The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)
The Legend of Ruby Sunday was the seventh episode of Season 1 of Doctor Who.[1]
Synopsis
The same woman keeps appearing in the Doctor and Ruby's adventures. UNIT knows her as Susan Triad, head of S Triad Technology. Could she be the Doctor's long-lost granddaughter? And just who is Ruby's mysterious mother? As UNIT investigates both angles, an ancient evil stirs...
Plot
In 2024, the TARDIS lands in UNIT Tower, the Doctor and Ruby stepping out to greet everyone assembled. Rose Noble, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and two new faces, Morris Gibbons, UNIT scientific advisor, and Harriet, head of the archive. The Doctor asks the assembled group for their help, wherever he lands a woman appears. Be her an ambulance, a communications officer, or someone’s mother, she just keeps showing up. The group immediately tabs over to a feed of the woman practising a speech, they’ve already been keeping tabs on her. Susan Triad, owner of S Triad Technology, who plans on giving her tech away for free later today. The Doctor points out that "S Triad" is an anagram for TARDIS, and those assembled explain that this is part of why they’ve been keeping an eye on her. Ruby also points out that "Susan" is the name of the Doctor’s granddaughter. As the group discusses the issue, the solution of the Doctor just going to meet with Susan Triad is floated, he'd recognize her if it was his granddaughter, but everything lining up does suggest a decent likelihood of a trap.
The assembled group moves on - the Doctor discusses another mystery woman, Ruby’s mother. He can’t go back to the night when Ruby was left on the church’s doorstep, he was already there, and he can’t cross his own timeline. This night in particular is so volatile that it’s dangerous, whenever Ruby and the Doctor even discuss it, snow tends to fall. Harriet thinks they’re overcomplicating the issue, this was 2004, CCTV existed. There was a camera nearby. Ruby has the video tape, she and her grandmother asked for it years back, but you can’t see anything on it. Morris suggests that due to UNIT’s technology they could sharpen the image and maybe see something new. Ruby and Rose head back to Ruby’s flat to get the tape.
As Ruby and Rose collect the video tape, Carla Sunday resolves to come with them back to UNIT tower, to make sure that Ruby is kept safe. She has Mrs. Flood come to watch over Cherry Sunday in her absence, who's happy to help. As Mrs. Flood is left alone with Cherry, Flood warns Cherry to be careful - a storm is coming in, he waits no more.
Susan Triad continues to rehearse her speech, nervous for the delivery in 90 minutes. Melanie Bush, who UNIT has snuck onto set as a consultant, manages to get a DNA sample from her and drives it back to UNIT HQ. The Doctor is thrilled to have Mel arrive, and his enthusiasm doesn't take much of a dent from the DNA sample she's brought back coming in as human, as almost immediately after Ruby and Rose return, Carla in tow. The Doctor decides not just to upscale the resolution on the VHS, but to use it in a time window to actually view that night in its entirety.
Heading down to the time window and meeting Colonel Winston Chidozie, who manages the security for the time window, they have Morris wire the VHS up to the window. Ruby joins the Doctor in the middle of the window's space, and she describes to him the story of how she was found. Snow falls, even before the window starts. The machine whirs to life, and a hologram of Christmas Eve, 2004 appears, the Carol of the Bells echoing. Kate is astonished to see the window performing as well as it is, but the Doctor says that they're giving it memory - time is memory, memory is time. A hooded figure, Ruby's mother, appears, and walks towards them. But as they try to peek under her hood the window stutters and she surges past them. The TARDIS arrives, the Doctor arrives, to save Ruby as he did in the past, running off to the church. But the Doctor notices, standing next to Ruby, that the TARDIS in the time window is almost solid. He muses - "if time is memory, and memory is time, then what is the memory of a time machine?"
The hooded woman stays there until the past Doctor returns, the current Doctor noting that his memory of this event has changed, perhaps time has as well. As the woman turns and points towards him, the Doctor doesn't know what she means. He doesn't know what she's pointing at. Chidozie moves in the direction the woman is pointing, thinking that it might not be the Doctor she's pointing at. He passes behind the time window's TARDIS, unable to find anything, and the hooded woman walks away, vanishing.
