How to Watch Doctor Who Christmas Special & See The New Time Lord’s Festive Debut
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The Doctor Who Christmas Special is almost here, so get ready for a lot of fantasy and mysterious goblins! The holiday episode will feature Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education)’s first solo episode as The Doctor, while Millie Gibson will debut as his new regular companion, Ruby Sunday. There’s a lot to be excited about, so keep reading to learn how to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US for free.
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Doctor Who is the long-running British science fiction television series that premiered in 1963. It follows the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a time machine that looks like a police box. The Doctor teams up with companions to help stop villains and save civilizations across the universe. The series has won over 100 awards and has accumulated 9.6m fans across its social platforms/channels, according to Disney+.
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special
$6.67+
Russell T. Davies, who penned all three 60th anniversary specials (available to stream on Disney+), is returning to write the Christmas episode. The showrunner recently said in a Q&A with The Standard U.K. that the special should be “as Christmassy as possible.”
“You always have to be aware that the new audience is coming in, so you kind of start from scratch and I personally think it should be as Christmassy as possible,” he explained. “We have snow, we’ve got a church… this one’s about a fable, you know, the foundling on the church doorstep in the snow.
He continued, “That story then continues into the series: we come back to that church. There’s all sorts of bits. There were people in those scenes you don’t know were there. There’s a lot more to come.”
When does the Doctor Who Christmas Special air?
The Doctor Who Christmas Special, “The Church on Ruby Road,” airs on Monday, December 25 at 5:55 p.m. GMT in the UK, which is Monday, December 25 at 12:55 p.m. E.T. in the United States.
How to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US
How can Americans watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US? The Doctor Who Christmas Special is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. To watch with BBC iPlayer, however, Americans will need a VPN (virtual private network), a service that allows users to set their computer’s location to another country and access websites that would otherwise be restricted by location. The most popular VPNs are ExpressVPN, NordVPN, AtlasVPN, and Pure VPN, all of which offer a 30-day-money-back guarantee. Keep on reading ahead to find out how to sign up for them to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US.
The special is also available to stream on Disney Plus, which costs $7.99 per month with ads and $13.99 per month (or $139.99 per year) with no ads. However, BBC’s iPlayer with a VPN may be a better and cheaper option for Doctor Who fans given that BBC’s iPlayer also has every season of Doctor Who available to stream. (Disney Plus only has the most recent holiday specials.)
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US with ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPN services, and the one we recommend above all others for a simple reason. The service—which allows users to set their location to more than 160 locations in 90 countries with unlimited bandwidth—offers a 30-day-money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN also has a current deal where users can subscribe for $6.67 per month with three months free for 12 months. Without any deals, ExpressVPN costs $12.95 per month for its monthly plan and $9.99 per month for its six-month plan. Each plan includes a 30-day-money-back guarantee.
Express VPN—which takes about five minutes to set up—also promises lightning-quick connectivity, 24-hour live-chat support and allows users to connect to any device, from computers to phones to tablets. Of course, users can do more than watch international events and shows in the US with a VPN. VPNs also allow users to access international versions of Netflix, Disney Plus and HBO Max (which have different content than in the US) as well as stream international services like Hayu, which has access to programs like the Real Housewives, Below Deck, The Bachelor and hundreds of other reality TV shows.
Read on for step-by-step instructions on how to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US with ExpressVPN.
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special with ExpressVPN
$6.67+
Sign up for ExpressVPN and create an account
Log into your ExpressVPN account and click “Download” on the “Dashboard” or in “Set Up Your Devices”
Once you’ve installed ExpressVPN, enter the “Activation Code” from the “Dashboard” or in “Set Up Your Devices”
Once ExpressVPN is set up, change your location to the “UK” by clicking the connect icon to read “Connected” and selecting the country in the “Smart Location” menu
Visit the Doctor Who Christmas Special’s page on BBC iPlayer
Create a BBC iPlayer account, sign in and start watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US with AtlasVPN
AtlasVPN—which offers a 30-day-money-back guarantee—costs $11.99 per month for a monthly plan, $3.29 per month for a yearly plan, and $1.64 per month for a two-year plan with an extra six months free. AtlasVPN offers more than 1,000 high-speed VPN servers, unlimited devices, 24/7 support, WireGuard protocol and passwordless login. Read on for step-by-step instructions on how to watch TK in the US with AtlasVPN.
