The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)

The Church on Ruby Road is the one-hundredth-and-eighty-first Target novelisation and the first BBC Books novelisation based upon season one of Doctor Who,^[1] released on 25 January 2024 by Target Books^[1] and written by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson.^[2]

This is the first novelisation to be written by a person of colour, specifically a Black woman.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

Little is known about Ruby Sunday as she was abandoned on Christmas Eve as a baby. Now living with her mum, Carla and grandmother, Cherry her world is about to be turned upside when she encounters the Doctor and the two set off on their first adventure together...

Chapter titles[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Chapter Nine
• Chapter Ten
• Chapter Eleven
• Chapter Twelve
• Chapter Thirteen
• Chapter Fourteen
• Chapter Fifteen
• Chapter Sixteen
• Chapter Seventeen
• Chapter Eighteen
• Chapter Nineteen
• Chapter Twenty
• Epilogue

Deviations from televised story[[edit] | [edit source]]

• It is confirmed that the woman who left baby Ruby Sunday at the church was indeed her mother.
• The cracked timeline is revealed in the initial sequence at the church, which was only revealed later in the original episode.
• During the scene set on Davina McCall's television programme, Ruby has a flashback to Carla telling her, before the show, to not let anyone tell her story for her.
  • During this scene, Ruby also mentions "the pandemic" and "the recession", and the Giggle.
• In the scene set in the pub, Susan Twist's unnamed character mentions that "Gaudete" was performed by Steeleye Span.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Fifteenth Doctor
• Ruby Sunday
• Carla Sunday
• Cherry Sunday
• Ruby Sunday's mother
• Davina McCall
• Trudy
• Woman
• Woman with pram
• PC Harry McLellan
• Janice
• Goblin King
• Vicar

Referenced only[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Harry McLellan's girlfriend

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

• This novelisation was announced in DWM 598.^[1]
• Although the novelisation's official, wider release was on 25 January, signed copies of the book were released early in Forbidden Planet branches on 12 January.^[3]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Unlike the television episode the novelisation is adapted from, when Davina McCall asks Ruby how her life has been, she namedrops the Giggle. This concretely establishes the name of the crisis involving the laugh from Stooky Bill that made everyone believe they were correct as seen in the titular episode TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"].
  • The Doctor also references the Toymaker's legions, seemingly confirming that the Goblins are among them.
• This novelisation features Henrik's department store; the televised episode ^[+]Loading...{"noital":"1","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)","2":"the televised episode"} had a scene set outside a department store, which was filmed at James Howell & Co. Ltd. in Cardiff, the filming location of Henrik's in TV: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"]. The televised The Church on Ruby Road didn't alter the external appearance of the store, however.

Audiobook[[edit] | [edit source]]

This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 25 January 2024 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Angela Wynter.

• 

  Audiobook cover

Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)/Gallery

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

• Official The Church on Ruby Road page at Penguin Books

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sources[[edit] | [edit source]]