‘THE CHURCH ON RUBY ROAD’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Goblins at Christmas with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby

Hello Ruby Sunday and welcome to the TARDIS! 🙂

Just to reiterate what I said in my previous reviews on the 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’. Even though I have my reservations about how the celebrations were handled on TV by Russell T. Davies, that doesn’t mean to say people aren’t allowed to enjoy the specials if they really want to. 🙂

The opinions I share in my reviews are mine and they don’t necessarily reflect how other people view them. There were things about the anniversary specials I enjoyed, and I hope, through my reviews, you’ve enjoyed some of my insight about what I think could have been done differently. 🙂

Anyway, that’s enough about the 60th anniversary specials. Let’s move on. 🙂 It’s time to check out Ncuti Gatwa’s first full-length ‘Doctor Who’ TV adventure in the form of the 2023 Christmas Special – ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. It’s the first ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special made in quite a long while.

The last time we had a ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special was in 2017 when it was ‘Twice Upon a Time’ with Peter Capaldi. Yes, we’ve had festive specials with Jodie Whittaker from 2019 to 2022, but they were New Year Day’s Specials instead of Christmas Specials. It’s nice the Christmas Specials are back! 🙂

Whether the neo-RTD era Christmas Specials will be just as good as the original-RTD era Christmas Specials remains to be seen. It’s clear RTD has gone for more fantasy elements in his neo-era through this Christmas Special, though that’s something we’ll uncover more in Ncuti’s first season, no doubt.

Speaking of Ncuti Gatwa, I didn’t know anything about him before and when his casting announcement happened in May 2022. I’ve never seen ‘Sex Education’ before on Netflix, nor have I seen the latest ‘Barbie’ film featuring Ncuti Gatwa as one of the Kens before his ‘Doctor Who’ debut.

I heard good things said about him in the run-up to his first ‘Doctor Who’ appearance and I hoped the good things said about him would turn out true for me. From watching his introduction in ‘The Giggle’ with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor, he seems to give off a very good impression. 🙂

But would his first full-on TV appearance in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ reflect that? Would I enjoy Ncuti Gatwa coming into his own as the Fifteenth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ in the 2023 Christmas Special? Or would I be left disappointed from watching the Christmas Special? Well, let’s find out. 😀

The special begins many years ago on Christmas Eve. I believe it’s Manchester and the year is 2004. A baby girl is dropped off at a church on Ruby Road by a mysterious woman. Who this mysterious mother is, we don’t know yet. Hopefully, the answer to that will be satisfying as we get into Ncuti’s first season.

Incidentally, it’s the Doctor who’s narrating to us, as we see him arriving in the TARDIS to watch the mysterious woman walk away. I’m glad the narration is a voice-over and it’s not Ncuti directly narrating to us like when David Tennant and Catherine Tate were directly narrating to us in ‘The Star Beast’.

I’ve read somewhere that one of the inspirations behind this story was ‘Damaged Goods’, the first ‘Doctor Who’ story that RTD wrote in book form back in 1996, which got adapted into an audio drama by Big Finish in 2015. This concerns the scene where baby Ruby is left on the church doorstep. 🙂

Honestly, it’s not really much of a comparison to think about at this stage, since the events of ‘Damaged Goods’ are grislier compared to ‘The Church of Ruby Road’, and there was an exchange of babies between mothers in that story. Maybe this is to be touched upon in future stories with Ruby.

The ‘Doctor Who’ title sequence and theme music has been updated slightly with just Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson’s names in the opening credits. I’m thankful the 2023 title sequence and theme music hasn’t changed much, as we have only just been introduced to it since the neo-RTD era began.

After the title sequence, we cut to the 1st of December 2023. I was on my way home from Cheltenham that day. 😀 It’s where we’re introduced to Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday, who’s being interviewed for a TV show by Davina McCall. I’d like to say this straight; I like Millie Gibson as Ruby. 🙂

Like Ncuti Gatwa, I never heard of Millie Gibson before, though it was nice to have her introduced on Children in Need night in November 2022. Outside of ‘Doctor Who’, she played Kelly Neelan in the ITV soap opera ‘Coronation Street’ from 2019 to 2022. I’ve not seen ‘Corrie’ in such a long while.

