Joy to the World (TV story)

Joy to the World is the 2024 Christmas Special. It premiered on 25 December 2024.

As well as being the ninth Christmas Special written by Steven Moffat, it is the first not written by the current showrunner, since Russell T Davies was too busy writing Series 15/Season 2 to write the Christmas special as well. It is Ncuti Gatwa's second Christmas Special as the Doctor, and features Nicola Coughlan and Steph de Whalley as the Doctor's companions for the story, Joy Almondo and Anita Benn.

While shown with Joy and Anita as his companions, the story continues on from the Series 14 finale Empire of Death and sees the Doctor initially struggling to be alone during Christmas after parting ways with Ruby Sunday, who makes a brief appearance near the end of the story.

Notably, the end of Joy to the World, where the Doctor witnesses Joy becoming the star that guides the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, confirms that Biblical events exist in Doctor Who in tandem with the science fiction nature of the series.

Synopsis

This Christmas, the Doctor is thrown together with a cheery yet lonely hotel guest with a connection to a mysterious briefcase...

Plot

The Fifteenth Doctor travels throughout various eras and encountering the people there - an elderly couple during World War II, Sylvia Trench on the Orient Express in 1962 Italy and Edmund Hillary and his team on Mount Everest in 1953. Each time, he holds out to them an offering, a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latté, but departs when they seem confused. 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. She wishes herself a Merry Christmas when suddenly a Silurian with a briefcase attached to his arm emerges from the door. She threatens him with a handheld vacuum cleaner and he raises his hands. The doctor arrives, making the same offer he made to the others. Seeing Joy, he grins.

On Christmas in London in 4202, the Fifteenth Doctor arrives inside the Time Hotel via his TARDIS. He emerges, yawning widely, wearing a bathrobe and carrying two mugs and takes them to taps to fill them with milk. He observes a man with a briefcase chained to his arm approaching the desk and asking the receptionist for a room on the third floor. He is approached by a hotel employee, Trev Simpkins, who informs him that refreshments are for hotel guests only, asking him if he is a guest. The Doctor admits that he isn't, telling Trev that he only needed some milk, that he has an algorithm which homes in on fresh milk. Trev looks incredulous, asking if the TARDIS is a toilet. When the Doctor seems offended, he points out that he has a newspaper. The Doctor, however, notes that he also has a coffee, asking who would take that to the loo.

Trev notes the fact that the Doctor has two mugs. He asks if there's someone else in the TARDIS and he calls it habit, that he never gets used to them leaving. He hands Trev one of the mugs, telling him to keep it, that it's bigger on the inside. He enters the TARDIS and changes out of the bathrobe into a coat, asking himself why he did that. He then gets a reaction from his sonic screwdriver, asking himself what it was that he saw. He exits the TARDIS again, observing the man with the briefcase on his arm with suspicion. He is again approached by Trev, who is confused by the presence of the TARDIS. He holds out his psychic paper, telling Trev that he is Special Agent Clint Rock, sent by the head office.

The Doctor tells Trev that he's working for him now, taking him for a stroll. He asks him what he thinks about the man with the briefcase, but he seems confused, noting that he's not doing anything. "And he keeps doing it," points out the Doctor. He notes that the man has not looked up once, despite the amazing sights of the hotel. He observes as the receptionist informs the man with the briefcase that they can't make the room he wants available until the contemporaneous guests have vacated. She suggests he that use the services of the bar DeTamble's in the meantime. Trev asks if they aren't going to follow him, but the Doctor tells him he hates following people. He studies a brochure and the people around him, asking just what the Time Hotel means, if it's "all of human history as minibreaks." Trev points out that he should know this if he's from the head office, but he replies that he likes to go into investigations with his mind blank. Trev asks if he should do this too, but the Doctor comments wryly that it may not be necessary in his case.

