‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special 2018 Moves To New Year’s Day 2019

“Doctor Who” has had a Christmas special every year since 2005, but that won’t be the case in 2018. Don’t worry, though. The Doctor’s holiday special is just moving to New Year’s Day.

BBC announced that the “Doctor Who” holiday special “will travel through the time vortex from its traditional time slot on Christmas Day and will land in style on New Year’s Day.” BBC America confirmed that the episode to air in the U.S. on Tuesday, Jan. 1 as well.

Those who have made “Doctor Who” part of their Christmas traditions don’t need to worry, though. BBC America will air all the Christmas specials starting at 12 p.m. EST on Christmas Eve. After all 12 specials air, the network will marathon “Doctor Who” all week, leading straight into the new episode.

The 2018 New Year’s Day special will be an hour-long episode that features “a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth’s history.”

This isn’t much information, but that’s not surprising. The writers have been keeping the “Doctor Who” monsters top secret in 2018. They’ve been relying on all original monsters throughout Season 11, a trend that’s expected to continue in the New Year’s episode.

“I think, as much as anything, we just wanted a real variety, that they’re surprising, that they’re fun, that some are creepy, some are scary, some are odd,” showrunner Chris Chibnall told International Business Times last month.

He added that the writers are having a blast creating new adversaries for the Time Lord. “It’s also the best part of the job. We get to make up monsters for a living with the amazing craftspeople people who bring them to life, whether that’s the visual effects or the prosthetics or the designers. That’s the great [part]. I didn’t get to do that on ‘Broadchurch,’” Chibnall laughed.

The press release reveals that the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) will team up with Ryan (Tosin Cole), Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) in the holiday episode, so it looks like all the new companions will survive “Doctor Who” Season 11.

Chibnall wrote the the New Year’s Day episode and Wayne Yip directed.