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Ncuti Gatwa
Joy to the World
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Synopsis


The Doctor, Joy and the Suitcase
The Doctor, Joy and the Suitcase
 When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and The Doctor.

 But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas.

Source: BBC Website


General Information

Season: Forty Two (New Series 15)
Production Code: 15-X1
Story Number: 312 (New Series: 156)
Episode Number:884 (New Series: 188)
Number of Episodes: 1
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Working Titles:"The Time Hotel" and "Christmas, Everywhere All at Once"
Production Dates: October and November 2023
Broadcast Date: 25 December 2024
Colour Status: HD Colour
Studio: Wolf Studios (Cardiff, Wales)
Location: Sandringham Hotel, Cardiff
Writer:Steven Moffat
Director:Alex Sanjiv Pillai
Series Producer:Vicki Delow
Producer:Alison Sterling
Executive Producers:Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat
Brand Director for BBC Studios:Vanessa Hamilton
Production Executive for BBC Studios:John Hamer
Executive Producer for the BBC:Nick Lambon
Co-Producer:Jess Gardner
Director's Assistant:Abdoul Razak Ceesay
Script Supervisors:Richard Pask and Ines Mayorga (Assistant)
Script Editors:David Cheung, Rosheed Bello (Assistant) and Scott Handcock (Senior)
Editors:Ulrike Munch, Emily Lawrence (Assistant), Joseph Keirle (Assistant) and Matt Nathan (VFX)
Colourist:Gareth Spensley
Production Executive:Steffan Morris
Junior Production Executive:Charlotte Cox
Production Manager:Delmi Thomas
Post Production Producer:Ceres Doyle
Post Production Supervisor:Louise Sutton
Location Managers:Baljinder Sidhu, Alex Moore (Assistant) and Shuaib Said (Assistant)
Supervising Location Manager:Iwan Roberts
Studio Managers:Richard Balshaw and Lloyd Di Mauro (Assistant)
Unit Manager:Kyle Yates
Production Designer:Phil Sims
Director of Production:Emily Russell
Director of Photography:Mika Orasmaa FSC
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG/CSA
Online Editors:Christine Kelly and Monika Bednarczyk (Assistant)
Line Producer:Angela Phillips
Costume Designer:Pam Downe
Hair & Make-Up Designer:Julie Kendrick
Cameramen:Martin Stephens ACO (Operator), Steve Rees (Operator), Andrea Jovanovska (Trainee), Chai Lee Tan (Trainee), Salma Salah (Trainee) and Sarah MacLeod (Trainee)
Visual Effects:Automatik VFX
VFX Producer:Anne Akande
VFX Supervisors:Dave Houghton and Sebastian Barker
Additional VFX:BBC Wales Graphics
Special Effects:Real SFX
Creature FX:Millennium FX
Stunt Co-ordinators:Andy Godbold and Derek Lea
Stunt Performers:Josh Dyer, Josie Forman, Michael Byrch, Paul Joseph and Ross Upton
Puppeteers:Eliot Gibbins and Josh Elwell
Incidental Music:Murray Gold
Sound Recordist:Alex Thompson
Re-recording Mixer:Paul McFadden
Music Conducted By:Alastair King
Music Performed By:BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Music Mixed By:Jake Jackson
Music Editor:Marnie Davidge
Music Supervisors:Ollie White and Estera Dabrowska (Assistant)
Title Sequence:Painting Practice & Realtime Visualisation
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold
Silurians Originally Created By: Malcolm Hulke
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa (The Fifteenth Doctor)
Number of Companions: None Guest Cast: Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday), Nicola Coughlan (Joy Almondo) Additional Cast: Peter Benedict (Basil Flockhart), Julia Watson (Hilda Flockhart), Niamh Marie Smith (Sylvia Trench), Phil Baxter (Edmund Hillary), Samuel Sherpa-Moore (Tenzing Norgay), Steph de Whalley (Anita Benn), Jonathan Aris (Hotel Manager), Ruchi Rai (Receptionist), Joshua Leese (Mr Single), Joel Fry (Trev Simpkins), Ell Potter (Server), Liam Prince-Donnelly (Barman), Fiona Marr (Angela Grace), Fiona Scott (Joy’s Mum)Setting: Manchester (1940); Base Camp, Everest (1953); Orient Express, Italy (1962); London (2020, 2024. 2025 and 4202); New York (2025) and Bethlehem (0001) Villain:Villengard