The Doctor approaches the receptionist at the desk, asking for a room service menu. As he and Trev wait, he tells Trev that the existence of Time Hotel solves the biggest mystery - why there's always a mysterious door in your hotel room that's locked. He asks if this is Christmas and Trev tells him that it is, that they're doing a special - "Christmas everywhere all at once." The Doctor gets his menu and orders from it a ham and cheese toastie and pumpkin latté, then is surprised when a server brings it to him almost immediately. Trev explains that the kitchens are thirty minutes into the future, though the Doctor complains that the toastie is nevertheless microwaved. Trev tells him that he can't expect miracles. The Doctor tells him that he's going undercover, asking if he has a radio. Trev tells him that he has an implanted psychic graft and the Doctor tells him to just use the codename "the Doctor" if he needs him. Trev promises him that he won't let him down.

The man with the briefcase takes the suggestion of the receptionist and enters the bar DeTamble's. He approaches the barman. His eyes blink in a manner that form slits and he states that "The star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise." The barman is confused and he holds out the case, asking the barman to put it behind the bar. When, however, the barman reaches for it, it unchains itself from the man and attaches to him instead. An automated voice states that the access is upgrading and the man comes over confused and disorientated. He asks the barman what he is to do now and the barman blinks in the same manner that he did. He tells him to make himself comfortable, that he'll be dead quite shortly. He repeats his statement that the star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise. He then goes to Trev, who is waiting outside DeTamble's, asking him to give him a hand, that somebody left this case. Once Trev is inside, however, he transfers the briefcase to him. Trev then watches in horror as the man who originally had the briefcase disintegrates before his eyes, followed by the barman. "But I was on a mission," he laments.

The Doctor tries one of the doors at the Time Hotel, only to be informed that it is not available due to the guest local to the time period still being in residence. He uses his sonic screwdriver and overrides this, thus beginning his journey of offering the ham and cheese toastie and pumpkin latté to people from various time periods. Back in the Time Hotel, Trev approaches the main desk, where the Silurian, Melnak, is working as a manager. He declares that the star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise, asking if he has priority access to all of the hotel's time portals. Melnak agrees that he of course does as he's the manager and the briefcase unfastens from Trev. As the Doctor continues trying various time portals, he notices Melnak with the briefcase. He comms Trev. "Oh, dear, I went and let him down," comments Trev, disintegrating like the others. The Doctor then enters the portal that Melnak did, discovering him with Joy Almondo.

The Doctor asks Joy for her name and she introduces herself, starting to ask for an explanation, when Anita Been unexpectedly enters the room. Joy asks why there's a lizard-man in her room and Anita apologizes, telling her it's never happened before. The Doctor, meanwhile, ignores her, questioning Melnak about the contents of the case. Melnak, however, refuses to answer, instead telling the Doctor that he should take it and then he will know. The Doctor asks what happens afterwards and Melnak tells him to take it and then he will know. An annoyed Joy points out that it's her room, again asking for an explanation. The Doctor, however, questions Melnak, asking him why he has the case when he saw someone else with it, that the one who had it before was a guest and he's a manager. Melnak again tells him to take the case, but Joy, aggravated by the continued lack of explanations, grabs it instead. It immediately chains itself to her, the Doctor examining it with his sonic screwdriver. Anita comes back in, saying that she has Joy's towels sorted and Joy tells her that the star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise.

Melnak asks what he is to do now and Joy, like the barman before, tells him that he will shortly die. She settles him down on the hotel bed and the Doctor asks what she means by dead. He pleads with Melnak to focus, telling him he's not having him dying, that he's a Silurian and they're the proudest race that he knows. He asks him for his story, how it was that he came to be manager of the Time Hotel. Melnak tells him that he was lost in the caves and that he found a door, that they were so kind to him. The Doctor tells him to stay alive for them, but he disintegrates just like the others. Joy, in a monotone, calls it sad, and the Doctor warns her that what happened to Melnak will happen to her. She repeats that the star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise, but he tells her that it's not her speaking, that she's being mansplained by a briefcase. She shoots back that she thought she was being mansplained by him. He asks if she even knows what a star seed is and she tells him that she does, asking if he does. He admits that he doesn't, saying they're going to find out and, over her protests, opens the briefcase. This reveals inside a bright, glowing orb, but also triggers an automated message stating that the briefcase must be closed within 20 seconds or the current holder will be disintegrated.

