Doctor Who fans will have to get by on Christmas Day this year without their annual dose of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey goodness.
According to Doctor Who Online, there will be no Doctor Who Christmas episode this year.
There is a bit of a silver lining in all of this: instead of airing an annual Christmas special, the series has instead decided to air a special on New Year’s Day. Even so, it’ll be the first time fans of the long-running sci-fi series will have to go without a Christmas special for quite some time. The last time the series skipped out on the annual episode was back in 2005.
The website took to Twitter to share the bad news with fans far and wide, stating that the news first broke via Doctor Who Magazine.
“News Just In…The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine CONFIRMS there will be No #DoctorWho Christmas special this year, and it will instead move to NEW YEAR’S DAY!” tweeted the site.
News Just In… The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine CONFIRMS there will be NO #DoctorWho Christmas special this year, and it will instead move to NEW YEAR'S DAY!
— Doctor Who Online (@DrWhoOnline) November 14, 2018
Additionally, Twitter user @NQuest63 posted a photo of the latest issue of the magazine which boasts an “exclusive preview of the New Year’s Day special.”
Steven Moffat: *changes the ending of The Doctor Falls and made Twice Upon A Time so Doctor Who wouldn’t lose the Christmas time slot*
Chris Chibnall: pic.twitter.com/LIKGz3nbBp
— St. NickName 🎁🎄 (@NQuest63) November 14, 2018
Though it’s relieving to hear that we’ll at least be able to ring in the New Year with a brand new episode of Doctor Who, it’s understandable that the fandom is a bit disappointed to hear that there will be no Christmas special for 2018.
That being said, if Twitter is anything to go by, most fans seem to be taking the news in stride. After all, any special (regardless of when it airs) is better than no special at all.