Carla Sunday
Carla Sunday was the adoptive mother of Ruby Sunday.
Biography
Early life
Carla worked as a foster mother, having fostered thirty-three children by 2023 at some point or another. According to Ruby, she still kept in touch with them, though only Ruby remained with her into adulthood, living with Carla in Manchester. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Carla had a girlfriend, Clare, by 2014. When Ruby would return from school they'd play Carla's collection of albums by The Beatles. (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"])
Carla, Ruby and Cherry lived through the pandemic, and the recession. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"])
In 2023, Carla and Ruby moved into a flat in 3 Minto Road after they had moved to London to take care of Carla's ailing mother, Cherry. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) Shortly after the November 2023 UFO incident, (PROSE: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (novelisation)"]) Carla and her family lived through the Giggle. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"])
Secretly plagued by Goblins
When Ruby was due to be interviewed by Davina McCall for her television programme about foundlings on 1 December, Carla told Ruby to not let anyone tell her story for her, as it belonged to her. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"]) The interview was ultimatly cut short due to sabotage caused by Goblins.
On Christmas Eve, Carla was given a baby named Lulubelle to foster for a few days by Ruth Lyons. Carla left her in Ruby's care as she went to the shop to get supplies for Lulubelle. Upon returning, she saw Ruby with the Fifteenth Doctor, who claimed to be there to check on Lulubelle as "a routine visit". Concerned, Carla demanded to learn why, leading to Ruby revealing Davina McCall had rang to say she couldn't find Ruby's parents. Understanding, Carla hugged Ruby, proclaiming she was glad, because it meant Ruby could stay with her. Suddenly, cracks formed across the roof in their flat and the Doctor vanished. When he returned, he remarked on many confusing things like goblins and time travel. Carla dismissed him as "crazy", but Ruby ran after him, bidding Carla goodbye. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"])
Returning to normal life
She received a weird phonecall from Ruby after she had just ran out of the Door. Later on Christmas Day, she was calling a friend moaning that Ruby had disappeared, when the Doctor landed his TARDIS in her kitchen for them to celebrate the day together. (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"]) She spoke to the Doctor about Ruby’s decision to travel with him and he promised her he would keep Ruby safe. (TV: Rogue [+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"])
Ruby later asked her for the VHS tape of Ruby Road on the day of her birth to take to UNIT. She obliged but asked to come to UNIT HQ, City of London. After initially being blocked entry due to her security rating, the Doctor raised it allowing her to come to the operations floor. She then observed the Doctor's experiment in UNIT's time window, where she observed Ruby Sunday's mother crying and tried to console her saying that Ruby was cared for. She was sent home when things started to escalate. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) She was trapped in traffic when Sutekh's dust enveloped her and was killed. She was revived after Sutekh's revival. She was in UNIT HQ when Ruby learnt the identity of her mother. She then met with Louise Miller and offered her a place to stay. She embraced Ruby when they watched the TARDIS dematerialise. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"])
Other realities
Cracked timeline
The timeline was "cracked" when a group of Goblins travelled back in time and abducted Ruby Sunday when she was a baby.
By 2023, Carla Sunday was struggling for money, and — at £800 per child — would foster children to boost her income. She claimed to have fostered "about five or six kids", though she had never adopted or had any children of her own. She lived in her flat on Minto Road with her mother. She was with Lulu on Christmas Eve, who she was fostering for a couple of days. She stated she would struggle to have a child full time, referring to Lulu as a "little brat" who had ruined her holiday. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) However, despite her attempts to convince the Fifteenth Doctor she was happy with her bitter life, she subconsciously seemed to be aware that something was missing, a something that wss "in a place growing further and further from her reach as every second passed." (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"page":"119-126","chaptnum":"Sixteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})
Alternate timeline
In a timeline where the Doctor disappeared after stepping on a fairy circle in Wales, Ruby returned home to London. When Carla was informed of the mysterious woman who had been following Ruby from a distance ever since then, she decided to stage an experiment to try and learn what was going on. Ruby called Carla on her mobile phone and waited while Carla approached the woman. Over the phone, Carla told Ruby only that the woman "looks like what she looks like" and "looks like what she is" before falling under the woman's mysterious influence, causing her to run away in fear and be turned against Ruby permanently.
Ruby ran after Carla, but saw her being driven away in a taxi, staring at Ruby with a look of hatred on her face. For the next little while, Ruby stayed with Cherry in their flat while constantly calling Carla, attempting to get back in contact with her. Carla returned home while Ruby was out grocery shopping and had the locks changed to keep Ruby out. When Ruby returned home and found she couldn't get in, Carla told her over the phone that she was not her mother and that even Ruby's "real mother" hadn't wanted her, causing Ruby to break down crying.
Carla eventually had an order of protection taken out against Ruby, finalizing their estrangement. The timeline was eventually undone when an elderly Ruby was, at the moment of her death, returned to that day in Wales, where she was able to prevent the breaking of the circle. (TV: 73 Yards [+]Loading...["73 Yards (TV story)"])