Joy asks the Doctor to close the case and he tells her that he's thinking, that he's a visual person. She points out that it will disintegrate her and he says it's good that she cares about dying again. He comments that he's missing something obvious, Joy forcing the case closed just before the countdown reaches zero. This, however, prompts the appearance of a control panel and another announcement, this time stating that a four-digit code must be entered within 15 seconds, or Joy will be disintegrated. The Doctor admits that he didn't see this coming and Joy asks if he knows the code. He admits he doesn't, asking if she does. He says it's 10,000 possibilities and that he could figure it out if he had time. He continues that he can't use the TARDIS again in the Time Hotel, that it would re-engage the causal nexus. He finishes his thought, shouting "Come in!" and another version of himself appears, providing the code: 7214. He enters it, disarming the briefcase.

Joy asks how there can be two of them, and the one who entered the code tells her that there aren't, that the other is the future, after he gets the code. The other tells her that the other is, in fact, the past, that the future is this way, taking her arm and leading her away. The original asks how this all works, how he gets to be him. "The long way around," he tells him, saying that he'll find out. He refuses to give any more answers and the original protests that this is why nobody likes him, that he has to be mysterious all the time and it's why everyone leaves him. The other tells him that he must stay there and complete the loop, that it's the only way to get the code. He closes the door and the original shouts after him, asking if he knows how alone he is, that he lives in a great big spaceship with no chairs.

The Doctor goes to Anita Benn, asking her if he can book a room for an entire year. He then notes the fact that he'll need money, asking if there's anything that she needs doing around the place. Thus, he begins work for the hotel. He works as a waiter, using his psychic paper to anticipate customer orders before they even make them. He uses his sonic screwdriver to automate a mop while he reads a newspaper. On New Year's Day, he and Anita discuss the meaning of "Auld Lang Syne" and she notes that he is resolutely not phoning someone, which he admits to being Ruby Sunday, saying he has to let her get on with her life. He fixes the hotel's microwave oven, though she notes that it is bigger on the inside now, and when he fixes her SatNav, she complains it's not taking her where she wants to go, only for him to say that it now takes her where she needs to go.

The Doctor and Anita grow quite close. She observes him with various models of police boxes, which he tells her he purchased online. The two of them begin a regular tradition, "chair night," sharing meals together and playing games such as Twister or Cluedo. On Bonfire Night, they watch fireworks together, the Doctor commenting that Guy Fawkes would have loved it. Anita, however, does not seem to understand the reference, and the Doctor explains that he had tried to blow up Parliament. She asks if he isn't his boyfriend, and he tells her that he doesn't have one. On Christmas Eve, she discovers him leaving her a small, wrapped gift and asks if he isn't going to be there for Christmas, if he's sneaking off without saying goodbye. He claims he's only going to be off for a few days, but when she doesn't buy it, he tells her that he has a complicated life, that he doesn't normally just live day to day. He tells her it was amazing living a whole year with her and she admits that she always knew he would one day be going. She hugs him goodbye, telling him to never be alone at Christmas, that he doesn't need to be with her there.

The Doctor returns to his other self, completing the paradox. He explains to Joy that it's weird, that basically he got the code because he heard himself say it a year ago, that it's bootstrapping. He states that the code came from nowhere, but that the universe did too and that nobody complains about that. She asks if he just time traveled and told himself, but he says that there wasn't any time travel involved, that the time zones of the hotel are physically linked, so it wasn't possible. "The star seed?" she asks and he tells her he's had a long time to think about it and that he's pretty sure he's figured it out, that he even knows why they need the Time Hotel. He tells her that by resealing the case it reasserted control over her and she needs to fight it.

Joy studies a door leading to the assassination of Julius Caesar, saying that it won't do. He realises that she's scouting for the right time zone and she says they'll need the top floor. He asks what for, if she even understands what she's trying to accomplish. He tells her that he's worked out that the case contains a single atom in which a quantum reaction has begun, asking if she knows what it will lead to. She replies that the star seed will bloom and he agrees that in theory a star would be born, but nobody's been able to test it because it would take too long. She comments that he likes to talk and he continues that there's a corporation that wants a star for their own personal energy source and they would need time, that they're there in the Time Hotel.