The Doctor and the TARDIS leave as well, leaving behind them a swirling mass of particulates, Colonel Chidozie nowhere to be found. They call and call for Chidozie, unable to contact him. Carla identifies the roil of dust and debris as The Beast, in fear. Eventually their calls reach Chidozie and he says he's lost, in hell, an old entity has been waiting for ages. The window breaks, the roil vanishes, and Chidozie's body appears, caked with sand. The Doctor resolves - it's time to go meet Susan Triad.
Mel introduces the Doctor to Triad, and he tries to talk to her, but she's so busy, what she really wants is sleep, can never have enough sleep with the dreams she has. The Doctor asks her over and over about the dreams she has - if they match with the people he's met on her travels. She's dragged away for her speech, but it's clear that these questions resonated with her.
The Doctor and Mel receive a call from Kate - the roiling mass from before has ingrained itself onto the VHS when it wasn't there before, not only that, they've determined that there's something in its centre, the TARDIS. It was there on that night on Ruby Road a second time, 20 meters to the north, with this mass swirling around it. As they talk, a groan emanates from the TARDIS in UNIT HQ, prompting Kate to wonder whether the swirling mass is still present around the TARDIS - they just can't see it. As non-essential people are evacuated from the room, the TARDIS is scanned, and a life form is determined to be surrounding the TARDIS. The Doctor stays on Triad, his gut insisting that she's part of this, but he orders Ruby be taken back to the time window as UNIT prepares for confrontation with whatever's around the TARDIS.
As Triad gives her speech, she hears a voice, disorienting her. She begins to go off script. She talks more and more about her bad dreams, her visions. In UNIT HQ, Harriet begins chanting, ranting, offering a prayer. Her full name? Harriet Arbinger - A Harbinger for a god yet again. Harriet lists off God after God in a pantheon, but she is the harbinger for none of them. She is the harbinger for the "mother and father and other of them all". Sutekh.
The roil turns visible and collapses, the God appearing, a beast curled around the TARDIS. Triad's face has turned into a skull, bringing the gift of his death to all she comes into contact with. And the time window whirs back to life once more, Ruby finding herself in a world of white, calling out to the hooded woman as she walks closer.
Cast
- The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
- Ruby Sunday - Millie Gibson
- Kate Lethbridge-Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
- Rose Noble - Yasmin Finney
- Colonel Christofer Ibrahim - Alexander Devrient
- Morris Gibbons - Lenny Rush
- Harriet Arbinger - Genesis Lynea
- The Vlinx - Aidan Cook
- Voice of the Vlinx - Nicholas Briggs
- Susan Triad - Susan Twist
- Bailey Sinclair - Fela Lufadeju
- Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
- Carla Sunday - Michelle Greenidge
- Mrs Flood - Anita Dobson
- Cherry Sunday - Angela Wynter
- Colonel Winston Chidozie - Tachia Newall
- Voice of Sutekh - Gabriel Woolf
- Corporal Alice Sullivan - Jasmine Bayes
Crew
| Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter with Joel Collins and Phil Collinson |
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| Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources. |
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This episode was produced with the support of incentives for the Irish film industry provided by the Government of Ireland. |
Worldbuilding
- Harriet Arbinger recites names from the Pantheon: the Toymaker, god of games; the Trickster, god of traps; Maestro, god of music; Reprobate, god of spite; the Mara, god of beasts; Incensor, god of disaster; Doubt and Dread, children of Incensor; and Sutekh, the parent of all other gods.
Notes
- The title of the episode was revealed on the official Doctor Who Twitter account on 31 March 2024.[1]
- In his Letter from the Showrunner column in DWM 584, Russell T Davies said the first line of the episode's script was "INT. COFFEE BAR, USA - DAY, 1947".[2]
- This scene was ultimately not in the episode.
- In his Production Diary column in DWM 592, Scott Handcock said VFX supervisor Arran Glassar "mistakes our villain for Poirot".[3] David Suchet, whose surname is similar to Sutekh, is known for playing Hercule Poirot.
- Davies told Radio Times that there were aspects of the story he had been "thinking of for 40 or 50 years".[4]
- On 22 May, UK cinematic screenings of this episode and Empire of Death were announced for the night of 21 and 22 June, with tickets going on sale on 23 May.[5]
- This episode marks the return of Sutekh to televised Doctor Who for the first time since Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"] in 1975, an absence of 49 years. Gabriel Woolf's name was omitted from the cast announcement to avoid spoiling his surprise return.
