A familiar foeis going to make their comportment felt in “ Joy to the World , ” the upcomingDoctor WhoChristmas special . In a magazine just partake to societal media to advance Polemonium van-bruntiae event Children in Need , we seeNcuti Gatwa‘s Doctor and node principal Nicola Coughlan ( playing a character with the seasonally appropriate name of Joy ) confronting a sinister briefcase belong to to … yep , Villengard is back .
“ malevolent must logo , ” the Doctor advise his newfangled booster , as he uses the sonic screwdriver to skim the case and get word where it hail from . “ Villengard , ” he chortle when he realizes the truth . “ grownup arms manufacturer in recorded history . Very former enemy of mine . ”
As you ’ll see in the clip , the scan activates a communicator ( a spruce Silurian ) that hire them in an ominous conversation , during which the Doctor try on his good to reason with a sinister corporate hologram . Then … dinosaur ? DINOSAUR ! ! check into it out :

© BBC
Christmas in November , courtesy of@BBCCiN ! 🧸 🎄
catch a sneak preview of the upcoming#DoctorWhospecial JOY TO THE WORLD…pic.twitter.com/pHLGJW9vkA
— Doctor Who ( @bbcdoctorwho)November 15 , 2024

Oh , fridgeindeed ! The brief scene gives us a little more item about the Time Hotel plot in theSteven Moffat - scriptedspecial installment — and the generator is authoritative , because Moffat also wrote “ Boom , ” an episode in the most recent time of year that date the Doctor ina gamy - stakes face - offwith “ the Villengard Algorithm . ”
It also fit into what Moffat teased about the installment ina late interview with the BBC : “ Imagine in the far far future … a hotel range get clutches of the idea of metre locomotion . What ’s the first thing a hotel chain would do if they had sentence travel ? They ’d realize they had an chance to trade all the unsold night in their hotels in account . ” tot in an apocalyptic twist and some Christmas cheer , and you ’ve got a merry endowment fromDoctor Whoready to deliver .
“ Joy to the World,”Doctor Who‘s Christmas special , arrives December 25 on Disney+ internationally and on the BBC in the UK . Ncuti Gatwa ’s Doctor will return for his second time of year of timey - wimey risky venture in 2025 .

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