Doctor Who: Season 14: episode 4: The Church On Ruby Road by Russell T Davies (TV review).
Who we are again. This time, we’re encountering possibly the fifteenth or sixteenth Doctor (played by actor Ncuti Gatwa), depending on whether you include the War Doctor and whatever happened to the second Tennant Doctor. I think I’ll refer to him as the Gatwa Doctor. After all, we don’t know how many regenerations occurred before the Hartnell Doctor, and we’re just witnessing a new set of batches. Collect the set.
Be careful of reading further until you’ve watched the story. As usual, there might be some unintentional spoilers, and after it’s over, I’ll still have to watch the ‘Doctor Who: Unleashed’ 30-minute extra on BBC3 in case there’s anything I need to know. At least IMDb is showing a cast list this time, even if the episode numbering has gone back to 1. I blame the Meep. If you miss it on the 25th for any reason, not that anything else is happening today, both episodes get reshown on BBC3 on the 26th. If you live outside the UK, I’m sure you’ll find it.
It appears that the Doctor is stalking his new companion in time, much like the Smith Doctor did with Amy Pond. This time it’s Ruby Winter (played by actress Millie Gibson), a foundling who seems accident-prone but wants to find her real parents. She seeks the help of Davina McCall on the unnamed but presumably ‘Long Lost Family’ to find them. Considering that McCall or her team doesn’t have their names, I’m a bit puzzled about how they could check any database. Oh, Ruby is not only accident-prone but also seems to cause accidents in those around her. It’ll be interesting to see if McCall will have people checking for voices interfering with recording and falling lights in any future programs she makes. Oh, the Gatwa Doctor keeps changing his clothes, but he isn’t the first Doctor to wear a kilt, as the Tom Baker Doctor did it first in ‘Terror Of The Zygons’.
Considering that our time is consequential, it’s odd that the Doctor is popping up sequentially as well.
Ruby is also still staying with her two foster mothers, Cherry (played by actress Angela Wynter) and her daughter, Carla (played by actress Michelle Greenidge), who are asked to look after another baby, Lulabelle, for a few weeks. However, the baby gets stolen, and Ruby chases her abductors through the skylight and up a ladder when the Doctor joins her. They share a weight glove, enabling both of them to hang on as they are raised to a flying ship and… captured by goblins. I must confess that there are some similarities to a certain tribe of gremlins mixed with the Meep species, probably because of the teeth. The Doctor is also studying the language of luck. Well, that’s what he says. He also calls non-time travelers ‘bimbles,’ so expect a new vocabulary to learn. No one says ‘mavity,’ though. The Doctor also has a new sonic screwdriver that looks more like a clam with lights this time.
Something unique to this Doctor is his rhythm, allowing him to dance and sing as well. Why the Goblin King wants to eat babies, considering his size, isn’t revealed, nor is it clear why he waits for his lunch at the right time. Here’s a puzzle, though: why doesn’t he also want to eat the Doctor and Ruby? What kind of diet is he on?
A bigger puzzle is how the ship flew away yet managed to arrive back over Ruby’s flat when they escaped. At least, I assume it was her house, or it’s a long walk back before one of her foster mothers returns from shopping. It doesn’t make any difference; there still needs to be a sacrifice to the Goblin King, so they travel back in time through unknown means and grab baby Ruby from outside the church instead, removing her from the timeline. Now we have a puzzle because it means in one timeline Ruby vanishes and, in another, she’s back again. Time is a flimsy or fickle whimsy sort of thing.
From here, there be spoilers, although it does seem strange that the Doctor knows where all the disasters caused by Ruby’s bad luck went. I hope Mrs. Flood explains to the two foster mothers where Ruby has gone, or we’ll have either a missing person or abduction report. In ‘Doctor Who: Unleashed,’ showrunner Russell T Davies says there’s a lot of recurring characters and themes, so expect Mrs. Flood (played by actress Anita Dobson) to appear again, especially as she knows what a TARDIS is.
From a merchandise perspective, I can see the weight gloves, clam sonic screwdriver, and goblins on the horizon. Although I doubt Davies had any of them in mind, hands up those who wouldn’t be buying any of them.
OK, the story holds up well, and you get caught up in the Gatwa Doctor’s enthusiasm, even if he knows a lot more about events than he should. Also, given that he saw Ruby’s real mother, you would think he might have had a peek or actually knows. In that respect, Davies is letting the Doctor know only the things he needs to know to roll the story on, which is likely to make for some inconsistencies with what he can really do.
Roll on May.
Geoff Willmetts
25 December 2023
