There’s another change afoot for Doctor Who this Christmas (Picture: Ben Blackall/BBC)

Doctor Who’s annual Christmas Day episode has been bumped to New Year.

Breaking with a decade-long festive tradition, the BBC One series is believed to airing an hour-long 11th episode to welcome 2019 with Jodie Whittaker at the helm instead.

Dodging any mention of ‘Christmas,’ writer Chris Chibnall alluded to a mysterious 11th episode during an appearance at Comic Con in San Diego recently.

Jodie’s first episode was the most watched launch show of all time (Picture: BBC/BBC Studios/Sophie Mutevilian)

‘We seem to be filming 11 episodes,’ he teased. ‘And it’s only a series of 10.’


He added: ‘I would definitely think there’s another episode after the end of the series.’

Doctor Who has aired a special episode at Christmas time ever since the series was revamped in 2005.



Last year, December 25 saw Jodie’s very first scenes as the Doctor become the hottest topic on Christmas Day as Peter Capaldi’s farewell has millions of us in tears up and down the country.

The stakes would certainly be high for a 2018 episode, since actress Jodie’s first appearance as The Doctor was the adventure show’s highest launch ever.

The first episode of Doctor Who series 11 achieved 10.9 million viewers and it’s proven a hit with the younger 16-34 year-olds age bracket with 1.8 million watching the episode.

Doctor Who continues Sunday at 7pm on BBC One.

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