Doctor Who Confirms An Obscure Detail From Tom Baker's Era Is Still Canon & Can Return In Season 15

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special, "Joy to the World."Doctor Who's rich and storied history means the show can address long-forgotten storylines, and showrunner Russell T. Davies has chosen to do so with an incredibly niche piece of canon from the era of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor. Baker was one of the most popular actors to play the Time Lord in Doctor Who's classic era, and the return of Sutekh Doctor Who season 14 proves that Davies is also a fan of that period of the franchise's history. However, the show's leader is delving even deeper into Four's past to possibly help inform Doctor Who season 15's story.

Tom Baker remains the longest-serving of all the actors to play the Doctor. He made his debut as Four in 1974 and stepped away in 1981. His lengthy time as the show's leading man resulted in many storylines featuring his version of the Doctor, and countless details that have been doomed to be left behind due to their apparently uselessness to the larger saga. Excitingly, Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor may be about to have a run-in with an element of his predecessor's impressively long arc.

Doctor Who's 2024 Christmas Special Twice Mentions The "Icelandic Alliance" From Tom Baker's Era

"Joy to the World" is teasing a comeback for the Nordic coalition

The Icelandic Alliance is a fictitious coalition of nations based in Iceland in Doctor Who's 51st century. It featured as an element of the story for "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," the final serial of the Doctor Who classic era's fourteenth season in 1977. Since then, it has been used very sparingly by the franchise, almost to the point of irrelevancy. The Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special, "Joy to the World," changes all that by including two references to the Icelandic Alliance.

One of the winks to the Nordic organization comes in the form of a headline on the front of a newspaper held by Gatwa's Doctor. The front page was posted to the official Doctor Who X (formerly Twitter) account, where it can be read in full. The second mention of the Iceland Alliance in "Joy to the World" is when a leaflet features its name in the Time Hotel. It may seem like a random time for the Alliance to come back, but when the writer of "Joy to the World" is considered, it makes far more sense.

How The Icelandic Alliance Could Return In Doctor Who Season 15

Prisoner Zero's 51st-century trial ended with him being found innocent

Former showrunner Steven Moffat returned to pen the script for "Joy to the World." This ties perfectly into Moffat connecting the Icelandic Alliance to one of his first characters as the show's leader - Prisoner Zero. The eel-like alien has only appeared in one episode so far - Doctor Who season 5, episode 1, "The Eleventh Hour." At the end of the episode, Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor manages to have Prisoner Zero arrested. However, "Joy to the World" quietly reveals Zero's trial snagged him an innocent verdict courtesy of the Icelandic Alliance. So, Doctor Who season 15 could bring them both back.

Source: X

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  Doctor Who (1963) is a British sci-fi television show that follows the adventures of the Time Lord known as the Doctor, who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a time-traveling ship disguised as a British police box. The Doctor, played by various actors over the years, encounters numerous foes and allies while striving to right wrongs and save civilizations.

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  The latest season of Doctor Who introduces the Fifteenth Doctor, joined by new companion Ruby Sunday. Their first adventure begins with "The Church on Ruby Road," where they face powerful new foes and unravel the mystery surrounding Ruby's origins. The Doctor grapples with the aftermath of a unique regeneration event and battles enemies more formidable than ever before.