We finally have a premiere date for Doctor Who season 12!

For the second yuletide season in a row, the venerable Doctor Who TV show won’t be producing a Christmas special, but that doesn’t mean the team is coasting. In fact, just a few days later, on New Year’s Day, we’ll get our first new Doctor Who content in a year. And this isn’t just any entry but a two-part episode billed as one of the biggest installments in the show’s history. “It’s going to be huge,” says one source at BBC One. “The scale is just epic. No one will be disappointed.”

Series showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall is working hard to keep the new season’s story under wraps, but The Mirror reports it will involve the Cybermen and the return of some other familiar friends and aliens. The Doctor Who franchise is currently firing on all cylinders, powered by a previous season that garnered the show’s highest rating in 10 years.

Also returning are the Time Lord’s stalwart Tardis crewmates Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair) and Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan). The second part of the premiere episode will air on January 4, with the remaining eight episodes airing in a Saturday evening time slot.

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The British science-fiction show first hit television screens in 1963 and has since developed an intense cult following and influenced British pop culture. Fans have recently chewing on rumors that the Doctor Who cast had already filmed a Christmas special — one concerning the Daleks — but if it does exist, it would not air until next year’s holiday season.

In related news, Sheffield Hallam University has awarded honorary doctorates to the Doctor Who cast and crew, who shot the premiere episode of Season 11, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” in the Sheffield city environs. This was Jodie Whittaker’s first episode as the Doctor. After accepting his honorary Doctor of Arts, Chibnall said:

"From the moment we made the decision for the Doctor to fall out of the sky into the streets and homes of Sheffield in 2018, the residents and the city have treated us brilliantly, on screen and off. Doctor Who is a massive team effort so it’s particularly special that this citation is for the whole cast and crew."

With doctorates and an ambitious new season in hand, it looks like Doctor Who is having another heyday.

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