New Doctor; new holiday!
Following a marathon of Christmas specials, Jodie Whittaker’s thirteenth Doctor will be featured in the first Who Year’s Day special.
The New Year’s episode will find Team TARDIS facing an evil from across Earth’s history, courtesy of writer/showrunner Chris Chibnall and director Wayne Yip.
RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH “WHO YEAR’S DAY” FEATURING AN ALL-NEW DOCTOR WHO NEW YEAR’S DAY SPECIAL ON BBC AMERICA
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November 14, 2018 – Kick off 2019 in spectacular style with a New Year’s Day special episode of Doctor Who on Tuesday, January 1st, moving from its traditional Christmas Day timeslot. Leading up to the first-ever “Who Year’s Day,” BBC AMERICA will present a Doctor Who marathon, starting with all the Christmas specials at 12pm ET/PT on Monday, December 24th, going into the big day itself, Tuesday, December 25th. After that, it’s a marathon of all the Doctors, starting with Peter Capaldi, followed by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith, leading straight into the New Year’s special on Tuesday, January 1st.
The all-new episode is written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Wayne Yip (Preacher, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency). As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth’s history. Will the Doctor, Ryan (Tosin Cole), Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) be able to overcome this threat to Planet Earth?
Courtney Thomasma, executive director of BBC AMERICA said, “Jodie Whittaker and the dynamic new team have propelled Doctor Who to become TV’s fastest growing scripted series of the year. We can’t think of a better holiday gift to the fans than a week-long marathon of Doctor Who Christmas specials and fan-favorite episodes leading into 2019 with new traditions and our first-ever ‘Who Year’s Day’ special.”
Showrunner Chris Chibnall said, “We’re thrilled to be starting the New Year with a bang, as Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and friends face a terrifying alien threat in an action-packed, hour-long special adventure for all the family.”
Jodie Whittaker’s debut as the first female Doctor has been a breakaway hit with viewers. In Nielsen live/same day ratings, the current season of Doctor Who is averaging nearly one million viewers per episode, up 54 percent from the previous season and ranking as the fastest-growing scripted series of the year across all key demos. The success of Doctor Who, along with BBC AMERICA’s inaugural Halloween movie event, drove double-digit growth in October across all key dayparts, most notably increases of 58 percent among adults 18-49 and 48 percent among adults 25-54 from a year ago – making BBC AMERICA the fastest-growing entertainment network in primetime among adults 25-54 and adults 18-49 last month.
The finale of the current season will air on Sunday, December 9th at 8pm/7c on BBC AMERICA.
Doctor Who is a BBC AMERICA co-production with BBC Studios.