The Fifteenth Doctor is still finding his feet in Doctor Who, but the Christmas special helps to highlight what is still going wrong. With every regeneration, there is a transition period where the audience and the Doctor needs to find the Doctor within the new face. At times, this change can happen quickly, and the new Doctor can settle into his role as the time-traveling hero without missing a beat, but at other times, the show struggles to really land the Doctor with his new identity.

While Ncuti Gatwa's performance as the Doctor has steadily improved throughout season 14 and even in his appearance in the 2024 Christmas special, there are moments where it feels like something is missing. The Doctor changes, but there are certain core characteristics that remain in every new iteration. However, the Fifteenth Doctor keeps on struggling to save the day, and actually become the heroic Time Lord who has made the show such a hit for the last 60 years.

"Joy To The World" Continues To Portray The Fifteenth Doctor As A Failing Hero

The Doctor Stood By While Others Saved The Day

In "Joy to the World," the Doctor arrives in the Time Hotel, and quickly realizes there is a problem, although he struggles to put a finger on it at first. Regardless, he rushes in to save the day, and uses his incredible skills of deduction and intuition to figure out where the problem lies, and how he can go about solving it. However, the Doctor doesn't actually solve much in the episode. Due to his rushing ahead, the hotel manager whom he calls on for help winds up dead, and another young woman on Earth in 2024 gets stuck with the suitcase.

Then, he relies on a future version of himself to figure out the access code to disarm the case, which is never further explained, and winds up trapped for a year in the small hotel. This leads to sweet and sincere moments, but even when he gets out and manages to free Joy from the suitcase by making her emotional, it isn't long before she sacrifices herself to save the day. Not the Doctor, but Joy, is the person who saves the day, along with help from the recently deceased hotel manager.

No Doctor Should Be Infallible, But They Also Need To Be Symbols Of Heroism

The Doctor Should Be The Star Of The Show

The Doctor is not perfect, and he is not a god, but he is meant to be a hero. The same person who has saved the universe countless times, and fought off formidable foes with nothing more than his voice and a sonic screwdriver. However, in Doctor Who season 14, he stepped on a mine, walked over the fairy circle, lost to Sutekh when they took over the universe, ran scared away from Maestro, failed to save the racists in Finetime, and lost Rogue. Now, with his lack of heroics in "Joy to the World," it just adds to the idea that the Doctor is struggling to save anyone or really be a hero.

In most of these situations, the Doctor comes away with an important lesson, and things get resolved, but he is also not the hero in most of the stories. Instead, he feels like a er, who spurs on the others to do heroic and brave things. Whether that is Ruby standing up to Sutekh and overcoming the odd curse, or the soldier who saves the day in "Boom," the Doctor takes a backseat to the adventures. And while it's good to let other characters shine, it doesn't make sense to have the Doctor disappear in the background.

Doctor Who Season 15 Needs To Make The Doctor A Competent Hero Again

The Doctor Needs A Shining Hero Moment

When David Tennant had his first outing as the Tenth Doctor, he stopped the Sycorax from destroying a third of all human life on Earth. Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor sends the Atraxi scurrying away scared by announcing his identity as the Doctor, and Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor solves a challenging mystery when a dinosaur ends up in the Thames in Victorian London. Each subsequent adventure built on their identity as a true hero, but Ncuti Gatwa's feels like he has yet to get his chance to really shine.

Hopefully, Russell T Davies will rectify this in season 15, and have the Doctor step up against real danger, where he can come out the other side as the hero, instead of simply being a bystander in his own show. There have been glimpses of this peaking through, but the show has yet to fully commit to Ncuti's strength as the Doctor, and prove that he is indeed worthy of the name. However, Doctor Who has plenty of time left with Ncuti's Fifteenth Doctor to make an impact.