As they board an elevator, the Doctor tells Joy that he worked her out as well, having spent a year in her hotel room. He tells her that you can tell everything about a person from a hotel room they choose, that it's not a selfie that you posed for, but more like catching yourself in a mirror. He says that her room was the loneliest and saddest in the world, asking what kind of person would choose that. He asks if people laugh at her when she tells them her name, if her mother was having a laugh when she named her that. She shouts at him to not talk about her mother, that she's dead, that she died in hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and that she couldn't even visit her and had to talk to her on an iPad because of the rules. The Doctor tells her that he's sure she's good at obeying the rules and she shouts at him not to say that. She enters a room, him continuing to never mind her poor mother so long as she obeys the rules. She shoves him, shouting that her mother died on Christmas Day, alone, because of the rules. She cries that she let her mother die alone and therefore she can never be home or with anyone on Christmas Day. She sobs that she can't ever change this, hugging him. He comments that mothers never stop saving us when they're gone, pointing out that the briefcase is no longer attached to her.

She asks him why he did that and he apologises, explaining that he had to make her angry to wake her up, that it's like a post-hypnotic suggestion. She asks if it had to be anger and he tells her that with her it definitely did, that she has rage boiling away just beneath the surface. She thanks him, not very enthusiastically and he tells her that she's thinking that it may not have been a good way to save her life, but there is no bad way. They hug again and she says that it was beautiful, that she was a star. He tells her that it's the conditioning talking, that he's not the bad guy. He suggests that they meet the bad guys, telling her that there's PR wherever there's a corporation. He points the sonic at the briefcase, revealing a spinning holographic logo reading a "Conflict Solutions" spinning around a "V." He tells her that it's Villengard, very old enemies of his, weapons manufacturers. She asks why they would want to make a star and an automated voice comes from the briefcase, saying that a Q+A has been activated. It explains that they are engaged in the creation of a customisable energy source that is functionally infinite.

The Doctor calls it definitionally insane, and Joy tells him that she knows the voice. A hologram of Melnak appears, telling them that his consciousness has been uploaded into the briefcase as a communication interface. The Doctor protests that if the star seed were to explode anywhere on Earth, it would burn every living thing. He tells the Melnak hologram to tell that to its users, to which it replies that Villengard respects their collateral sacrifice. The Doctor tells it that it has it wrong, that they don't have enough to grow a star. As Joy looks increasingly troubled, a thudding noise in the background, the Doctor continues that human history is only a few thousand years long, that they need way longer. Stuff starts shaking around them and he continues that they would need to check into the Time Hotel about 65 million years ago. Suddenly, a dinosaur appears and gobbles the case, roaring at them. Its eyes blink like slits and the Doctor curses. As their bungalow collapses, they fall down towards the dinosaur's mouth, but manage to stop themselves at the last second. They flee back into the Time Hotel, the Doctor calling it "suboptimal" and Joy pointing out that dinosaurs were about 65 million years ago. She says that it means about now, her time, the whole world is going to burn.

The Doctor points out that this wouldn't be part of the plan, that Villengard would have to have put in a way to retrieve the case before this could happen. He realises that they would have had to send a signal, a connection that broke when he severed her link to the briefcase. He tells her that he screwed up and a buzzing noise begins. She asks what it is, that his thing is buzzing, and he finds that it's his sonic screwdriver. She grabs it and a hologram of Trev Simpkins appears, telling the Doctor that he's reporting for duty. He tells him that his mission is proceeding as planned, that he's exceeded his expectations, even though he's dead. He explains that he's part of the star, that he too is inside the communication interface. He says that the psychic graft has been duplicated virtually, allowing their communication, that he had several million years to work it out. He tells him that they have to get the star seed off-world, that it's about to detonate. The Doctor asks why he would be helping him if he's part of Villengard now, but he tells him that he told before he would not let him down. The Doctor replies that he loves him, that he really, physically loves him.

