Untitled 2 (Doctor Who at the Proms 2024 audio story)
An untitled scene featuring Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood appeared in the second half of the 2024 edition of Doctor Who at the Proms.
An official audio recording was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. A TV version was then broadcast on 24 December 2024.
Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]
Mrs Flood addresses the audience at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
As a concert presenter is trying to deliver her spiel when a a woman in white silently walks on-stage, glaring at her in silence until she trails off and flees the stage in obvious fear and confusion, with the woman seeing her off with a sing-song "Bye!".
Cheerfully addressing the audience, the woman puts down her umbrella as it's "stopped snowing". She introduces herself as "Mrs Flood", which she unconvincingly insists is her "true and proper" name, laughing off any notion that she is "some outer space villain in disguise". She then uses her insistence that she's just a "nice, quiet, friendly soul" as a segue to talk about her neighbours, particularly the girl Ruby Sunday who is constantly going "to and fro" for adventures with that mysterious man with a funny blue box.
She suddenly grows quiet, asking herself: "What… is the truth?" and then recounting how she sometimes "hears stories on the breeze… amazing tales" — such as the Legend of Ruby Sunday.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
Mentioned only[[edit] | [edit source]]
Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Before she trails off altogether, Catherine Tate stammers the beginning of an anecdote from "weeks ago" about "Murray and his team" recording music for a TV special in Cardiff.
- Mrs Flood claims that she last went to a concert in 1986, when she saw Queen.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This was the final of three distinct skits in the 2024 edition of Doctor Who at the Proms.
- Mrs Flood's claims of having been to see Queen in 1986 is presumably a reference to Anita Dobson's having met her future husband Brian May, lead guitarist and backing vocalist of Queen, in 1986.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Mrs Flood is wearing the same outfit as she did in the final scene of TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"], where she similarly seemed to break the fourth wall. She remarks on the outfit now seeming inappropriate as it has "stopped snowing".
- One of Mrs Flood's first lines is "What's the matter? Never seen a Prom before?". This echoes her final line in TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"], "Stop making such a fuss. Never seen a TARDIS before?", delivered to camera — which was the first hint that the character was more than met the eye.
- Mrs Flood conspicuously denies being anything out of the ordinary, such as "some outer space villain in disguise". TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"], TV: 73 Yards [+]Loading...["73 Yards (TV story)"], TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"], and TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"] had all contained hints that Mrs Flood was a far more powerful being than she made herself appear. Empire of Death saw her alluding to her "true name", actively showing her claim that "Mrs Flood" is her "true and proper name" to be a blatant lie.
- Mrs Flood refers by name to "the Legend of Ruby Sunday". As well as the title of TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"] (and the title of the music suite from it and TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"] which followed the skit in the Proms concert's schedule), this was used in dialogue therein by Carla Sunday to refer to the "story" of Ruby's mysterious birth.
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