There isn't a new episode of Doctor Who tonight, but we know when it will return

Doctor Who is now back on a break. The good news is there isn't long to wait for a new episode.

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) Credit: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios
The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) Credit: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios

There is some bad news to start this post. There isn’t a new episode of Doctor Who on tonight, Friday, June 28.

We’ve spent the last eight weeks enjoying the wild ride that is Fifteen and the mystery of Ruby Sunday. There was the introduction of the new pantheon of gods, which led to the realization that one of those gods attached himself to the TARDIS a long time ago.

With a lot of answers and a huge climactic moment in the previous episode, it won’t be surprising to hear that was the season finale. The good news is that it’s only the season finale. There are more episodes to come, and the first of those is on a special day.

Doctor Who returns for Christmas

We already know that Doctor Who will return on Christmas Day 2024. The episode is titled “Joy to the World,” and it was written by Steven Moffat. The special may be the last episode Moffat writes. He’s not written an episode of Season 15, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be asked back in the future. After all, Moffat and Russell T. Davis are friends!

The Christmas special will star Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan, according to Den of Geek. Is she “Joy?” After all, the show has been putting companion names in the titles recently.

Doctor Who will then return in 2025

After the Christmas Day special, we’ll then see more episodes of the time travel drama in 2025. Season 15 is already complete. The show is going through post-production at the moment. There isn’t a need for a long delay, and we’ll likely get it around the spring or summer to help spread out episodes before the next Christmas Day special. After all, there is no Christmas without Doctor Who.

The 15th season will see Varada Sethu return to the series as a companion to join The Doctor and Ruby. It’s not clear if she’ll reprise her role as Mundy from “Boom” or if she’ll be a whole new character again—not the first time the series would have done such a thing. We can’t wait to see how the story unfolds.