The Doctor asks Trev to tell him just where and when he is. He asks him to run any sensor data he can and Trev promises to do so, but also tells him that they're in Room 48 if it helps. The Doctor tells him it helps a lot and he and Joy take off, heading through one of the Time Hotel's portals. They locate Trev inside an ancient monument, the Doctor explaining that eventually the dinosaur would have either thrown up the case or deposited it. The Doctor notes that it's getting warm, asking Trev how long they have until detonation. He replies that it's about four-and-a-half millennia. The Doctor suggests he run the numbers again and Trev comes back that it's actually four-and-a-half minutes. The Doctor shouts thanks for that, shutting off the hologram and Joy asks just what he's going to do. He tells her he's going to throw it into space using a phone box. He tells her that he needs rope, asking where it was that he saw that. He tells Joy to wait, taking off, saying that he's very good with rope. He returns to Mount Everest, taking the equipment of the mountain climbers and when challenged as to why, tells them that because it was there. He rigs the rope through the Orient Express, tethering it through there and the Time Hotel, back to the time period with the briefcase, shattering the artifact holding the briefcase in place.

Joy stares at the briefcase as it opens, revealing the star seed. She tells it not to worry, that it's okay. She tells it that she wants it to live. Back on the Orient Express, the Doctor again approaches Sylvia Trench, stepping on a letter she had dropped. He scans it, saying that she's better off without "him," that his sentence structure is appalling. She protests that she wrote the letter and he backpedals, calling it a great letter and saying she should send it to him. She clarifies that the recipient is female and he says he's glad he could help, leaving. He re-enters the Time Hotel, asking Trev just how long they have and Trev apologises, telling him it's about to detonate. He returns to the time period with the briefcase, only to find it empty. He shouts for Joy and climbs some stairs, only to find her outside, glowing.

She turns to him, the star seed pulsing inside her. She tells him that she was hoping he would come back to say goodbye. She tells him that the star seed is inside her now, that it's in all of them. A series of images of the original man with the briefcase, the barman, and Trev appear, Trev giving a double thumbs-up and telling the Doctor that the mission is complete. Finally, Melnak appears. Joy tells the Doctor that the star seed will bloom but that he need not worry, that they'll be far away in the sky. He shakes his head, but she tells him she thinks she's saving the world. He protests that he's supposed to be saving her, that he won't allow Villengard to do this to them, but she tells him that Villengard are nothing, that they're far beyond them.

The Doctor pleads with her that she doesn't understand, that she will burn and die. She tells him not to be silly, that she's not dying, only changing and saving something beautiful. She tells him that she will shine everywhere and forever, even on him. She tells him that he needs to change to, that everything he said about her hotel room was right, but that he stayed in for a year. He says it wasn't so bad, that it had nice chairs. She tells him he needs to find a friend, that he should go and do it now, that she'll be watching. She rises into the sky, telling the Doctor that her mother was right, that she's Joy and she will see her again, and she will be with her. She departs in a burst of energy, becoming a star in the sky. The elderly couple during World War II hear an all clear siren, the man Basil staring at the star and telling his wife Hilda that there's hope, that they have to cling on to that. On the Orient Express, Sylvia tears up her letter and stares out at the star as it begins snowing. Tenzing Norgay asks Edmund Hillary if he thinks the weather will hold and he tells him that it of course will, that it's in the stars.

Ruby Sunday stares at the star from a window. She takes call from her birth mother, Louise Miller. At the Sandringham Hotel, Anita Benn is busy vacuuming. She stares at one of the model police boxes, the Doctor's gift to her. As she takes in her hand, she looks at out at London, smiling at the star. A door opens and the Time Hotel receptionist approaches her, telling her that she comes highly recommended by an old friend. She hands her an envelope, asking her if she would be interested in working at the Time Hotel. Anita opens the envelope, the Doctor's Christmas card, bearing the message "For Auld Lang Syne." She smiles at the receptionist. In London 2020 in the Royal Hope Hospital, Joy's mother watches on her iPad as Joy tells her that she'll see her soon, just as soon as the "nonsense" is over. She tells her to be brave, wishing her a Merry Christmas. She bids her goodbye. The star shines outside the hospital room window. It flares brightly and Joy's mother glows with energy. "Joy," she realises, her energy flowing into the star. The Doctor smiles at the star. "Of course," he realises. "Joy. Of course you are. You are Joy." "Joy to the world!" he shouts, giving a salute to the star of Bethlehem, 0001.

