Even though former two-time Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has confirmed the show's 2026 Christmas special is no longer going ahead, that doesn't mean there's nothing for Whovians to look forward to over the holidays. Another new audio adventure from Big Finish, starring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, is rushing in to fill the void. Big Finish has made Doctor Who Christmas specials before, but this one feels especially necessary.
Expectations about a new installment of the TV show had been allowed to grow for months before the BBC recently pulled the plug. As such, Eccleston's upcoming audio adventure will serve as a more-than-welcome balm for those who were looking forward to the TARDIS landing in their living room this December. Furthermore, the Big Finish project will rectify one of Davies' more recent (and more divisive) creative choices. It probably would have been better for the actual show to pull this off, but it's much better than nothing.
Carol Ann Ford's 2025 Doctor Who return as Susan was very poorly handled
As Doctor Who's very first companion back in 1963, Carol Ann Ford's Susan Foreman holds a special place in franchise history. Although she has reprised her role for Big Finish on numerous occasions (as recently as earlier this year), Ford hasn't appeared in the TV show in any sort of substantial way for quite some time. William Hartnell's First Doctor left her behind at the end of a 1964 live-action serial called The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
She returned in 1983's "The Five Doctors" to help celebrate Doctor Who's 20th anniversary, but that's been largely it. Russell T Davies did finally enlist her services for a pair of brief cameos near the end of Ncuti Gatwa's second season as Fifteen, but she never actually appeared in the flesh. Instead, Susan spoke to the Doctor telepathically or from nearby TV screens. It was never made clear whether he heard her or not.
Trivia: Carole Ann Ford has played Susan in a total of 54 live-action episodes of Doctor Who.
It's been all but confirmed that Susan was intended to have a larger role in the original edit of Gatwa's farewell episode, but reshoots that accommodated his unexpected exit resulted in a last-minute reshuffle where Susan was deemed surplus to requirements. If this hadn't happened, and the Disney era hadn't come to an abrupt halt, I think it's safe to assume that Susan's mysterious return would have become more central.
However, due to the BBC's presumed intention to cut ties with any narrative loose ends and pick up with a fresh set of storylines, it feels incredibly unlikely that Russell T Davies' eventual successor will want to address that Susan tease. Even if the desire is there to do so, it arguably wouldn't be a very good decision to follow through on it. The Disney era suffered in part due to its over-reliance on classic-era lore, which made drawing in a new generation of fans very difficult. As a result, we'll probably be left with an unfinished storyline that could have been much more rewarding in different hands.
Susan's team-up with the Ninth Doctor this Christmas is the best way to rectify this misake
Titled "The Wash," the upcoming festive installment will see Carol Ann Ford reprise her role alongside Christopher Eccleston, a Doctor Who pairing that has never before occurred. On paper, it's a fascinating dynamic. Nine is famously cut off emotionally, often favoring overly-bright comebacks or terrifyingly rageful outbursts due to only just having experienced the Time War. So, a reunion with his granddaughter, his only remaining relative and someone who surely still feels abandoned, opens up some very poignant possibilities.
While it still would have been interesting to see Fifteen as the one trying to make up with Susan, Gatwa's Doctor is infinitely more in touch with his emotions. It wouldn't have felt authentic for him to feign apathy or discomfort at being confronted with Susan. Instead, the whole thing would probably have been put to rest very quickly. "Sorry, I'm so sorry," he'd say — or something along those lines. On the other hand, Nine would be more likely to refuse to apologize for his actions as One.
The only real downside of "The Wash" is that, technically, it won't be part of the official canon. Only the live-action projects count toward the main continuity, with things like audio adventures taking secondary focus. That said, Big Finish often takes extra care to make sure that, if listeners want to, they can accept these audio adventures as canon. I'm sure "The Wash" will also adopt this ideology.
What "The Wash" will be about & when it's out
The Ninth Doctor's entire lifespan was pretty much defined by his time with Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). It's been strongly implied that, when he first stepped out of the TARDIS in the 2005 revival, he'd only just regenerated from John Hurt's War Doctor. Then, Rose watches Nine regenerate into Ten (David Tennant) at the end of that season. As such, for "The Wash" to fit nearly into the Doctor Who timeline, Nine needs to still be in Rose's orbit.
Thankfully, that seems to be the case. The Big Finish official website states the episode "begins, improbably, in a launderette on the Powell Estate. Avoiding Jackie Tyler's early Christmas preparations, the Doctor heads to The Wash Inn; there, alongside unexpected dangers, he finds himself in conversation with a voice from the past."
The synopsis makes it sound like Nine will be experiencing some sort of high-concept flashback rather than an actual reunion with his granddaughter. Again, from a canonical perspective, this makes sense. An actual coming together of the characters during Nine's era would be bordering on far too bold. Still, the idea of processing family drama at Christmastime is very on-brand for a festive installment.
"The Wash" will stream live for free on the Doctor Who YouTube channel on December 22. The day after, it will become available for digital purchase via Big Finish, and there will also be a limited run of physical copies pressed on CD. Both Ford and Eccleston have praised the upcoming Doctor Who story's script and each other's performances.
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