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
884Joy to the World25 December 202454'53"5.9Yes

Total Duration 55 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 5.9


Archives


 This story exists and is held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.



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Notes


"Joy to the World" is the 2024 Christmas Special that was broadcast on BBC One and released on Disney+ on the 25th December 2024 as the fifteenth Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai. It stars Ncuti Gatwa, as the Fifteenth Doctor, Nicola Coughlan, as Joy Almondo, and Steph de Whalley, as Anita Benn.

This is the ninth Christmas special written by Steven Moffat, and the first to be written by Steven Moffat, after having written his last Christmas Special as the showrunner for the show, with the 2017 story "Twice Upon a Time". This special is also Ncuti Gatwa's second Christmas special.

"Joy to the World" sees for the first time that anyone, except for the current showrunner, that has written either a Christmas or New Year’s special with Steven Moffat having previously written eight Christmas specials during his own tenure. These being "A Christmas Carol" (2010), "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe" (2011), "The Snowmen" (2012), "The Time of The Doctor" (2013), "Last Christmas" (2014), "The Husbands of River Song" (2015), "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" (2016) and "Twice Upon a Time" (2017).

Steven Moffat, previously wrote the Season Forty One (New Series 14) story "Boom". He teased that we may endure some heartbreak during this Christmas special too! He said of returning for this festive adventure: ‘It was just fun and it was quite nice that I had my old job back for exactly one episode and then I could go lie down. Russell as to keep toiling away all the time, constantly’.

As well as the writer for this story Steven Moffat also once again assumed an Executive Producer role during the production of this story. He was also an Executive Producer for last season’s "Boom".

Russell T Davies teased what fans would expect from this special, during a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube for "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death", - saying: ‘I can't give away much more but work has begun on it already, and it's mad, it's one of the maddest Christmas specials you'll ever see’. He also added that: ‘It's epic, it goes to so many different places. And it's a great story of who The Doctor is when he's alone’.

Just like all of Steven Moffat's previous Christmas specials, the title comes from another piece of pre-existing Christmas media. This time it is from an English hymn and Christmas carol. It was written in 1719 by the English minister and hymnist Isaac Watts. The title also serves as a wordplay on the name of the character Joy Almondo featured in this special.

It has been reported that when Russell T Davies returned to helm the show he said that airing it on Christmas Day was a condition of his return. ‘I just think it suits Doctor Who. I think the stories are more fun. Any story with tinsel in it is better than a story without tinsel in it’.

At the ending of the previous story, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death", we saw Millie Gibson, who played The Doctor's previous companion Ruby Sunday, depart the TARDIS in an emotional scene. Even though it was confirmed that she will be back in a smaller role during Season Forty Two (New Season 15), initial reports indicated that Millie Gibson would not appear in this special. However, she did make a brief cameo appearance near the end of this story.

In November 2023, Nicola Coughlan was initially announced as appearing in an undisclosed role in an upcoming Doctor Who story. It was later revealed that she would star in the 2024 Christmas special as one-off companion, Joy Almondo - a guest at a hotel who ‘gets caught up in The Doctor's adventures’.

Nicola Coughlan has described the character of Joy as ‘a determined woman whose life is changed forever when she meets The Doctor’. Steven Moffat has confirmed that ‘Nicola is wonderful in it, she will break your heart’. Nicola Coughlan previously starred as Clare Devlin in Derry Girls (Channel 4’s teen sitcom set in Northern Ireland) and as Penelope Featherington in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton.

