The Daleks are back. Indeed, it’s almost as if they never went away. The BBC has announced that Doctor Who’s 2022 New Year special is entitled ‘Eve of the Daleks’, and will see the Doctor once again spend January the 1st battling Skaro’s deadliest. Well, tradition is tradition. Both 2019’s ‘Resolution’ and 2021’s ‘Revolution of the Daleks’ put the Daleks front and centre on New Year’s Day, meaning this latest festive episode completes something of a trilogy for outgoing executive producer Chris Chibnall.
The forthcoming festive special was written by Chibnall and directed by Annetta Laufer, and sees the TARDIS crew joined by Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Quiz), Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Gameface). Here’s the official story synopsis:
Sarah (Aisling Bea) owns and runs ELF storage, and Nick (Adjani Salmon) is a customer who visits his unit every year on New Year’s Eve. This year, however, their night turns out to be a little different than planned as they find themselves joining forces with the Doctor, Dan and Yaz in a fight against the Daleks. The trailer for the special, which aired following the series thirteen finale, finds the cast trapped in ELF storage and stuck in a terrifying time loop with the Daleks. Will the gang manage to avoid extermination and escape the storage facility in time to see out New Year’s Day?
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Good question. Our money’s on ‘yes’ because a) how depressing would it be to start 2022 with the Daleks victorious over a pile of ashes that was once Aisling Bea?, and b) the Doctor has to survive to appear in her penultimate and final special episodes, which are planned to air on BBC One and BBC America in spring and autumn 2022.
Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall’s last spin in the TARDIS – in which the Doctor will regenerate – is timed to coincide with the BBC’s Centenary celebrations. After that, former showrunner Russell T. Davies will be back in the driving seat.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. According to Chris Chibnall in the official press release for the first 2022 action-packed spectacular, Sarah and Nick will have to deal with both romance and Daleks in “a New Year’s Eve from hell. Together with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, it’ll hopefully prove the perfect New Year’s day tonic.” We’ll drink to that.
Here’s the first teaser trailer and poster:
‘Eve of the Daleks’ will air on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC America on Saturday the 1st of January 2022.