The Fantasy Review’s review of Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special, The Church on Ruby Road.
The Church on Ruby Road is Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode in the role of the 15th Doctor, after being introduced at the end of the 60th Anniversary episodes.
Check out:
- Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special 1, The Star Beast – Review & Recap
- Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special 2, Wild Blue Yonder – Review & Recap
- Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special 3, The Giggle – Review & Recap
This episode was written by Russell T Davies and released on Christmas Day, 2023.
Next episode: Season 1, Episode 1, Space Babies – Review & Recap
Spoiler-filled Recap & Review of Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special, The Church on Ruby Road
Baby Ruby
Ncuti narrates the exposition at the beginning of The Church on Ruby Road and it is so much more emotive and engaging than the horrible opening of The Star Beast where David Tennant stood in front of that green screen!
We learn about Ruby being left at a church by her mother when she was a baby, and being named after the road she was found on: Ruby Road. We see the hidden, cloaked figure walking away as the Doctor arrives in the TARDIS and sees the mother leave.
Rewatching this scene after the unsatisfying conclusion to the “mystery” set up here about Ruby’s mother’s identity is irritating. It only reminds me how much we were essentially lied to in order to make us watch the series.
Now, I don’t hate the ending of this mystery – I actually think it’s a lovely arc – I just wish we didn’t have the silly mystery box where one wasn’t needed.
The Foundling
The episode opens with an introduction to the soon-to-be-companion, Ruby Sunday. She’s on a TV set for a show where they try to find peoples’ lost relatives, and it’s hosted by Davina McCall.
Ruby was fostered by Carla and then adopted by her too, becoming “the best mum I ever had.” This was a great way of introducing Ruby’s family and backstory by giving us a massive chunk of exposition, but it felt more natural because of the context of the TV set.
We then get our first sighting of some goblins playing havoc with the set, causing a light to almost crash on Ruby and throwing a plug at Davina’s head. Something tells me that these cheeky sods will be doing more of that over the next hour.
Can You Do Gaudete?
December 22, 2023
In the next scene we are at some kind of Christmas party, with Ruby playing piano for a band. The Doctor watches on from a doorway as the piano is mysteriously turned off in the middle of a song.
An audience member heckles them, and keen-eyed viewers will notice that it is the same actress who played Isaac Newton’s assistant/housekeeper in Wild Blue Yonder. That’s the second mystery box introduced to the Doctor Who 2023 Christmas special and we are only four minutes in – it must be some kind of record!
Her character in this episode asks the band if they can “do Gaudete,” which is a Christmas carol dating back to the 16th century. The carol is about rejoicing because the world has been renewed due to Christ.
I think Gaudete is a gentle hint at the renewal of the show itself. This is called “season 1,” even though it could have been “season 14.” Plus, we have a new Doctor and a new companion, even if the head writer is back with so many who also worked on the 2005 reboot initially. Or maybe it’s just a random carol.
Snowmanned
December 23, 2023
The next day, Ruby is at a club drinking alone, when she notices the Doctor dancing in the middle of the dance floor. Ncuti is joyful, exciting, and a damn-good dancer. This is the exact opposite of the 14th Doctor we saw in the 60th Anniversary episodes.
Somehow, he teleports to the table right next to her in the blink of a second to catch her glass which a goblin pushed towards the edge moments before. This adds to his mystery and charm, sure, but for a show that already pushes the boundaries of what we can believe, it’s a little unbelievable.
He then proceeds to… scare her? Ruby says she’s clumsy, then the Doctor says, “you’re not. It’s worse than that.” Then, he smiles widely, wishes her a Merry Christmas, and leaves. Was that supposed to be friendly?!
Outside the club, Ruby is with her friends (who definitely should have been in the main season, at least a little bit) and she’s talking about all her bad luck recently.
“I am telling you, there’s a whirlwind of bad luck, and who’s at the centre of it? Me!” – Ruby Sunday
The Doctor watches them pull off in a taxi and notices a large snowman-light-thing being loosened from the wall of a building. He changes the traffic lights with the sonic, letting the taxi escape without anyone noticing, but riches in to save a mum and her baby – no, shopping.