In November 2024, Jonathan Aris, Joel Fry, Julia Watson, Steph de Whalley, Peter Benedict and Niamh Marie Smith were also announced as guest stars.

Peter Benedict is best known for his portrayal as Aleksander Tiedemann in the Netflix thriller Dark. He plays the part of Basil and along with Casualty star Julia Watson, as Hilda, (the pair seen at the Queens Hotel in Manchester, during the Second World War).

This special saw the return of a Silurian - This turned out to be the manager of the Time Hotel and was played by Jonathan Aris. The Third Doctor first encountered the Silurians in the 1970 story "Doctor Who and the Silurians".

It has been reported that showrunner, Russell T Davies initially began writing this story and had sent a portion of the script to former showrunner Steven Moffat to obtain his opinion. Russell T Davies then realised that he was too busy to complete the script and so he shelved it and asked Steven Moffat to write the Christmas special instead, which he agreed to do. Steven Moffat completed writing this story by the 20th July 2023.

It has also been revealed that half the script had been completed before it was realised that Ruby Sunday would no longer be travelling in the TARDIS. The character of Anita originally only had around ten lines but her presence was then increased.

Speaking in a behind the scenes video on YouTube for "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death", Russell T Davies has said: ‘Now The Doctor voyages forward, and guess what always happens to The Doctor every so often - Christmas! Here comes Christmas. I can't give away much more but work has begun on it already, and it's mad, it's one of the maddest Christmas specials you'll ever see. It's epic, it goes to so many different places. And it's a great story of who The Doctor is when he's alone’.

Steven Moffat revealed to BBC South East the plot for this story: ‘Imagine in the far, far future that a hotel chain got hold of the idea of time travel. What's the first thing a hotel chain would do if they had time travel? They'd realise they had an opportunity to sell all the unsold nights in their own hotels in history’.

Set designs for this story were underway at Wolf Studios in Wales by the 11th 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 attacked by the dinosaur. The art department was working on graphic designs by the 17th October 2023. It has been reported that the graphics team took fifteen 11-hour days to create enough artwork to fill The Doctor's hotel room. Seven different briefcases were also purchased by the props department for use in this story. A team at Millennium FX designed the Silurian prosthetics.

This story was filmed in the first filming block of Season Forty Two (New Series 15), which began on the 23rd October 2023, with recording extending into November 2023.

The Sandrigham Hotel, seen in this story, is a real hotel in Cardiff and the production team chose to purchase two floors for the filming of the hotel scenes. The Time Hotel’s lobby though was built in the studio. 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 motion of a moving train.

The Doctor once again solves a problem via a Bootstrap Paradox, only knowing what the solution is (this is the code number for the briefcase) because his future-self told him, which he remembers when he meets his past self (see also the 2007 Children in Need mini-episode, "Time Crash" and the 2011 Comic Relief special, "Time").

After The Doctor, from the future, gives his past self the code for the briefcase, he says he found it out ‘the long way around’ (see also "The Day of The Doctor", "Heaven Sent/Hell Bent" and "Twice Upon a Time").

The Doctor is once again present during the Nativity. In "Voyage of the Damned" the Tenth Doctor claimed to have attended it and ‘got the last room’ at the inn in Bethlehem (see "Voyage of the Damned").

The Doctor reacts with fear when handed a plunger due to its resemblance to a Dalek manipulator arm.

Anita believes The Doctor is married (see "Blink", "A Christmas Carol", "The Wedding of River Song" and "The Day of The Doctor").

This story continues on from when Ruby Sunday leaves the TARDIS at the end of the previous story, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death", and sees The Doctor initially struggling to be alone during Christmas after parting ways with Ruby, who makes a brief appearance near the end of this story.

At the end of this story The Doctor witnesses Joy becoming the star that guides the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, so confirming that Biblical events exist in Doctor Who in tandem with the mainly science fiction nature of the show.