The days I used to watch ‘Corrie’ would have been from the late 2000s to early 2010s. Thus, Millie Gibson wouldn’t have been on-screen when I watched it. Despite that, it was easy to get into Ruby’s character, since Millie delivers a really likeable and warm personability throughout her performance.

What’s ironic is that I’ve included cameos of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby in my 60th anniversary story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. This was before I’d even seen ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ on TV. 😀 I based the cameos on what I’ve seen of Ncuti and Millie, from their interaction together on YouTube.

There’s more to come in Ncuti and Millie’s first ‘Doctor Who’ season together, but I hope I’ve done the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby justice in the cameos I’ve given them in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. Perhaps I should write an ‘aftermath’ follow-up story that features the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby. 🙂

And of course, it’d be remiss of me to mention that Millie Gibson is 19 at the time of this review. She’s joined Matthew Waterhouse and Sarah Sutton in being the youngest actress to play a ‘Doctor Who’ companion. At least I believe she’s 19 as opposed to Yasmin Finney playing a 15-year-old girl. 🙂

But yes, as I said, Ruby is being interviewed by Davina McCall. Thankfully, it’s the real Davina McCall and not the Davinadroid voiced by her from ‘Bad Wolf’. 😀 Funnily enough, I did see Davina McCall and David Tennant together for Comic Relief night back in March 2009. Goodness me, is it that long ago? 😀

In the interview, Davina is offering to help Ruby find her birth parents or someone else in her family, if possible, by using DNA. Unfortunately, the interview keeps getting interrupted by a series of accidents, caused by tiny unseen creatures. They also plague Ruby’s life in the build-up to Christmas.

We cut to the 22nd of December – my parents and I shopped for Christmas food that day 😀 – where Ruby plays a small gig with her band in a pub. A small electrical mishap interrupts their performance and the Doctor watches from the outskirts of the pub. How he ended up there isn’t really explained.

The next day on the 23rd of December – we were in Tondu then (pronounced ‘Tondee’ by the way 😀 ) – Ruby is at a night club where she sees the Doctor dancing in a kilt – Yes, of course he is. 😀 – a floor below her. She turns around and knocks over a glass of water before it’s caught by the Doctor.

He asks Ruby if she normally has bad luck and she says it’s been happening for quite a while lately. Ruby claims she’s ‘clumsy’, but the Doctor says it’s worse than that. He departs, although I’m wondering, has his vest changed from white to yellow in the time he was dancing to meeting Ruby?

Maybe it’s the trick of the light, but I’m pretty sure Ncuti Gatwa is wearing a different coloured vest when meeting Ruby compared to when he was on the dance floor. At least he’s wearing clothes for a change in this Christmas Special compared to when he wasn’t wearing trousers in ‘The Giggle’. 😀

The Doctor does follow Ruby from a distance as she gets into a taxi, but a giant snowman Christmas decoration hanging from a nearby building is about to fall on the taxi. Using his new sonic screwdriver, the Doctor changes the traffic lights from red to green to prompt the taxi to drive on. 🙂

Speaking of the Fifteenth Doctor’s new sonic screwdriver, it’s very unusual in design compared to what previous sonic screwdrivers have been like. It’s not as good as say the Thirteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, but I prefer it over the Fourteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, as it feels more compact.

Eventually, it’s Christmas Eve – I was busy in the morning and evening for church services that day 🙂 – Ruby returns to her flat where we’re introduced to her adoptive mum – Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday. 🙂 We’re also introduced to Ruby’s adoptive grandmother – Angela Wynter (of ‘EastEnders’ fame) as Cherry Sunday. 🙂

Apparently, Carla is also a foster mum and is about to foster another new-born over Christmas. She’s fostered 33 children so far. 33?! Goodness me! 😀 The new baby in question happens to be Lulubelle. That’s the name of a pantomime cow from one of ‘Terry and June’s Christmas Specials. 😀

Yeah, Ruby and Carla aren’t keen on that name either. 😀 Regardless, they agree to keep Lullabelle – or Lulu, as I believe Carla prefers to call her – over Christmas. Carla soon leaves Lulu in Ruby’s care and she goes off to the nearby store to get some more Christmas food. Presumably eggs, as Ruby accidentally dropped some.