A police officer comes over to make a report of what just happened and the Doctor becomes Sherlock for a moment, deducing that the officer is going to propose to his girlfriend and she is going to say yes. It’s a sweet moment, but it mainly serves to introduce new viewers to the character of the Doctor early on in the episode.
Don’t Lose the Baby
December 24, 2023
Ruby arrives home on the bus with some shopping. She walks past her neighbour arguing with someone else about a blue Police Box parked on the pavement outside her house. It’s then that a little goblin hand tears a little of Ruby’s shopping bag and everything falls out onto the floor.
When Ruby gets into her home we meet her adopted family: Carla, her mum, and Cherry, her grandmother. It feels immediately warm and homely and happy, especially with the news that they have an emergency care situation and are going to be looking after a newborn.
Carla and Ruby have a very loving relationship and it is brilliant to see them connect emotionally from the start, setting up Ruby with a happy home. When the baby arrives – called Lulubelle… – Carla heads out for some baby supplies from the shop.
Carla tells Ruby not to lose the baby while she is out, which comes across initially as a fun thing to say, but is actually a bit weird. I have two kids, and I’d expect someone to say “don’t drop the baby,” or something, but “lose” seems a bit forced, just so it links with the plot.
Killer Christmas Tree and Goblins
Davina calls, knowing it is Ruby’s birthday, to tell her that they can’t find her mum. Ruby puts the baby monitor on in the background while she processes this information. Now, it is an emotional scene, and Millie Gibson gives a great performance, but again, I am so sour about this pointless mystery box that this scene brings me out of the story.
While on the phone, Davina tells Ruby she’s been having bad luck ever since the day they met. I feel like this is only included so Davies could make a joke about the tree falling on her and trying to kill her, but it’s a fun, silly Doctor Who thing that will make long-time fans of the show smile at its references.
What would a Russell T Davies Doctor Who special be without a killer Christmas Tree?
After Davina stops responding on the phone, Ruby hears weird talking through the baby monitor and little Lulubelle cries. She goes to investigate and the baby is gone, with the kidnappers leaving only a strange selfie that made me burst with laughter the first time – I mean, did you see the face that the goblin was pulling??
Did You Just Hiss At Me?
Ruby gives chase, running climbing through the top window and onto the roof. She sees the goblins stealing the baby, gives the hissing baby snatchers some sass, then gets distracted by the fact she’s on a roof, so they escape.
She climbs onto the ladder, following the tiny kidnappers and the Doctor turns up, also on the roof, hurdling the chimneys.
“What the hell are you doing?… Who sees a ladder and just pops on?” – the Doctor
He jumps on to the ladder with her, not thinking that this might knock her off… and gives her some “intelligent gloves” which are his latest invention (and will become important again in another episode).
Mavity counter: 3 – This show is so dumb and I love it.
It turns out that goblins are called goblins because “they like gobbling you up” and the Doctor and Ruby are pulled into the Goblin Ship. Despite the insanity of what is happening at this point, Ruby is mostly fascinated and wanting to learn more.
Sure, she is scared – who wouldn’t be? – but she is calm, focused, determined, and kind of enjoying the thrill of it all. The perfect companion for the Doctor.
Chance, Coincidence, and Luck
The Doctor and Ruby are tied up and he gives us some exposition, but as they are tied up and have nothing to do but ask questions, the exposition feels pretty natural.
The goblins stole Lulubelle because she has the same birthday as Ruby – coincidence – and have been dishing out bad luck for Ruby because the coincidence, luck, and chance make what they eat tastier.
I would love to know how old the Doctor is now – how long he has been the 15th Doctor, at least. Because he knows a lot about the goblins, but they haven’t existed in the real world until recently when he poured the salt at the edge of creation in Wild Blue Yonder, letting fantasy flood reality.
