The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)
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The Church on Ruby Road will be the 2023 Christmas Special[4] and opening episode of season one of Doctor Who[5] broadcast on 25 December 2023.[4][5]
This will be the first full episode to feature the Fifteenth Doctor, as played by Ncuti Gatwa, and introduce audiences[6] to Ruby Sunday, the new companion, played by Millie Gibson,[7] concluding the sixtieth anniversary year with the start of a brand new era, officialising the reboot of the series number.[5]
This is the second time in since the 2005 relaunch of Doctor Who that a Doctor's first full post-regeneration story is a Christmas Special, following the Tenth Doctor in that year's The Christmas Invasion [+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"].
The story will also mark the return of the Christmas Specials to televised Doctor Who, having been absent since 2017's Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"].
Synopsis
Long ago on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, stolen babies, goblins and perhaps the secret of her birth...[7][5]
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
- Ruby Sunday - Millie Gibson
- Davina McCall - Herself[7][5]
- Carla - Michelle Greenidge[7][5]
- Cherry - Angela Wynter[7][5]
- Mrs Flood - Anita Dobson[7][5]
- Trudy - Mary Malone[8]
- Abdul - Hemi Yeroham[8]
- Goblin King - TBA
- Goblin Band
- Janice[9] - Christina Rotondo[10]
- Cello-playing goblin - Lukas DiSparrow[10]
- Pixie Not - TBA[11]
- Ralph McTelf - TBA[11]
- Bryan Fairy - TBA[11]
- Gob Dylan - TBA[11]
more to be added
Uncredited cast
to be added
Crew
- Writer - Russell T Davies[5]
- Executive Producers - Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies[5]
- Director - Mark Tonderai[3]
Worldbuilding
Ruby Sunday
- Ruby plays a GO:PIANO88 musical keyboard.
Notes
"Season's Streamings" promo image providing the story's title.[4]
- The title of the story was officially announced by the official Disney+ Twitter account in a "Season's Streamings" promotional image on 6 November 2023,[4] ahead of any BBC announcements.
- This marks the return of the Christmas Specials; in the installment of Russell T Davies's column Letter from the Showrunner printed in DWM 585, Davies had stated that a "Christmas Special" would be returning as the format of the first full episode of the Fifteenth Doctor's tenure, although clarifying that he considered the term to be synonymous with the Festive Specials. The Disney+ announcement clarified that The Church on Ruby Road will be a traditional Christmas Special.
- The first BBC acknowledgement of the title came in a press release on doctorwho.tv on 30 November 2023, revealing minor plot and casting details.[7]
- The preview of this episode released in DWM 598 revealed a teaser of the plot and a snippet of dialogue between the Doctor and Ruby.[3]
- This preview also revealed Ruby would be part of a band.
- Davies's A Letter from the Showrunner column printed in DWM 598, styled as a Doctor Who-themed "The Twelve Days of Christmas", revealed that scene eleven's stage directions began inside the TARDIS control room.
- The interview with Michelle Greenidge and Angela Wynter in that issue contained further details about Ruby: she is a keyboardist; she is homesick for Manchester, having recently moved into Cherry's flat in Notting Hill with her mother Carla; and that she was a day old when she was abandoned on Christmas Eve.[1]
- Parts of the script of this episode were used in auditions for Ruby Sunday; the script for self-tapes from potential actors were truncated from the scripts of this episode and the next, and the longer script for in-person auditions[12] in London[13] was adapted solely from this episode.[12]
- The non-fiction feature The Next Doctor [+]Loading...["The Next Doctor (feature)"] — published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023 — teased the casting of Dobson and Greenidge; the feature also hinted that the doors in the promotional images may have significance.
- The Church on Ruby Road will be the first time in the revived series that a Doctor's first Christmas special does not include "Christmas" in the title, following The Christmas Invasion [+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"], A Christmas Carol [+]Loading...["A Christmas Carol (TV story)"], and Last Christmas [+]Loading...["Last Christmas (TV story)"].
- At sixteen days, The Church on Ruby Road will mark the third shortest gap between a regeneration story and its followup, behind The Power of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Power of the Daleks (TV story)"] at seven days and The Twin Dilemma [+]Loading...["The Twin Dilemma (TV story)"] at six days.
- "The Goblin Song" is an original song for this episode. It was released ahead of the episode on 11 December 2023 with proceeds going to Children in Need.[14]
- The short story A Message from Janis Goblin [+]Loading...["A Message from Janis Goblin (short story)"] was released by BBC Studios on 14 December 2023 to celebrate success of the song in the charts, also revealing the name of the singing goblin as Janis Goblin, a play on Janis Joplin.
- The episode will also contain a rendition of "Carol of the Bells".[3]
- Davies clarified on Instagram that the goblin would be named "Janice" by the Doctor, as she resembles Janice from The Muppet Show.[9]
- Pixie Not is a pun on pop singer Pixie Lott, Ralph McTelf is a pun on folk singer-songwriter Ralph McTell, Bryan Fairy is a pun on pop-rock singer Bryan Ferry, and Gob Dylan is a pun on singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
- Davies felt inspired by the door opened by the inclusion of the Toymaker in the preceding episode The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"] — as he deemed the Toymaker to be a fantasy character — so decided to include goblins, a traditional element of fantasy stories. He also sent the script to former showrunner Steven Moffat, who had a surprised realisation about the unused potential of the species within Doctor Who.[3]
Myths
to be added
Filming locations
- Notting Hill - Clifton, Bristol[15]
- Minto Road - Frederick Place, Bristol[15][16][17]
- Forbridge Street - Wetherell Place[15]
Ratings
to be added
Production errors
If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
to be added
Continuity
- Ruby Sunday was first mentioned in the short story First Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["First Day of the Doctor (short story)"], a story which contained a tantalisingly obscured snippet of the Fifteenth Doctor's diary.
- This is not the first story to depict a companion written by Russell T Davies being part of a band; Mickey Smith was part of the band No Hot Ashes, as revealed in his novelisation [+]Loading...{"noital":"1","1":"Rose (novelisation)","2":"novelisation"} of Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], although this connection was not present in the original episode.
- Minto Road isn't original to this episode, as it was first mentioned by Mickey Smith in 2005's The Parting of the Ways [+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"].
Home media releases
to be added
Gallery
- Main article: The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)/Gallery
External links
- Official The Church on Ruby Road page on doctorwho.tv
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 DWM 598 - Sunday Best, Page 32-34
- ↑ SFX 373[which?]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 DWM 598 - Preview of The Church on Ruby Road, Pages 18-19
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 @DisneyPlus on twitter.com
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 The Church on Ruby Road on doctorwho.tv
- ↑ Millie Gibson is the new Doctor Who companion, Ruby Sunday on doctorwho.tv via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Doctor Who lands on Christmas Day 2023 with ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ on doctorwho.tv
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Christmas Special: The Church on Ruby Road on bbc.co.uk
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 @russelltdavies63 on instagram.com
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 ‘The Goblin Song’ released from Doctor Who Christmas special on cultbox.co.uk
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 @bbcdoctorwho on twitter.com (21/12/2023)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 DWM 586 - A Brand New Face, Page 21
- ↑ DWM 586 - Hello, Ruby Sunday, Pages 16-20
- ↑ Doctor Who releases Christmas single, The Goblin Song on doctorwho.tv
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Doctor Who filming in Frederick Place Bristol - pictures show the Tardis has arrived on bristolworld.com
- ↑ @BBCBristol on twitter.com
- ↑ Doctor Who in Bristol on google.com/maps
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