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special With AtlasVPN
$1.64+
Sign up for AtlasVPN and create an account
Once finished, click “Go Premium” which will direct you to the downloads page
Click “Get Atlas” for the platform of your choice
Click “Download Now”
Locate the file on your computer and follow the prompts to install AtlasVPN
Click “Connect”
Once AtlasVPN is set up, change your location to the “UK” by clicking the server in the right bar
Visit the Doctor Who Christmas Special’s page on BBC iPlayer
Create a BBC iPlayer account, sign in and start watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US with NordVPN
Nord VPN is another popular VPN service recommended by YouTubers like PewDiePie, Casey Neistat and Philip DeFranco. The service—which offers a 30-day-money-back guarantee—costs $12.99 per month for a Standard monthly plan; $4.49 per month for a Standard one-year plan, with three extra months free; and $2.99 per month for a Standard two-year plan with three extra months free. Along with access to more than 59 countries, NordVPN also allows users to connect to multiple devices (from computers to phones to tablets) and offers 24-hour live-chat support. Read on for step-by-step instructions for how to watch TK in the US with NordVPN.
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special With NordVPN
$2.99+
Sign up for NordVPN and create an account
Log into your NordVPN account and click “Downloads” on the left-side menu
Once you’ve installed NordVPN, log into your account
Once NordVPN is set up, change your location to the “UK” by clicking “Quick Connect” or searching the country in the menu
Visit the Doctor Who Christmas Special’s page on BBC iPlayer
Create a BBC iPlayer account, sign in and start watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US with PureVPN
Another popular VPN service is Pure VPN, which offers a 31-day-money-back guarantee. PureVPN’s Max plans cost $20.45 per month for a monthly plan, $4.96 per month with three extra months free for a one-year plan, and $3.44 per month with three months free for a two-year plan. Pure VPN offers more than 6,5000 servers in over 78 countries across the world, as well as 24-hour live-chat support. Read on for step-by-step instructions for how to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US with PureVPN.
Watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special With PureVPN
$3.44+
Sign up for PureVPN and create an account
Once you’ve created your account, scroll to the bottom of PureVPN’s homepage and select the VPN that fits your device: Windows, MAC, IOS, etc.
Click “Download the app”
Once you’ve installed PureVPN, log into your account
Once PureVPN is set up, change your location to the “UK” by searching for the country in the right bar
Visit the Doctor Who Christmas Special’s page on BBC iPlayer
Create a BBC iPlayer account, sign in and start watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the US
Who is in the Doctor Who Christmas Special cast?
Who is in the Doctor Who Christmas Special cast? The Christmas special will mark Ncuti Gatwa’s first full-length episode as the Fifteenth Doctor. We’ll also meet the Doctor’s new companion, Ruby Sunday (played by Millie Gibson). Gibson recently said that playing the role Ruby Sunday is a “dream come true.”
“It is a gift of a role, and a dream come true, and I will do everything to try and fill the boots the fellow companions have travelled in before me,” Gibson told Cosmopolitan UK in December 2023.
Davina McCall will also appear in the episode as herself alongside Ruby’s mom, Carla (Michelle Greenidge), Ruby’s grandmother, Cherry (Angela Wynter), and Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson). See the cast list below.
Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor
Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday
Davina McCall as Herself
Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday
Angela Wynter as Cherry Sunday
Mary Malone as Trudy
Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood
Hemi Yeroham as Abdul
What is the Doctor Who Christmas Special about?
What is the Doctor Who Christmas Special about? In “The Church on Ruby Road,” the Doctor will encounter “mystical and mysterious goblins” as he “collides with Ruby Sunday,” according to the BBC. “Long ago, on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, goblins, stolen babies and, perhaps, the secret of her birth,” the episode’s official logline reads.
However, not much is known about Ruby Sunday’s life because she was abandoned on Christmas Eve as a baby. She now lives with her mom, Carla, and her grandmother, Cherry, but her life is about to be “turned upside” when she comes across the Doctor. Together, they embark on their first adventure to stop the newly introduced villain, the Goblin King, and his tiny goblin army who want to unleash chaos. (Oh, and the episode also has a musical number!)
Watch the 2023 Doctor Who Christmas Special trailer below.
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