By the way, the woman who delivered Lulubelle to the Sunday family happens to be Gemma Arrowsmith as Ruth Lyons. Gemma Arrowsmith also wrote the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘The Flying Dutchman’ with the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex. I didn’t realise it was her until very much later on.

Once Carla is gone, Ruby soon receives a phone call from Davina McCall, who sadly informs her that they haven’t been able to find any trace of anyone related to her. Ruby is saddened by this news, before Davina asks her whether she’s had any bad luck. Apparently, Davina’s had a terrible rash of it.

This includes falling off a boat on dry land as well as getting struck on the back of the head by a plug. 😐 Davina thinks it started when she first met Ruby and she talks about how terrified she is before a nearby Christmas tree is about to topple over on her. The phone cuts out whilst Ruby talks to her. 😐

Soon, Ruby hears noises and finds that baby Lulu has been taken from her crib. She finds a photo of a goblin nearby and she soon chases after the culprits up on the roof. It’s where Ruby finds goblins, who have nestled Lulu in a basket. The goblins scamper up into the skylight, taking the basket with them. 😮

Ruby manages to get onto the ladder to try and rescue Lulu from the goblins, and she’s soon being taken away. I found it very funny when the Doctor came along and saw Ruby on the ladder before joining her by jumping off from the rooftop. Where did he come from? How did he know where to find her? 😀

Incidentally, it’s bright and sunny on Christmas Eve, isn’t it? And Christmas Eve did happen on a Sunday in 2023. I bring this up because apparently, it was raining heavily on Christmas Eve in Cardiff. I’m sure the same can be said for Notting Hill Gate in London where most of the story takes place. 😀

As the ladder retracts into the sky, the Doctor and Ruby struggle to hold on. Thus, the Doctor pulls out a set of intelligent gloves – Okay. 😀  – that take care of all the friction and gravitational force that normally exist when climbing, transferring them into the glove itself and away from the body. 🙂

And yes, I used the word ‘gravitational’, not ‘mavitational’ as the Doctor would say in the special. Seriously, Russell? You’re not doing kids a favour by keeping to the ‘mavity’ thing! There’s a fine line between education and entertainment value. Having ‘mavity’ instead of ‘gravity’ will confuse kids. 😐

I don’t know, maybe we’re living in an alternative reality from now on in ‘Doctor Who’ where the rules can be changed on what we say and do. Perhaps instead of ‘burgers’, we’ll be saying ‘durgers’! Or instead of ‘cars’, we’ll be driving ‘rars’! Or if we’re wishing to own pets, we’ll have ‘pogs’ instead of ‘dogs’!

The Doctor and Ruby are effortlessly pulled up with the rest of the ladder into a flying sailing ship where they promptly encounter a small horde of goblins. The goblins capture them and tie them up. And just to be clear, these are actual goblins. They’re not aliens from outer space. They’re proper goblins.

Hmm. Yeah, going back to a point I made earlier, RTD wants the TV series to go into fantasy realms and this apparently includes making folklore creatures like goblins be real and not imaginary. The backstory to all this, apparently, is that the Toymaker caused for these folklore things to be reality. 😐

That’s something that RTD established in the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ behind-the-scenes featurette for ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. This could lead up to the predicted legions of the Toymaker making an appearance in ‘Doctor Who’ as well as a potential return for the Toymaker should that ever occur.

In one way, it does sort-of make sense. After all, the Fourteenth Doctor made a superstition become a reality when he and Donna were at the edge of the universe in ‘Wild Blue Yonder’. And it presumably caused the Toymaker to escape from his dimension, as seemingly established in ‘The Giggle’.

