Shake-up in BBC schedule sees the Doctor time travel from Christmas to New Year
IT HAS become a Christmas Day tradition for millions of households across the country.
But Doctor Who’s festive special will be aired on New Year’s Day instead of December 25 for the first time in 13 years in a shake-up to the BBC schedule.
The change from the traditional time slot is part of a new era for the sci-fi series, which currently stars Yorkshireborn Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor.
The Doctor Who Christmas special has been a staple in the BBC’s festive TV line-up since the series was revived in 2005.
The latest episode will see the Doctor and her companions Ryan (Tosin Cole), Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Yaz (Mandip Gill), face a terrifying evil from across the centuries of Earth’s history as the New Year begins.
Ms Whittaker’s debut series as the Doctor is attracting the show’s highest average TV audience for nearly 10 years. Full ratings for the first five episodes featuring the actress, who is from Skelmanthorpe, near Huddersfield, put the average audience at 8.55m.
The last time the show enjoyed a larger average after five episodes was in 2010 – Matt Smith’s first series in the title role – and her average is also higher than the equivalent figure for the 2007 and 2008 series, when David Tennant was playing the Doctor.