Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor returned for his first solo outing in 2024’s Doctor Who Christmas special, “Joy to the World.” The conclusion to Doctor Who Season 1 (aka Series 14) saw the Doctor and Ruby Sunday parting ways, as Ruby reunited with her birth mother. This left the Doctor traveling on his own to the Time Hotel on Christmas. Here, all was not well and the Doctor soon detected the presence of an old enemy. The Time Lord wasn’t alone for long in this new adventure, as following a mysterious briefcase through the hotel soon brought him into contact with Joy, played by Bridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan.
Joy had been billed as the Doctor’s new one-off companion for the Christmas special, but Coughlan’s role in the special might have been smaller than most fans were expecting. This was due to the fact that the Doctor spent a significant portion of the episode with an entirely different companion — one whose role had not been advertised prior to the special airing. Trailers for “Joy to the World” had revealed the Doctor would meet a version of himself from his near future. However, fans hadn’t realized just how much of a time gap there was between these two Doctors. The other Doctor came from a year in the Doctor’s personal future and that year was spent at the Sandringham Hotel with Anita Benn.
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Anita made her first appearance during the opening scene of “Joy to the World,” though that would have been easily overlooked on first viewing. She worked as the concierge at the Sandringham Hotel in London, where Joy checked in as a guest. Anita showed Joy around her room and was later seemingly unfazed when a Silurian walked in through the door to the Time Hotel, only remarking “I’m so sorry, this has never happened before.” The Silurian in question was the manager of the Time Hotel, who soon landed Joy in a deadly situation by handcuffing a briefcase belonging to arms manufacturer Villengard to her. When the Doctor opened the briefcase to see what was inside, it activated a detonation countdown that threatened Joy’s life — a countdown that could only be deactivated with a four-digit code.
Stuck on 21st Century Earth for a year, the Doctor asked Anita for a job at the Sandringham and was soon helping out around the hotel.
The Doctor found the code by cheating the laws of time with a bootstrap paradox. He called his future self into the room from the Time Hotel and, sure enough, a future version of the Doctor appeared with the code. Joy then left with the future Doctor, venturing into the Time Hotel, while the earlier version of the Time Lord was left behind in the Sandringham with Anita. A flier from the Time Hotel notified the Doctor that another connection would be opening to it next year, from the Exeter Hotel in New York. Stuck on 21st Century Earth for a year, the Doctor asked Anita for a job at the Sandringham and was soon helping out around the hotel.
While the Doctor served guests, fixed appliances and helped unblock toilets (putting aside his concern around the worryingly Dalek-like plunger Anita handed him), he and the Sandringham’s concierge formed a close friendship. During a conversation about “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve, the Doctor confessed Ruby Sunday was on his mind and he had been thinking about phoning her. The two bonded over the fact they were both on their own, letting others get on with their lives. The Doctor later offered Anita a chair in his room, having earlier realized he had no chairs on the TARDIS and nobody to point that fact out to him, and the two started regularly chatting, sharing meals and playing games together.
Eventually, the Doctor’s year in the 21st Century came to an end. As he prepared to leave the Sandringham for the Exeter Hotel in New York, the Doctor left a souvenir TARDIS on Anita’s desk. However, she caught him before he could leave. The Doctor admitted he didn’t normally live one day at a time, in the right order, in one place, but confessed he felt lucky to have had a whole year of Anita. The two bid each other a tearful farewell, as the Doctor promised to think of Anita, and she told him he never needed to be alone at Christmas, because she would be there at the Sandringham. Over the course of their year together, Anita became the only companion of the Doctor’s to never travel with him and never face any alien menaces — they simply lived with each other.
Anita Reminds the Doctor Why He Shouldn’t be Alone
Anita Benn Became the Perfect Companion for the Doctor on Christmas
The Doctor on his own was the image at the heart of “Joy to the World.” Still struggling after the departure of Ruby Sunday from the TARDIS, the Doctor had to contend with some uncomfortable thoughts about himself on Christmas. This became clear when his future self gave him the code he needed to deactivate the explosives on the Villengard briefcase. When the future Doctor refused to reveal how his past self became him, the past Doctor yelled angrily at him over his “need to be mysterious,” telling him it was why nobody liked him and why everybody left him. The scene made it evident that the Doctor was unhappy when left in his own company, falling into the belief that he pushed people away and deserved to be alone.
While staying at the Sandringham Hotel for a year, the Doctor had no choice but to stay still for once in his life. Historically, the Doctor has not done well with this, as noted in the Eleventh Doctor episode, “The Power of Three.” The latter episode saw the Doctor becoming immediately agitated while having to wait around on Earth, but a little stillness seemed to be exactly what the Fifteenth Doctor needed at this moment in time. By stopping and settling in at the Sandringham Hotel, the Doctor found himself naturally having to spend a year of his life with Anita. In his time living an ordinary life, away from time travel and saving the universe, the Doctor found himself with time to spare and reflect. Anita shared that period with him, showing the Doctor he didn’t push people away.
In this moment, when the Doctor had found himself alone once again, Anita was precisely the companion he needed to meet.
The Doctor found a kindred spirit in Anita. Both had wound up on their own, watching others come and go around them. However, with Anita becoming the only permanent company the Doctor had for a year, he started to open up to her. Inviting Anita to take a seat with him in his room signaled the Doctor was adjusting to a new way of life — one that involved acknowledging the friends around him a little more. Together, he and Anita started playing games and swapping stories once a week. As the two spent more time together, the Doctor realized he didn’t need to be alone, and he was better off with a friend at his side. In this moment, when the Doctor had found himself alone once again, Anita was precisely the companion he needed to meet.
Anita Has an Impact on the Doctor
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By the end of the episode, it was clear that Anita had had a meaningful impact on the Doctor. After Joy and the other carriers of the Villengard case had transformed into a star, turning Villengard’s supposed weapon against them by bringing hope to the world, Anita got a touching confirmation that the Doctor had not forgotten about her. A representative of the Time Hotel arrived at the Sandringham with a job offer for Anita. She revealed that Anita had been highly recommended by the Doctor for a job at the hotel. Anita was seen smiling when she realized the Doctor was the one who had recommended her, but the episode cut away from her before revealing whether she accepted the job at the Time Hotel or chose to remain at the Sandringham.
Anita got a touching confirmation that the Doctor had not forgotten about her.
Anita clearly earned a special place in the Doctor’s hearts, and he sought to repay her kindness with the opportunity to work at the Time Hotel. Whether Anita accepted the offer or not, the door for her return to Doctor Who now remains open. Before her transformation into a star, Joy told the Doctor that he needed to find a friend. Although audiences know the Doctor’s new friend will be Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra, Season 2’s new companion, the Time Lord knows where to find the most important friend he made on Christmas. Perhaps at some point in Doctor Who‘s near future, the Doctor will make time for another visit to Anita Benn.