In the end credits, the name of the passenger on the Orient Express is revealed to be Sylvia Trench. This is also the name of James Bond's love interest in the first two Bond films (Dr. No and From Russia with Love) and is thus considered to have been the first ‘Bond girl’.

The Doctor is heard to mention the Weeping Angels to Anita (see "Blink").

This story further explores the Villengard Corporation, a recurring fictional weapons manufacturing company that has been mentioned in a number of Steven Moffat's stories for the show. The Doctor last confronted Villengard in the previous season’s story "Boom". He also encountered the Villengard in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" and in the 2017 Twelfth Doctor story "Twice Upon a Time". All three stories were also written by Steven Moffat.

The primary reason The Doctor travelled to the Time Hotel was so he could restock on milk. In "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" the Ninth Doctor previously discussed with Rose Tyler that the milk in the TARDIS would go quickly and so requires restocking frequently.

The Doctor reveals that the TARDIS has a nav-com algorithm that homes in on fresh milk whenever it has run out. The Doctor is heard suggesting that he could just install a fridge to prevent constantly needing to find milk.

The Doctor visits Mount Everest in 1953 on the day the summit of the highest mountain on Earth was first reached by Edmund Hillary and his team. In this story The Doctor meets them at the Everest Base Camp just before they set out for this historic event.

The Time Hotel features a clothes store called Mr. Benn's Any Era Clothes, a reference to the 1970 children’s character Mr Benn, who would go on adventures via a magic door in a costume shop. In the end credits of this story, ‘Benn’ is also revealed to be Anita's last name.

The name of the bar in the Time Hotel is DeTamble's, a reference to the book The Time Traveler's Wife, by American author Audrey Niffenegger. The Twelfth Doctor also owns a copy of this book (see "Dark Water/Death in Heaven").

The advertising material that The Doctor looks at while visiting the Time Hotel includes: ‘Discover the Ancient Pyramids of Giza’ and a ‘Presidential Assassination Special’ for ‘Kennedy’ and ‘Lincoln’. Interestingly the assassination of the former US president John F Kennedy is a real-life event that occurred on the 22nd November 1963 - the day before the first episode of "An Unearthly Child" (the very first Doctor Who story) was broadcast.

In the Time Hotel we see a number of themed doors that hint to visits to: the O.K. Corral ("The Gunfighters"), Pompeii ("The Fires of Pompeii"), Giza ("Pyramids of Mars"), Mesopotamia ("Resolution"), the Stone Age ("An Unearthly Child"), pre-colonial Mexico ("The Aztecs"), the signing of the Magna Carta ("The King's Demons") and trips on Nostalgia Tours buses ("Delta and the Bannermen"). There is also a round door that looks very much like those used by the Hobbits from Middle-Earth in the film versions of J. R. R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

After The Doctor improves Anita's car, she mentions that her SatNav no longer takes her where she wants to go, only for The Doctor to say that it now takes her ‘where she needs to be’.

The Doctor fixes the microwave in the Sandringham Hotel, but also adds dimensional transcendentalism to it so making it bigger on the inside.

The Doctor is heard to say ‘mavity’ again instead of ‘gravity’ (see "Wild Blue Yonder").

The Twelfth Doctor previously encountered a Tyrannosaurus Rex in "Deep Breath".

At Anita's hotel in the year 2024, The Doctor is seen to read a newspaper article about a Clockwork Droid (see "The Girl in the Fireplace").

Joy's mother was being treated at the Royal Hope Hospital, the same hospital where The Doctor first met Martha Jones in "Smith and Jones".

Before being revealed as "Joy to the World", working titles for this story included ‘The Time Hotel’ and ‘Christmas, Everywhere All at Once’.

This story is the 156th story since the show was revived in 2005 - this is exactly the same number of stories in the original era of Doctor Who.