Myths
to be added
Filming locations
to be added
Ratings
to be added
Production errors
to be added
Continuity
- Mel still works for UNIT, as previously seen in TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"].
- Rose Noble now works for UNIT, mentioning her mother Donna working for them too, as arranged in TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]
- The Doctor mentions his previous incarnation, asking Rose "How's your uncle?", referencing how the Fourteenth Doctor called Rose his niece in TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]
- UNIT has a new scientific advisor, with Shirley Bingham now replaced, having previously been the advisor in TV: The Star Beast [+] and The Giggle [+].
- UNIT is aware of Ruby from records of the goblin incursion on Christmas Eve, as occurred in TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]. Ruby previously sought UNIT’s help and met Kate in the undone events of TV: 73 Yards [+]Loading...["73 Yards (TV story)"].
- The Doctor shows UNIT the versions of Susan he’s encountered including the comms officer on Pacifico Del Rio, as seen in TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"], Lindy Pepper-Bean‘s mother, as seen in TV: Dot and Bubble [+]Loading...["Dot and Bubble (TV story)"], the ambulance, as seen in TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"], and the portrait in 1813, as seen in TV: Rogue [+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"].
- The Doctor misinterprets the anagram of S.TRIAD for Susan TARDIS, rather than Sutekh. He previously misunderstood the Face of Boe's "you are not alone" anagram of YANA as a warning of the Saxon Master returning in TV: Utopia [+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"].
- Ruby recalls the Doctor telling her about his granddaughter Susan Foreman, as depicted in TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"].
- Ruby mentions meeting Davina McCall, as depicted in TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"].
- The Doctor reiterates he cannot travel back to Ruby Road in 2004, as he first explained to Ruby in TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"].
- Kate recalls how her father, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, and the Doctor used to work together, as depicted throughout the Third Doctor’s era beginning in TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"].
- The Doctor believes he is a bringer of destruction and death; a belief expressed numerous times, like in TV: Rose [+], The Lazarus Experiment [+], The Family of Blood [+], Journey's End [+], The God Complex [+] and The Name of the Doctor [+].
- Snow appears at discussion of Ruby’s past, as previously occurred in TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"], TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"] and TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"].
- Ruby's urge to see her mother mirrors Rose Tyler's temptation to save her father in TV: Father's Day.
- The time window shows the Doctor’s visit to Ruby Road to foil the goblins, as depicted in TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"].
- Harriet is a harbinger like Henry Arbinger was for Maestro in TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"].
- Harriet mentions other gods who have appeared in previous stories, including the Toymaker, who first appeared in TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"], Trickster, who first appeared in TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? [+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"], Maestro, who appeared in TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], and Mara, who first appeared in TV: Kinda [+]Loading...["Kinda (TV story)"].
- The Doctor recalls hearing the TARDIS groan before, as occurred in TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"] and TV: Rogue [+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"].
- The Doctor first met Sutekh in his fourth incarnation on TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"] and also in AUDIO: Kill the Doctor! [+]Loading...["Kill the Doctor! (audio story)"]/The Age of Sutekh [+]Loading...["The Age of Sutekh (audio story)"]) He also met him in his seventh incarnation in AUDIO: The Pyramid of Sutekh [+]Loading...["The Pyramid of Sutekh (audio story)"]/The Eye of Horus [+]Loading...["The Eye of Horus (audio story)"]/The Tears of Isis [+]Loading...["The Tears of Isis (audio story)"]. He last saw him in his tenth incarnation in COMIC: Old Girl [+]Loading...["Old Girl (comic story)"].
Home media releases
to be added
Gallery
- Main article: The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)/Gallery
External links
- Official The Legend of Ruby Sunday page on doctorwho.tv
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 @bbcdoctorwho (2024-05-31). THE LEGEND OF RUBY SUNDAY
Writer: Russell T Davies
Director: Jamie Donoughue
#DoctorWho. Archived from the original on 2024-05-29. - ↑ DWM 584
- ↑ DWM 592
- ↑ Morgan Jeffery (2024-04-30). Doctor Who boss says finale contains scenes he's been planning for 50 years. RadioTimes.com. Archived from the original on 2024-04-30.
- ↑ David Craig (2024-05-22). Doctor Who's final 2 episodes of season 14 to be screened in UK cinemas. RadioTimes.com. Archived from the original on 2024-05-22.
