Great news for Doctor Who fans: the series may have a new episode air before the end of 2019. Doctor Who is just coming off season 11, which aired in 2018. That season introduced fans to the first female Doctor, as portrayed by Jodie Whittaker. Although casting a woman in the role continues to prove controversial, Whittaker will return for season 12 of the show.
Although Doctor Who has normalized the idea of the Christmas special, a standalone episode aired on Christmas Day, the series chose to buck the trend with season 11, and instead, gave fans a special episode on New Year's Eve. After that, the BBC announced that fans should not expect any more new episodes until 2020. Although the BBC failed to give a reason for the extended timeline between seasons, such a gap is not entirely uncommon for Doctor Who. The lengthiest gap in the series' history happened between seasons 10 and 11, although both seasons did air holiday specials.
However, fans might not have to wait until 2020 to watch the next episode of Doctor Who. The Radio Times reports that the BBC may air a standalone Doctor Who special before season 12 arrives in 2020, with that episode arriving sometime in 2019. The episode is likely a holiday special lined up for Christmas or New Year's Day, but it's also possible that the BBC will air it in another time slot to give it less competition. The BBC has not yet revealed additional details about the episode, and the plot and potential villains remain unknown.
Critics and fans would argue that season 11 had its high and low points, but most would point to "Rosa" and "Demons of the Punjab" as standout episodes. Although Whittaker's first season didn't feature any classic villains or characters from previous Doctors' seasons, longstanding villains the Daleks returned in the New Year's Day episode. The BBC also released images from season 12 that show Whittaker up against the Judoon, villains introduced during David Tennant's era as the Doctor. So while season 12 will continue paving a new way for the series, it does seem that it will embrace some of the more classic elements that have kept fans in love with the show since 1963, when the first episode of Doctor Who ever aired.
Doctor Who fans are generally a patient lot, but making them wait a year between episodes still seems harsh, even by the BBC's standards. Perhaps that's the network's reasoning behind adding a special to 2019 to remind fans that a new season arrives in 2020, offering them a little something to keep them interested and engaged until then.
Source: The Radio Times