'Doctor Who' Season 12: 'Spyfall' will be a glorious start to Jodie Whittaker's second season as the Doctor

Airing on January 1, 'Spyfall' sees the Doctor ditch her colorful outfit for a tuxedo (with her signature long coat) in a story that is quite literally about spies
PUBLISHED DEC 31, 2019
Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Jodie Whittaker, and Bradley Walsh in 'Doctor Who' 2-part special 'Spyfall' (BBC)
Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Jodie Whittaker, and Bradley Walsh in 'Doctor Who' 2-part special 'Spyfall' (BBC)

If by now you have not caught on the 'James Bond' riff with the Season 12 2-part special premiere episode of 'Doctor Who' titled 'Spyfall', let the Doctor and her companions come to your rescue.

Airing on January 1, 2020, 'Spyfall' sees the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) ditch her colorful outfit for a tuxedo, with her signature long coat, as she infiltrates a glamorous party at the request of a spymaster named C (the inimitable Stephen Fry), to confront a tech billionaire who may be behind a series of attacks on intelligence agents around the globe.

Of course, before all that, we will see the Doctor's companions — Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole), and Graham (Bradley Walsh) — cope with their lives back home as they make a visit. Yaz surprisingly still has her job, Ryan's friends feel neglected, and Graham is ignoring his medical care.

While the monsters the Doctor deals with are quite different from the monsters we may be previously acquainted with, they are still formidable and scary. 

With Radio Times calling 'Spyfall' "one of the best, most enjoyable and well-developed episodes for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor", viewers can be assured that they are in for a treat this New Years' Day.

What they do need to be wary of is that the 2-part special will end with a cliffhanger. What that is regarding, we do not know yet, but rest assured, it will be addressed in the coming episodes — though it may leave viewers divided.

Of course, not everyone might like the episode but that's the way the show has been since it first premiered in 1963, and in some ways, that is the beauty of it. As Jodie runs headfirst into her second season as the Doctor, viewers would be more inclined to feel at home with her.

'Spyfall' will air on BBC America on January 1, 2020, at 8/7c.

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