So, how does he know all this? Unimportant, perhaps, but maybe he just knows a lot about all kinds of myths and is guesstimating based on those facts.
My questions do get kind of answered for me in this scene when the Doctor says that this is all a new science to him – the language of luck – so he’s working it out as he goes along. Nothing changes much!
The Doctor manages to get out of the rope tying him down and he and Ruby head off to save little Lulubelle.
“I spent a long, hot summer with Harry Houdini.”
You Can Speak Rope?
This next scene when the Doctor is “learning the vocabulary of rope” is what solidified Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor for me. Sure, he already had the swagger and the confidence and the excitement, but this wonderful glee at something new and fascinating, all while being on the clock and lives are on the line, is very Doctorish.
Ruby and the Doctor crawl through a ventilation shaft to the dinner room, hear the dinner gong, and watch as the band starts to play, the Goblin King is revealed, and Lulubelle makes her way down a conveyor belt to the Goblin King’s mouth.
If you watch the Doctor Who: Unleashed episode for The Church on Ruby Road, you can see all the amazing work that went into this scene. From the brilliant music by Murray Gold, to the prosthetics and the puppeteering, this is some high-level excellence from the team behind Doctor Who.
The Doctor and Ruby crash through the ventilator onto the conveyor belt, saving the baby. They then sings for their lives – literally – adding a couple more verses onto the song before grabbing a rope with their magical gloves and jumping out of the Goblin Ship.
Some long-time fans might have an issue with this strange part of the episode, but let’s get a few things straight. This is a Christmas Special – it can be extra wimsey! And considering fantasy now exists in reality, there’s no reason we can’t have a fun song woven into the Doctor’s first chance he gives the villain.
It might be all fun and games, but the Doctor doesn’t do second chances.
A Life of Abstinence
Ruby, the Doctor, and Lulubelle land safely on the roof of the Sunday’s flat and hop back inside through the window.
Oh, Cherry Sunday, you might just be a favourite family member character from all of Doctor Who!
“I’ve given up on that cuppa and opted for a life of abstinence.” – Cherry Sunday
Cherry enjoys saying hello to the Doctor so much she looks like she might even get out of the bed. Especially when 15 decides to get all flirty with her – cheeky man.
Back with Ruby, the Doctor says that the only way the Goblins can come back is by feeding on accidents. They run to the kitchen to check the plugs, etc, and he notices all the pictures of Carla’s previous foster kids from the past 30+ years.
This clicked with me emotionally because I had a foster carer who, like Carla, fostered many, many children over the years. Her funeral was packed with people who had once been in her care, and they went on to lead normal, happy lives – all because of the warmth and love she offered in their time of need.
Seeing Carla as that person made me feel so much more personally connected to her and this wonderful family that Davies has created. I think a lot of people will have similar stories to me, and even if you don’t, you can imagine the kind of beautiful soul Carla has, and be connected with the history of the Sundays.
Magic vs Physics
The Doctor tells Ruby that she’s not “fighting magic,” but instead a different form of physics, a kind of language. Ruby says, as the entire audience is, “yes, like magic.” She’s not wrong.
Carla returns and meets the Doctor, and she sees the selfie a Goblin took earlier. She’s distracted from the picture by Ruby telling her that Davina didn’t find her mum, and Carla has a beautiful few lines talking about how all of the children she has fostered “made my life” and I thought I was going to cry.
“You can wonder about your parents. But I wonder who I would be, without you.” – Carla to Ruby
The Doctor, hearing all this, gets emotional himself. He is a foundling himself, after all (ignoring how satisfying the reveal of this was, and the explanation, the actual fact that he is a foundling makes for a compelling thing to explore within his character).
When the Doctor mentions that he was also adopted/a foundling, Carla starts talking about how it’s all a coincidence, as it’s the same as Ruby. This starts to bring the Goblins back, with thunder and grey clouds out the window.