A teaser for this year’s Christmas Special - "Joy to the World" was unveiled at the San Diego Comic-Con. Nicola Coughlan introduced the trailer to fans in a specially shot video. This trailer sees The Doctor trying to deliver a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté at different points in history. The scene set at the Queens Hotel in Manchester, during the Second World War, features Peter Benedict and Julia Watson as Basil and Hilda. The action then moves to the Orient Express in 1962, where we see a woman called Sylvia Trench (Niamh Marie Smith) with a copy of Agatha Christie’s novel Murder on the Orient Express. Moving on to the base camp on Mount Everest in 1953, we meet mountaineers Edmund Hillary (Phil Baxter) and Tenzing Norgay (Samuel Sherpa-Moore). The trailer ends with a woman called Joy Almondo (Nicola Coughlan) arriving at the Sandringham Hotel, in December 2024, where she is shown to her hotel room by Anita Benn (Steph de Whalley). The Silurian who subsequently walks into Joy’s hotel room, through a door that was locked only moments ago, is played by Jonathan Aris. He was a regular in Sherlock (created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss) where he played Anderson.

A trailer for this story was released on the 15th November 2024 as part of the 2024 Children in Need broadcast. The press screening took place in the week prior to broadcast, which was hosted by Angellica Bell.

Promotional posters released by Disney+ captioned the poster with "Joy to the Worlds", mirroring the title "Joy to the World". This artwork was released on the 23rd November 2024 (to coincide with the 61st anniversary of Doctor Who). The title given on this poster caused confusion among some fans who initially assumed that the plural 'Worlds' was an error, Disney’s Doctor Who social media account then started replying to comments to indicate that something else was afoot. This then led to some fans to speculate that there could be a multiversal twist in store, while others have wondered if the UK and international versions of this story may be slightly different.

On the 5th December 2024, in anticipation of the Christmas special, a new trailer was released by the BBC, giving viewers the best look yet at what to expect from the Steven Moffat-penned instalment. This trailer teased viewers with two versions of the Fifteenth Doctor and a whole lot of time related shenanigans. The trailer sees the Fifteenth Doctor visiting a hotel utilising time travel, where he is told by hotel employee, played by Joel Fry, that they are celebrating ‘Christmas everywhere all at once’. The Doctor is seen visiting places in the past, present and future, as well as glimpsing his first meeting with Nicola Coughlan's new character Joy, The Doctor is also seen meeting another version of himself, seemingly from the future. And there is also an emotional flashback to the departure of Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday from this year's season finale, while the trailer also teases it will delve into ‘the biggest mystery in the known universe’.

This trailer confirmed that what seemed like an error, in the Disney+ poster when it seemed to call this story ‘Joy to the Worlds’ (with an s), was very much not so – When a caption at the end of this trailer stated: ‘Who Brings Joy to the Worlds’ and last word is seen to shift from ‘World’ to ‘Worlds’.

On the BBC iPlayer this story is mistakenly listed with the previous season’s stories.

This story was the sixth most-watched programme on Christmas Day, receiving 4.11 million viewers overnight.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
A Ham and Cheese Toastie with a Pumpkin Latte
A Ham and Cheese Toastie with a Pumpkin Latte

The Doctor encounters a number of people as he travels throughout various eras. Each time he offers them a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté, but departs when they seem confused by his sudden and weird visit. First, we see him visit an elderly couple during World War II, then a woman called Sylvia Trench on the Orient Express in 1962 Italy and then Edmund Hillary and his team at the Base Camp on Mount Everest in 1953.

Meanwhile, in London in 2024, a woman named Joy Almondo arrives at the Sandringham Hotel, where she asks the hotel's proprietor, Anita Benn, for a single room for the week. Once in the room, she notes an unusual locked door, but dismisses it as being something found in every hotel room. Suddenly a Silurian with a briefcase attached to his arm emerges from the locked door. Shocked by the Silurian’s sudden appearance Joy threatens the unwanted intruder with a hairdryer, that she has just taken from a draw. Then without any warning The Doctor arrives through the same door, making the same offer of a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté. Seeing Joy and the Silurian, The Doctor grins.