Cast

• The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
• Joy Almondo - Nicola Coughlan
• Anita Benn - Steph de Whalley
• Silurian Manager Melnak - Jonathan Aris
• Trev Simpkins - Joel Fry
• Basil Flockhart - Peter Benedict
• Hilda Flockhart - Julia Watson
• Sylvia Trench - Niamh Marie Smith
• Edmund Hillary - Phil Baxter
• Tenzing Norgay - Samuel Sherpa-Moore
• Receptionist - Ruchi Rai
• Mr Single - Joshua Leese
• Server - Ell Potter
• Barman - Liam Prince-Donnelly
• Angela Grace - Fiona Marr
• Joy's Mum - Fiona Scott
• Ruby Sunday - Millie Gibson

Crew

To be added...

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor visits The Queen's Hotel in Manchester during 1940, where a cathedral was hit by a bomb.
• Sylvia is reading Murder on the Orient Express while traveling on the Orient Express.
• The Doctor visits Mount Everest in 1953 on the day the top of the mountain was first reached by Edmund Hillary and his team.
• The TARDIS has a nav-com algorithm that homes in on fresh milk whenever it has run out. The Doctor, however, realises he could just install a fridge to prevent constantly needing to find milk.
• The Doctor notices portals to the Stone Age, a submarine, Mesopotamia, Pisa. The leaflet also mentions Ancient Rome and the fall of Troy.
• Trev has a psychic graft.
• The briefcase is in fact the star seed containment unit. It has a quantum-sealed container with a single atom.
• Using TARDIS in the Time Hotel for the second time would re-engage the causal nexus.
• At Anita's hotel in the year 2024, the Doctor reads a newspaper article about a Clockwork Droid.
• The Doctor tells Anita about the Weeping Angels.
• Anita and the Doctor play various games, including Snakes and ladders and Twister.
• The Doctor returns to the Time Hotel on Christmas Day 2025 via a portal in the Exeter Hotel, New York City.
• While choosing the right time zone, Joy rejects the Assassination of Julius Caesar.
• Joy lost her mother on Christmas Day 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its restriction rules.
• The Doctor compared the effect of the briefcase to the post-hypnotic suggestion
• Melnak's and Trev's consciousnesses have been uploaded to the Villengard communication interface.
• Joy believes the Doctor "needs to change" and find himself a friend.

Notes

• Like many of Steven Moffat's previous Christmas specials, the title, Joy to the World, comes from another piece of pre-existing Christmas media: this time it's from a song.
• The Time Hotel features a clothes store called Mr. Benn's Any Era Clothes, a reference to the character of Mr Benn, who would go on adventures via a magic door in a costume shop. In the end credits, "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. The Twelfth Doctor also owns a copy of this book and stores it on the TARDIS bookshelves. (TV: Dark Water)
• The Hotel Manager says the Doctor must pay for his food "on the blue diamond" on a tablet. This is a reference to the current Doctor Who logo.
• The Kennedy assassination is a possible destination at the Time Hotel. In real-life, the event occurred the day before the very first "Doctor Who" episode aired, on November 22, 1963.
• In the end credits, the name of the passenger on the Orient Express is revealed to be "Sylvia Trench", the same name as the James Bond side character in the 1962 movie Dr No, with Steven Moffat confirming his intent was for her to be the same character in a minor crossover appearance.Template:Fix/category^{[citation needed]}
• "Auld Lang Syne" is both a real-life poem and a song by Scottish poet Robert Burns.
• On BBC iPlayer this episode is listed under the new Season 1 - this is standard as iPlayer usually lists Whoniverse Christmas specials under the previous season, regardless of actual production.

Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions

• The Disney+ version does not end with a trailer for Series 15/Season 2, simply showing a title card which says, "DOCTOR WHO WILL RETURN".

Myths

To be added...

Filming Locations

• The Sandringham Hotel is a real hotel in Cardiff.

Ratings

To be added...

Production errors

• For most scenes with the Sonic Screwdriver, the diagnostic scan SFX plays instead of the usual sonic whirring.

Continuity

• The Doctor chiefly travelled to the Time Hotel so he could restock on milk. The Ninth Doctor previously told Rose Tyler that the milk in the TARDIS went bad rather quickly, necessitating a constant restocking. (TV: The Empty Child ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
• The Timey Wimey edition held by the Doctor mentions an empty duck pond and Prisoner Zero (TV: The Eleventh Hour ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) and has an advertisement for the Toraji Transport Network. (TV: The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).) It uses the dating system mentioned by the Ninth Doctor when he took Rose Tyler to Platform One. (TV: The End of the World ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
• The Time Hotel offers visits to the O.K. Corral, (TV: The Gunfighters ^[+]Donald Cotton, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).) Pompeii, (TV: The Fires of Pompeii ^[+]James Moran, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) Giza, (TV: Pyramids of Mars ^[+]Stephen Harris, Doctor Who season 13 (BBC1, 1975).) Mesopotamia, (TV: Resolution ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).) the Stone Age, (TV: An Unearthly Child ^[+]Anthony Coburn, adapted from The Pilot Episode (Anthony Coburn), Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963).) pre-colonial Mexico, (TV: The Aztecs ^[+]John Lucarotti, Doctor Who season 1 (BBC1, 1964).) the signing of the Magna Carta, (TV: The King's Demons ^[+]Terence Dudley, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).) and trips on Nostalgia Tours buses. (TV: Delta and the Bannermen ^[+]Malcolm Kohll, Doctor Who season 24 (BBC1, 1987).)
• The Tenth Doctor once claimed to have "got the last room" at the inn in Bethlehem. (TV: Voyage of the Damned ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2007 (BBC One, 2007).)
• The Doctor once again solves a problem via a bootstrap paradox, only knowing the code to close the briefcase because he was told it by his future self. (TV: Time Crash ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Children in Need Special 2007 (BBC One, 2007)., Time ^[+]Steven Moffat, Comic Relief specials comic relief 2011 (BBC One, 2011).)
• The future Doctor tells his past self he learned the code for the briefcase "the long way round". (TV: The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013)., Heaven Sent ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., Hell Bent ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
• The Doctor fixes the microwave in the Sandringham, but also adds dimensional transcendentalism to it. The Eleventh Doctor previously made a barn bigger on the inside on Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).)
• The Doctor reacts with fear when handed a plunger due to its resemblance to a Dalek manipulator arm. His previous regeneration inspired Davros to add the arm by showing him a plunger. (TV: Destination: Skaro ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who (BBC One, 2023).)
• After the Doctor improves Anita's car, she mentions that her NAV system no longer takes her where she wants to go, only for the Doctor to correct that it now takes her "where she needs to be". (TV: The Doctor's Wife ^[+]Neil Gaiman, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
• Anita believes the Doctor is married. (TV: Blink ^[+]Steven Moffat, adapted from What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow (Steven Moffat), Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., A Christmas Carol ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010 (BBC One, 2010)., The Wedding of River Song ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013).) He confirms he doesn't "have a boyfriend". (TV: Rogue ^[+]Kate Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
• The Doctor keeps referring to gravity as mavity. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
• Joy's mother was being treated at the Royal Hope Hospital, the same hospital where the Doctor first met Martha Jones. (TV: Smith and Jones ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).)
• Ruby calls her mother, whom she was recently reunited with. (TV: Empire of Death ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
• The Doctor keeps models of his TARDIS in his room at the Sandringham. Amy Pond did the same in her bedroom in her house. (TV: The Eleventh Hour ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).)

Home video releases

DVD and Blu-ray

The story was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 27 January 2025.

UK DVD cover

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UK Blu-ray cover

Footnotes