Nicola Coughlan Dishes on Joining ‘Doctor Who’ for 2024 Christmas Special Find help us

Doctor Who is set to return on Christmas day for one of our favorite holiday traditions with a special episode following Ncuti Gatwa‘s fifteenth Doctor on a wild adventure through time and space. This year he’s teaming up with Bridgerton superstar Nicola Coughlan for “Joy to the World.” The new episode, written by returning scribe and former showrunner Steven Moffat, sees the duo running around a magical Time Hotel for a special “Christmas everywhere all at once” event as they clash with dinosaurs and a mysterious villain while fighting to save the world in time for the holidays.

Ahead of the special, I sat down with Coughlan to discuss joining the beloved long-running franchise for the speical episode. During our conversation she spoke about working with Russell T. Davies, the power of Moffat’s script, and reuniting with Gatwa and director Alex Pillai. She also spoke about how the series challenged her as an actress and how she balanced the wild range of genres and tones standard within a Doctor Who episode. You can. read our full conversation below.

Nicola Coughlan on Joining ‘Doctor Who’ and Reuniting With Ncuti Gatwa After ‘Barbie’

“It just brings you up a level.”

COLLIDER: You’re really becoming a modern-day staple of UK media with Derry Girls and Bridgerton, and it seems like a match made in heaven to have you on Doctor Who. What was it like to just jump into this massive series?

NICOLA COUGHLAN: It was amazing, honestly, because I love Russell T. Davies. He is the nicest man in television, and when he called me to be like, “Come do this,” I was like, “No-brainer, of course.” And I’m such a fan of Ncuti [Gatwa], as well, so I was like, “Definitely.” But I think the one thing I was scared of was I don’t really know Doctor Who well. I didn’t really grow up watching it in Ireland, and I was like, “I’m scared.” He was like, “It’s fine, just come and play.” And I was like, “Alright!” So, it was really exciting and really terrifying at the same time.

You and Ncuti both worked on Barbie, so what was that little reunion like?

COUGHLAN: It was amazing. I think he’s just such a fantastic actor. He’s so amazing to watch. He’s really just got something special that I think is very, very rare. We crossed paths briefly on Barbie, but I was properly excited to share the screen with him. As an actor, it’s such a treat when someone is that good. It just brings you up a level because you’re like, “Well, I’ve got to match this. What can I do?”

He’s such a perfect Doctor.

COUGHLAN: Oh, yeah.

Without spoiling anything, you play Joy, but you also play, let’s say, a few evolutions of Joy. How did you go about balancing each new turn for your character?

COUGHLAN: We had a brilliant director, Alex Pillai, who I’ve worked with previously on Bridgerton, so I relied on him a lot. It’s funny because, as an actor, you film out of sequence anyway, but then when you’ve got time travel, that makes it extra confusing because you’re like, “Okay, at what point…?” Then, when the character goes to various different iterations of being herself and not herself and all of that, you’re like, “What’s going on?” So it’s very much like, “Right, where am I now? And what’s this? And what do we mean? Okay. Alright.” I was very much being guided through. [Laughs]

You did a wonderful job. I really love the emotional levels that you’re able to go to in this episode. Can you talk a bit about getting those really funny moments in, and those really emotional moments, as well?

COUGHLAN: Steven [Moffat]’s script is so excellent, and it’s a real testament to be able to both include this sort of fantasy, this humor, dinosaurs, and then real heartfelt human heartbreak all at once, and all in one hour. So, I think I just really relied on the script. It’s all in there. Also, everything boils down to the idea that it’s all about humanity and human connection. Even though it is this fantastical time-traveling magic world, that’s the root of it. I think Joy and the Doctor both are people who realize how important the relationships in their lives are and the people they love are.

Nicola Coughlan Breaks Her Biggest Challenge on ‘Doctor Who’

“There were a lot of stunts that I had never done to that level before, but that was a really fun challenge.”

That’s really beautiful. If you could go anywhere in the Time Hotel, where would you go?

COUGHLAN: Well, there was one part of the set that I didn’t film on, but I asked to go and visit because I’m really obsessed with it. It was the Orient Express.

Yes! It was so pretty.

COUGHLAN: Something about that era of travel and people really dressing up for dinner and drinking champagne and going on a train through the Alps and it’s snowing, that just sounds like heaven to me. So, there, for sure.

That’s so fun. Is there a particular moment in this episode that was really challenging for you as an actor that threw something at you that you’d never done before?

COUGHLAN: For sure. There were a lot of stunts that I had never done to that level before, but that was a really fun challenge. There’s a whole scene with the dinosaurs, which starts at a really emotional place and then goes to adventurous to funny and back again. That is such an amount of things to balance. When you have an excellent actor like Ncuti opposite you and a brilliant director like Alex, you’re good.

You did such a good job. That’s one of my favorite scenes in the whole whole thing.

COUGHLAN: Thank you so much.

With this episode, what are you most excited for fans to take away from this Christmas Special?

COUGHLAN: Oh, gosh. I think I’m just excited in general to be part of it because it’s such a staple for Christmas Day, for people to sit down to watch Doctor Who. It’s really cool that I’m in that, and I get to be in people’s living room with them on Christmas Day. But I hope it makes them laugh and cry and feel warm and fuzzy at the end. They can sit down with kids and their grandmother, and everyone can enjoy it. That’s really exciting to me.

“Joy to the World” airs at 12:10 PM ET on December 25 on Disney+ and BBC. You can watch previous episodes of Doctor Who on Disney+ now.

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The show follows the adventures of a Time Lord, “The Doctor,” who is able to regenerate, and the Doctor’s human friends. The Doctor and his companions journey through time and space in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – saving the universe with a combination of wit, bravery, and kindness.

Release Date

December 25, 2023

Cast

Ncuti Gatwa
, Millie Gibson
, Susan Twist
, Michelle Greenidge
, Angela Wynter
, Jemma Redgrave
, Yasmin Finney
, Anita Dobson

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

1

Character(s)

Commander Millington
, Polly
, Gordon Lowery
, Dervish
, Wheeler
, Radar Technician
, Uncredited
, Dr. Grace Holloway
, K9 (voice)
, Lieutenant Carstairs
, Peladon
, Chancellor Flavia
, Curtis
, Mike
, Self
, Ted Moss
, Sarah Jane Smith
, Miranda
, Mykros
, The Master
, Arek
, Megara Voice
, Dodo Chaplet
, Peter Warmsly
, Jackson

Producers

John Nathan-Turner
, Innes Lloyd
, Peter Bryant
, Philip Hinchcliffe
, Verity Lambert
, John Wiles

Studio

Franchise

Doctor Who

Creator(s)

Donald Wilson
, Sydney Newman

Story By

Sydney Newman C. E. Webber Donald Wilson

Network

BBC

Streaming Service(s)

Apple
, Britbox
, M
, Dis

Franchise(s)

Doctor Who

Directors

Douglas Camfield
, David Maloney
, Christopher Barry
, Michael E. Briant
, Barry Letts
, Michael Ferguson
, Richard Martin
, Peter Moffatt
, Pennant Roberts
, Lennie Mayne
, Chris Clough
, Ron Jones
, Paddy Russell
, Paul Bernard
, Michael Hayes
, Timothy Combe
, Morris Barry
, Gerald Blake
, Graeme Harper
, Waris Hussein
, Rodney Bennett
, Mervyn Pinfield
, Hugh David
, John Gorrie

Expand

Watch on Disney+