In London of the far future the TARDIS materialises inside the Time Hotel. It is Christmas in 4202 and we see The Doctor exit his TARDIS. As he emerges, yawning widely, he is wearing a dressing gown and carrying two mugs. He takes them to a drink dispenser to fill them with milk. As he does so he observes a man, with a briefcase chained to his arm, approach a reception desk and ask for a room on the third floor. The Doctor is then approached by a hotel employee, Trev Simpkins, who asks The Doctor if he is a guest as the refreshments are for hotel guests only. The Doctor admits that he isn't, telling Trev that he only needed some milk. Spotting the TARDIS and that The Doctor is also carrying a newspaper Trev asks The Doctor if the TARDIS is a toilet. Trev also asks The Doctor if he has someone with him as he is carrying two mugs. The Doctor is initially confused until he remembers that he is now travelling alone after Ruby Sunday left him in the previous story. The Doctor though is more interested in observing the strange man with the briefcase.

Joy Almondo
Joy Almondo

Handing Trev one of the mugs he is carrying The Doctor enters the TARDIS and changes out of his dressing gown into a coat. He exits the TARDIS again, observing that the man with the briefcase is still at the reception desk. The Doctor is again approached by Trev, who is still confused by the presence of the TARDIS. The Doctor holds out his psychic paper, telling Trev that he is a special agent sent by head office and that Trev is now working for him on a task to observe the strange man with the briefcase. The Doctor tells Trev that if he needs him to use his implanted psychic graft and to just use the codename ‘The Doctor’. Trev promises The Doctor that he won't let him down.

Meanwhile, unable to obtain a room on the third floor, due to them all being currently occupied, the man with the briefcase, on the suggestion of the receptionist, enters a nearby bar, apparently to wait for one to become available. The Doctor approaches the receptionist and orders a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté, which to The Doctor’s surprise is instantly delivered. He is informed that this is because the hotels’ kitchen is 30 minutes in the future. Meanwhile in the nearby bar the man with the briefcase approaches the barman. After telling the barman that ‘The star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise’ the stranger then holds out his briefcase, asking the barman to put it behind the bar. However, as the barman reaches for it, the briefcase unchains itself from the strange man and attaches itself to the barman instead. An automated voice is then heard stating that access is upgrading. The stranger then becomes confused and disorientated especially when the barman tells him to make himself comfortable and that he will be dead quite shortly. The barman then exits the bar area and approaches Trev in the reception area asking him to give him a hand. Once Trev is inside the bar area the barman transfers the briefcase to him. Trev then watches in horror as the strange man, who originally had the briefcase, disintegrate before his eyes followed soon after by the barman. Trev, now being controlled by the briefcase attached to his arm, exits the bar and approaches the reception desk. There he speaks to the Hotel Manager (who is a Silurian). He asks the manager if he has priority access to all of the hotel's time portals. When the Silurian confirms that as the Hotel Manager he does, the briefcase unfastens from Trev and attaches itself to the Silurian.

Joy and Anita
Joy and Anita

As all this has been happening The Doctor has been investigating the various doors in a nearby corridor. But as he tries a door, he is informed that access is not available due to the person in the time period is still in residence. Frustrated by this The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and overrides this, thus beginning his journey of offering the ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté to the people he encounters from various time periods - returning to the Time Hotel each time. The last of which he spots the Silurian with the briefcase enter one of the portals. He communicates with Trev who informs The Doctor that he has let him down, before disintegrating like the others. The Doctor then enters the same portal as the Silurian and it is then that he discovers him in the hotel room with Joy.

