christmastime if there isn’t a Doctor Who Christmas Special gracing our screens. And this year’s entry in that longstanding tradition comes from, perhaps, the greatest of all Doctor Who Christmas Special writers – previous showrunner, and writer of last season’s Boom, Steven Moffat. Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, Joy to the World finds the Doctor traveling alone, facing a danger that threatens the very existence of Earth itself. Moffat’s script delivers a borderline farcical, timey-wimey romp that’s somehow held together by dynamic performances from Ncuti Gatwa and Doctor Who newcomer Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton). Though it seems unlikely that Joy to the World will top anyone’s list of the best Doctor Who Christmas Specials, Joy to the World offers a warm and cozy romp through time and space nonetheless.

Joy in the Time Hotel

When Joy (Coughlan) checks into a London hotel in 2024, she anticipates a quiet Christmas Eve spent all by herself. But that peace and serenity quickly go out the window when the Doctor (Gatwa) and a Silurian hotel manager (Jonathan Aris) burst into her room, mysterious briefcase in hand. What follows is the Christmas Eve of a lifetime – complete with a Time Hotel and a dangerous conspiracy that threatens the very existence of Earth itself. Can the Doctor and Joy unravel the strands of this grand conspiracy? Or is this, perhaps, Earth’s final Christmas ever? Despite what you might be expecting, Steven Moffat’s Joy to the World plays out a bit more like The Husbands of River Song than something more bombastic like Russell T. Davies’ Voyage of the Damned or last year’s The Church on Ruby Road.

The story of Joy to the World might just be one of subverted expectations. Put simply, whatever you’re thinking might happen in the episode based on the trailers, prepare for something wholly unexpected. It’s not that this is a Doctor Who Christmas Special unlike any other; far from it, in fact. It’s just that what might appear on the surface to be a bombastic, timey-wimey blockbuster may just be hiding a far more tender underbelly. In truth, the specifics of Joy to the World‘s world-threatening plot frequently fade into the background as Moffat shines a light on the Doctor and Joy’s shared Christmas woes. Unlike most Doctor Who Christmas Specials, Joy to the World seems content to be a quieter, more character-driven story disguised as a bombastic blockbuster – and it’s all the better for it.

A Holiday Tale of Loneliness, Hope, and Friendship

As Joy to the World begins, the Doctor travels alone following Ruby’s departure in last season’s Empire of Death. But he’s talking to himself and completely forgetting he’s all alone. He’s a man without company, a solitary figure in need of a friend. Who is the Doctor when he’s all by himself? Well, he’s an even more amped-up version of himself than usual, complete with all the requisite self-hatred that comes along with too much time spent by yourself. For the Doctor, meeting Joy offers a chance to step back into something more familiar. It’s a difficult balance that Gatwa pulls off with ease, weaving together heartbreak, anger, and eccentricity into a tragic figure of sorts – but one that you can’t help rooting for. It’s relatively familiar ground for the Doctor, but Gatwa breathes such life into it that you don’t even mind that familiarity.

As for Joy, her name hides an even deeper sadness. It’s like the Doctor implies: who chooses to spend Christmas Eve alone in a hotel room other than someone who can’t bear to spend it at home? The chance to visit the Time Hotel and help the Doctor save the Earth from certain destruction gives Joy the kind of gift she could never receive anywhere else. But even so, that sadness haunts her every move, and Coughlan perfectly plays that haunted, melancholic quality. Her rapport with Gatwa’s Doctor is sharp and prickly yet full of warmth. She’s very much in line with the likes of a proto-companion like Voyage of the Damned‘s Astrid (Kylie Minogue). Joy’s sadness and hope form the episode’s emotional core, and the promise of a friendship with the Doctor shines as bright as a Christmas star.

A Disjointed Plot Held Together By Warmth and Christmas Spirit

All that being said, the nitty-gritty details of Moffat’s script feel uncharacteristically hollow this time around. It’s not that the premise isn’t good – it’s a great one. A Time Hotel that can take you to any vacant hotel room throughout human history is the kind of idea that could make any Doctor Who writer drool. It’s just that the episode doesn’t have enough time to accomplish everything it’s trying to do. So the plot itself often feels a bit disjointed as Moffat’s script juggles all its moving parts. The episode’s not paced poorly, necessarily, it’s just that it could probably stand to have had another fifteen or so minutes to let some of its scenes and character beats breathe. Instead of the exciting, breathtaking mystery it’s trying to be, it’s more of a whip-fast romp through time and space that plays out a bit like Moffat’s Greatest Hits – for better or worse.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Doctor Who: Joy to the World often feels like a familiar retreat of previous Christmas Specials repackaged with a shiny new coat of paint. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that approach. After all, that’s generally how Christmas specials play out; warm, cozy, and unchallenging. It’s enjoyable enough in its own right and held together by a pair of dynamic performances from Gatwa and Coughlan, as well as some scene-stealing turns from the likes of Our Flag Means Death‘s Joel Fry, Sherlock‘s Jonathan Aris, and Doctor Who newcomer Steph de Whalley. Joy to the World‘s not gonna top anyone’s list of Doctor Who Christmas Specials, but it offers a warm return to the Whoniverse as we await the show’s upcoming second season.

Doctor Who: Joy to the World premiers December 25th at 12:10 pm ET on Disney+ and 5:10 pm GMT on BBC One/BBC iPlayer.