After one more coincidence, a crack forms along the ceiling of the flat and the Doctor follows it down the flat to the kitchen to an open window. Thinking it’s just “one parting gift” he runs back down to the bedroom to check in on everyone.
But Ruby has disappeared.
Saving Baby Ruby
Carla now has no recollection of Ruby and turns into a completely different person. She’s hollow and bitter. I initially thought this was bad characterisation – creating drama at the expense of a well developed character.
I have since changed my mind. Instead, now I can see that it is not the fact Carla never met Ruby that makes her this shell of herself, but instead it is the shadow of a memory of Ruby that makes Carla the way she is. She’s missing/grieving a daughter she doesn’t remember having.
The Doctor realises that the Goblins went back in time and stole Ruby as a baby from the Church. As he drives off, the neighbour from the beginning of the episode (who was complaining about the Police Box on the pavement) sees the TARDIS disappear and drops her bags.
So, the Doctor goes back in time to stop the Goblins from taking baby Ruby. He runs and uses the last 3% of the power in his magic gloves to pull the Goblin Ship downwards with the ladder, as there is not enough time to climb up and get Ruby to safety.
He pulls the Ship down onto the Church, piercing the Goblin King through the chest with the Church spire, killing the creature. No second chances.
The Goblin King and his Ship disappear and the Doctor catches baby Ruby, putting her back on the steps of the Church, correcting time.
I Got A Bit Lost
The Doctor rushes back to check that everything has gone back to normal in the Sunday household. The neighbour (Mrs. Flood) is sitting on a deck chair outside her flat and waves as he runs out of the TARDIS.
When he returns, there is a crack in the ceiling and he sees Ruby who was “a bit lost.” He explains incredibly briefly what happened before rushing off again to save Davina from the Killer Christmas Tree.
When he returns to Ruby’s flat, he sees Mrs. Flood outside again and she asks him why he looks down. He says: “Just wondering. Maybe I’m the bad luck.” This makes sense, considering most of his recent companions are either dead or trapped in a permanent state of existence.
Inside the flat, Carla starts asking a lot of questions about the Doctor now that she has a crack in her ceiling and no way to fix it the day before Christmas. Ruby starts to sense that something might be strange or at least not right when the Doctor doesn’t return. Or, perhaps she can smell adventure calling.
Ruby runs outside looking for the Doctor and she asks Mrs. Flood if she has seen the Doctor around. Mrs. Flood nods and directs Ruby’s attention to the TARDIS behind her. The TARDIS door opens slightly, inviting her in.
Concluding Thoughts to This Review of The Church on Ruby Road
Ooooooh the moment Ruby peeks into the TARDIS and then backs out again, and we get the birds-eye shot as she runs around it before running back inside… That is a stand-up-and-clap moment!
Mrs. Flood watches all this and says, “good luck, Ruby.” It’s a bit strange that Ruby doesn’t question this, but, to be fair, she was probably pretty distracted by the whole bigger-on-the-inside thing.
The Doctor stands there at the top of a ramp, says “I’m the Doctor,” and the episode ends. After taking so much time for Ruby to run around the outside of the TARDIS, it is a bit strange to only show it off a little bit and have no more set-up for the following season at this moment. It just suddenly cuts out, and the climactic moment is spoiled by it all feeling too rushed.
That final cutscene showing the TARDIS leaving sets up the only mystery box from this era of Doctor Who that I think has been done well. It’s not a plot device and it is dropped in here and there, making it an intriguing mystery. The mystery box being a person, and that person being Mrs. Flood.
The neighbour Mrs. Flood had been telling off earlier (Abdul) comes running over asking Mrs. Flood if she had seen the box disappearing. She tells him to “stop making such a fuss” and turns to camera:
“Never seen a TARDIS before?”
I hope this reveal is worth all the mystery, because I’m actually hyped to see who she ends up being. Is she someone from the Doctor’s past or his future? With all the mystery and speculation this has caused, I hope it is someone from his past, so fans can feel some satisfaction – otherwise they might feel that all the speculation was a waste of time.
We’ll see.
