As suspected, the next episode of Doctor Who will air on BBC1 (and likely BBC America) at Easter this year.

The BBC previously confirmed that Legend of the Sea Devils will screen in Spring 2022, and fans have generally posited that this would result in an airdate over Easter. Though the BBC has yet to announce this, the story’s director, Haolu Wang, has seemingly revealed this via the Independent Talent agency’s website.

This is the first time Wang has directed Doctor Who, with her previous credits including writing and directing five shorts since 2014.

Legend of the Sea Devils is the penultimate adventure for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor, and presumably for Mandip Gill and John Bishop’s respective companions, Yasmin Khan and Dan Lewis — however, it’s not actually been confirmed whether either will stay on for the Fourteenth Doctor’s era.

Here’s the synopsis for Legend of the Sea Devils:

Legend of the Sea Devils finds the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop) in 19th century China, where a small coastal village is under threat – from both the fearsome pirate queen Madame Ching (Crystal Yu) and a monstrous alien force which she unwittingly unleashes. Will the Doctor, Yaz and Dan emerge from this swashbuckling battle with the Sea Devils to save the planet?

The Easter special will also be the first time we’ve seen the Sea Devils since 1984’s Warriors of the Deep, although their land-loving cousins, the Silurians, have returned on and off since 2010’s The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood (also written by current showrunner, Chris Chibnall).

Okay, so when will Legend of the Sea Devils actually air? The smart money is on Easter Sunday itself — that is, 17th April 2022. But the schedule won’t be announced for some time yet…