Doctor Who is perfect for Easter – so why haven’t there been more spring specials?
It’s the perfect time of year for fun, family-friendly adventures. But for some reason, there have only been two…
On Easter Sunday 2022, Doctor Who fans will have their post-chocolate binge comedown mollified by the arrival of a different kind of special treat – new Easter special Legend of the Sea Devils, the penultimate adventure for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and the first episode of Who ever to air on Easter Sunday.
And its arrival feels entirely right, because I’ve always thought that Doctor Who and Easter make for perfect bedfellows. Maybe it’s because modern ‘NuWho’ has often aired in Spring, maybe its some quasi-blasphemous connection about resurrection, renewal and regeneration, or maybe it’s just that a TARDIS Vworp hits even harder after eating your own weight in Lindt bunnies.
Whatever the reason, a Doctor Who Easter special feels like a no-brainer. Which raises the question: why have there only been two?
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While modern Doctor Who has aired plenty of festive specials since 2005 (about 18-19 at my count, depending on how you consider The Waters of Mars and the second End of Time), only one in that time could honestly be called an Easter special – 2009’s Planet of the Dead, written by Gareth Roberts and Russell T Davies and starring David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor (and a flying bus).
That episode aired on the day before Easter that year, and apart from a quick nod to chocolate eggs and the ever-changing date of the holiday, references to the festivities were held back. Without being hamstrung by the kind of seasonal expectations foisted on Christmas specials (how do we make baubles evil? Or deadly snowmen?), it was able to deliver a standalone romp on a weekend when families would be watching and enjoying TV together.
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Easter weekend is a big time for TV, after all. After making your way through yet another Cadbury’s egg (add another mini-mug to the pile, natch), you’re unlikely to be rushing off for a night out, and the lack of a looming Monday morning work deadline makes sitting down on Sunday evening to watch some telly feel all the sweeter. There’s a reason the BBC and ITV traditionally run big dramas on Easter weekend – assuming they haven’t gone abroad, people are often sitting in visiting family, or enjoying time off at home. If not a captive audience, it’s at least a receptive one.
With all that in mind, it seems like Doctor Who has often missed an opportunity to put out some great standalone specials. It’s not like there’s any evidence fans won’t watch Doctor Who at Easter – quite the opposite. New seasons of modern Who have often launched over or near the Easter bank holiday weekend (which, to be fair, is one reason why there may not have been loads of specials – there was already a new weekly episode on), with huge numbers of viewers tuning in with a very positive response.
But in recent years, even this has faded away. The last time Doctor Who aired in the spring was in 2017 (series 10 kicked off the day before Easter, funnily enough), and even that was an outlier – for quite a few years before that we had summer or winter launches. For the past five years spring and Easter have been resolutely Doctor Who-free zones… until now.
Because in 2022, we have an honest-to-goodness Doctor Who Easter special. The subject matter – swashbuckling pirates and weird aliens – feels appropriately light and sunny for the time of year, vaguely recalling old movies that might have played on the TV on the Easter weekend in the past. The promise of a standalone palate cleanser Doctor Who episode, bringing some fun before Jodie Whittaker’s undoubtedly emotional exit this autumn, is appealing.
I hope it’s the first of many such Easter adventures, and that we don’t have to wait another 13 years for the next one. Something about this show just fits with the freshness, fun and sense of possibility that comes with Easter. It’d be a shame not to capitalise on that for some truly eggs-cellent adventures.
(Sorry).
Read more:
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- Doctor Who boss teases "Easter eggs and kisses to the past" in centenary special
- Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall almost left Doctor Who in 2020
- Chris Chibnall says he's done with Doctor Who: "Absolutely never again!"
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Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils comes to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 17th April at 7.10pm. All 13 series of Doctor Who are available to watch now on Prime Video – sign up for a Prime Video free trial.
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