Doctor Who 60th anniversary special release dates are an apt birthday gift for the iconic Time Lord

Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials have finally received official release dates – and the wait won't be a long one.

In an announcement made on the legendary sci-fi show's X (formerly Twitter) account, it was revealed that everyone's favorite Time Lord will return to our screens on Saturday, November 25. At the time of writing, that means Doctor Who's next outing is less than a month away from launching in homes across the globe.

And when we say it's launching globally on that date, we mean it. The first of Doctor Who's 60th anniversary TV specials will debut on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Ireland, as well as Disney Plus in the US and the rest of the world. In short: no matter where you live, you'll be able to stream the 14th Doctor's adventures alongside everyone else.

The TV series' next batch of episodes are arriving just in time for its latest landmark birthday, too. Doctor Who celebrates its 60th anniversary on Thursday, November 23, so the arrival of the first of three TV specials on November 25 is a near-perfect way to commemorate the occasion.

As we've alluded to, fans won't be treated to a single anniversary special in the coming weeks. Indeed, two more feature-length episodes will arrive on December 2 and December 9 as well, meaning fans can expect plenty of time-traveling shenanigans to celebrate the Doctor's sixth decade on our screens.

That's not all that's been revealed, either. Alongside the episodic release dates, the BBC and Disney also confirmed the titles for said specials. The first is titled 'The Star Beast', the second goes by the name 'Wild Blue Yonder', and the final entry is called 'The Giggle'.

Doctor Who is going all-out to deliver a fun-filled, thrilling, and potentially frightening adventure for fans before the end of 2023, too. The 60th anniversary specials will see David Tennant make his shock return as the 14th incarnation of the Time Lord – he also portrayed the 10th Doctor between 2005 and 2010 but, thanks to some wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff, Tennant's fan-favorite iteration is somehow back to take the place of Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor. We'll likely find out why this is the case when the TV specials air.

Tennant isn't the only familiar face who's back for the 60th anniversary episodes. Catherine Tate, who played Donna Noble in 2006, as well as between 2008 and 2010, is also returning, as are Jemma Redgrave as UNIT chief Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble, and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple.

Joining the cast for the specials is Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), who makes his Doctor Who debut as the villainous Toymaker. Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper) also appears as Donna and Shaun's daughter Rose, Ruth Madeley (Years and Years) as Shirley Anne Bingham, and Miriam Margoyles (Harry Potter) as the voice of an alien called Meep.

The 60th anniversary specials will air just weeks after the entire Doctor Who collection becomes available to stream in early November. Unfortunately for non-UK and Ireland viewers, it'll only be coming to BBC iPlayer, meaning Disney Plus users may have a long wait on their hands to stream the best Doctor Who episodes ever made.

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