Back in 2024 and having two people appear suddenly in her hotel room, one of which is obviously not human, causes Joy huge confusion and she is determined to get answers from The Doctor. But The Doctor initially ignores her as he is more interested in the Silurian and the briefcase, which the Silurian tries to pass to The Doctor. But he is naturally wary of why the Silurian is so keen for him to take the briefcase. An annoyed Joy points out that they are in her hotel room, again demanding an explanation. But still she is being ignored and so, aggravated by the continued lack of explanations, Joy grabs the briefcase instead. It immediately chains itself to her. The Doctor is very concerned and examines it with his sonic screwdriver. But he is distraught to witness that the briefcase, having now taken control of Joy, causes the Silurian to disintegrate. As well as being saddened by the Silurian’s death The Doctor warns Joy that what happened to the Silurian will now happen to her unless he can discover a way to save her from the same fate. Being controlled by the briefcase she just repeats that ‘The star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise’. The Doctor tells her that it is not her speaking but she is being manipulated by the briefcase. Then using his sonic screwdriver The Doctor is able to open the briefcase and inside he discovers a bright, glowing orb. The Doctor is initially pleased with himself until an automated message is heard stating that the briefcase must be closed within 20 seconds or the current holder will be disintegrated. Just before the countdown reaches zero Joy forces the briefcase closed. Initially pleased that her death has been aborted Joy and The Doctor’s relief is short lived when the closing of the briefcase prompts the appearance of a small keypad that pops up from the briefcase and another announcement is heard. This time stating that Joy will be disintegrated if the correct four-digit security code is not entered within 15 seconds. The Doctor admits that he did not see this coming and Joy asks if he knows the code, which The Doctor replies that he doesn't. He also informs Joy that there are 10,000 possibilities and there is not enough time to try them all. He also states that he can't use the TARDIS again in the Time Hotel as that would create a causal nexus.

The Doctor suddenly shouts ‘Come in!’ and another version of himself, from the future, suddenly appears from the hotel room’s closed door and gives the current Doctor the security code. The current Doctor quickly enters it on the key-pad, disarming the briefcase. Distracted by the arrival of his future-self the current Doctor is unable to prevent Joy (who is still attached to the briefcase), along with his future-self depart the hotel room via the portal that takes them both back to the Time Hotel. As his future-self leaves the current Doctor asks how this all works, how he gets to be him. The future Doctor replies that this will be ‘the long way around’. The future Doctor refuses to give any more answers other than that he must stay there and complete the loop as that is the only way that he will get the code. The future Doctor then departs sealing the portal so leaving the current Doctor stranded in 2024. The current Doctor realises that he is going to have to wait until Christmas 2025 before he will be able to reach the Time Hotel so allowing him to become his future self that gave his current self the correct security code number. The Doctor takes up residence in Joy’s hotel room and to pay for it he takes up a job at the hotel. During the year he befriends Anita and, using his sonic screwdriver, he also repairs and improves things around the hotel and in Anita’s life. The Doctor also uses his time trapped in 2025 to try and work out what the device in the briefcase is - covering the walls of his hotel room with scientific calculations and sketches.

Hotel Guest?
Hotel Guest?

A year later The Doctor leaves Anita and the Sandringham Hotel and travels to the Exeter Hotel in New York, which he uses to re-enter the Time Hotel. This enables him to give his past self the security code and depart with Joy, so completing the paradox. Back in the Time Hotel, The Doctor follows Joy (who is still being controlled by the briefcase) as she enters a lift to take them to a higher floor so that she can locate a portal that will take her further back in time. Inside the lift The Doctor starts to insult Joy. On the higher floor Joy, followed by The Doctor, enters another portal that takes them to a wooden platform high up overlooking a forest. There much to Joy’s dismay The Doctor continues to insult her saying that no self-respecting person would stay alone at a hotel on Christmas Day. This goads Joy into lashing out, explaining that her mother died in hospital on Christmas Day, with Joy only able to say goodbye through a screen due to COVID-19 regulations. This anger allows Joy to break the mind control and the briefcase disconnects from her. After apologising to Joy, for any upset he has caused her, The Doctor cautiously approaches the briefcase that is trying to attach itself to The Doctor’s arm. Using his sonic screwdriver The Doctor is able to once again open the briefcase which reveals itself to be of Villengard origin - an arms manufacturer that The Doctor has encountered before (see "Boom"). The Doctor discovers that the device is designed to use time travel to go far back in time where it plans to detonate a ‘star seed’ to use as an energy source.

