Doctor Who's Steven Moffat won’t return for season 2, but he has written the 2024 Christmas special

Doctor Who’s Steven Moffat has confirmed that he’s written the 2024 Christmas special.

The former showrunner penned the third episode in Ncuti Gatwa’s first season, ‘Boom’, which is out later this week. Speaking to TV Choice about the episode, Moffat shared an update on his future on Doctor Who.

"We’d shot this year’s Christmas special before last year’s Christmas special went out," he explained. "I know that of course, because I wrote that one as well! Russell [Davies, showrunner] and I talk about that on the 'in vision' commentary for 'Boom'…" The special will be called 'Joy To The World' and Moffat added that he feels like it has a "quite good final moment" for the Doctor.

Beyond this, Moffat isn’t sure about his future in the world of Who. "I’m not involved in series two," he explained. "My contribution, in effect, is the Christmas special. I’ve got quite a lot of things that are coming in for me to do, so I might never write Doctor Who again."

However, although he's not involved in season 2, Moffat did cryptically reveal that he’s actually read that season finale "for reasons that will become apparent". That intriguing tease has left us wondering if it could tie to the Christmas special or ‘Boom’? It seems we’ll just have to wait and see…

First up for Moffat is his episode ‘Boom’, which airs this week and has landed mixed reviews so far. Our own verdict gave it five stars, calling it "a simple premise beautifully executed" and praising Ncuti Gatwa’s performance. Meanwhile, Radio Times called it a "heart-stopping return" and gave it four stars. However, not everyone was so sold, with The Telegraph calling it "a bit of a dud" in their two star review.

Doctor Who is streaming weekly on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK and Disney Plus in the US. For more, check out the Doctor Who release schedule.