However, before The Doctor can discover more a Tyrannosaurus Rex arrives from the forest and attacks the wooden platform nearly killing The Doctor and Joy, Instead the Tyrannosaurus Rex eats the briefcase. All The Doctor and Joy can do is flee back through the portal, leaving the briefcase in the distant past. Back again in the Time Hotel, The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to contact Trev (who connected psychically to Villengard's system before he died). The Doctor asks Trev to tell him where and when he is. All that Trev can reveal is that he is in Room 48. The Doctor and Joy take off to find this room and using its portal they arrive inside an ancient monument. But The Doctor discovers that the briefcase is sealed inside a tomb. The Doctor explains to Joy that eventually the dinosaur would have either thrown up the briefcase or deposited it and that someone must have found it and then sealed it inside the shrine. The Doctor notes that it is getting warm and asks Trev, via his implant, how long have they got until detonation. He initially replies that it is about four-and-a-half millennia. But when The Doctor asks him to double check Trev comes back that it is actually four-and-a-half minutes.

Realising that they do not have much time The Doctor tells Joy that he is going to force open the tomb and then throw the briefcase into space using his TARDIS. He rushes off, leaving Joy alone, to get a rope and grappling hook from the Mount Everest Base Camp that he saw during his earlier visit there. Then with one end of the rope tethered to the entrance of the tomb and through the portal back to the Time Hotel, he then uses the portal that returns him to the Orient Express. There at the end of the train The Doctor lobs the grappling hook, tied to the other end of the rope, so that it catches and the momentum of the train is enough to shatter the tomb’s entrance stone in the shrine that has been holding the briefcase in place.

The Doctor then rushes back to the shrine but discovers that both the briefcase and Joy are no longer there. A flight of stone steps however, leads him to the outside world and to the top of a hill. There he discovers Joy again under the briefcase’s influence, but before he can intervene to rescue her, Joy reveals that she has let the star seed enter her and that it will bloom but that he need not worry because she, along with the others who came in contact with the briefcase, will be far away in the sky when the star seed detonates. Realising that Joy thinks that she is saving the world, he tries to protest saying that he is supposed to be saving her and that he will not allow the Villengard do this to them. The Doctor continues to plead with her that she will burn and die. Joy though tells him that she is not dying, only changing into something beautiful that will shine everywhere and forever. With that Joy pilots the star seed into space, where it detonates safely. As The Doctor returns to the Time Hotel, it is revealed that the star created by the seed has become the Star of Bethlehem that guides the three wisemen to the birth place of Jesus which becomes part of the Nativity - and that Joy has truly brought ‘Joy to the World’.

 
A Surprised Joy
A Surprised Joy
Trev Simpkins
Trev Simpkins
The Doctor and the Hotel Manager
The Doctor and the Hotel Manager
Opening the Suitcase
Opening the Suitcase
 
Double Doctor
Double Doctor
Dinosaur Attack
Dinosaur Attack
Doctor to the Rescue
Doctor to the Rescue
In the Shrine
In the Shrine




Quote of the Story


 'Wherever there is a corporation, there is PR; they just can't stop themselves. Evil... goes global.'

The Doctor



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
Joy to the WorldDue: January 2025BBCDVD 4617Photo-montage
Video
Blu-Ray
Joy to the WorldDue: January 2025BBCBD 0615Photo-montage


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - PreviewIssue 611 (Released: Winter 2024)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArticleIssue 612 (Released: January 2025)

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On Release

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

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Blu-Ray Cover
Blu-Ray Cover

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VIDEO
   


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Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 611
Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 611

Marvel Comics
 
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 612
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 612

Marvel Comics
   

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