In fact, certain things that have been myths and folklore have been made reality. After all, the bi-generation thing that happened at the end of ‘The Giggle’ was considered a Time Lord myth. So, perhaps, a lot of things that are regarded as myths and fiction are becoming a reality in our universe.

I don’t know if this is something that RTD is building up to with a great catastrophe by the time we get to the end of Ncuti’s first season in 2024. It’ll certainly be interesting to witness and it could end up leading to another ‘big bang’ or reboot of the universe like Matt Smith’s Doctor did in ‘The Big Bang’.

However Ncuti’s first ‘Doctor Who’ season will end up, it’s intriguing that RTD has gone for more fantasy elements in his neo-era as opposed to say sci-fi elements, which certain ‘Doctor Who’ fans would be looking for. I don’t know if this would be satisfying for everyone, as it’s still early days here.

As for the goblins themselves, um… They’re not very intimidating for me. Look, it might be just my perspective on these things, but I’ve considered goblins to look more like the ones who’ve been in ‘The Hobbit’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ films in appearing so scary-looking.

These ‘Doctor Who’ goblins… don’t look scary enough. In fact, there might be a ‘cuteness’ element to them, which shouldn’t really be evident in goblins. Also, the goblins are small. Maybe size doesn’t really matter in this case, but couldn’t they be a little taller to show off how threatening they can be?

Another thing that gets me with the goblins is that they don’t talk much. Maybe a few sentences now and again, but very often they hiss at people, like they do at Ruby in the special. Also, their voices are an issue, especially when matching to a song performed in the special, which we’ll get to in a bit.

Whilst tied up with Ruby, the Doctor begins to decipher the goings-on of the goblins. Apparently, the language of the goblins involves chance, luck and coincidence. This was intriguing to unravel about the goblins. It becomes significant later on in the story, especially when the Doctor saves Ruby’s life.

The Doctor’s not altogether clear about what’s going on, but he susses out the goblins are using luck to switch Ruby into time ever so slightly more in order to get to baby Lulu. Coincidence becomes key to the goblins. It’s a form of science that the Doctor has never come across before, which is unusual.

Managing to untie themselves, the Doctor and Ruby try to find a way to escape their prison. Everything is built with wood and rope, which the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver can’t work on because, as established in ‘Silence in the Library’, the sonic screwdriver doesn’t do wood. A pity it’s not bricks. 😀

After spending a small amount of time, the Doctor likens the ship’s rigging to wires and circuitry as well as untying knots as one would flip switches. The Doctor triggers the right knot to get him and Ruby out of their prison and get into a crawlspace above. It’s an intriguing puzzle the Doctor solves.

The Doctor and Ruby crawl their way through what might be considered a ventilation shaft and… (sighs) Yeah, let’s talk about ‘The Goblin Song’. ‘The Goblin Song’ accompanies the sequence where baby Lulubelle is being moved through a conveyer-belt and she’s about to be fed to the Goblin King.

‘The Goblin Song’ is an original song for this ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special. It’s composed by Murray Gold and the lyrics are by Russell T. Davies. The song was released ahead of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ via the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel, BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. 😐

It was released on the 11th of December 2023, with the commercial proceeds going to Children in Need. Whilst I appreciate the good intentions in raising money for Children in Need, the song remains to be desired. Now, I appreciate that this song had its success when it went up in the charts.

But in terms of how the song fits in with the rest of the special, it feels really out-of-place and not keeping in with the tone of what the story is trying to achieve. RTD wanted more musical elements in this special, and it doesn’t work for me. 😐 Check out the lyrics video below before I explain why.

(sighs) Yeah. Um… Balin, if you would please?

Balin: That’s not a song! THAT’S AN ABOMINATION!

And quite ironically, I’m appreciating the ‘Goblin Town’ song from the extended version of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘ more than the actual ‘Goblin Song’ featured in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. Why couldn’t the ‘Goblin Song’ sound more like ‘Down in Goblin Town’? Is it really that difficult? 😐

Look, the lyrics aren’t terrible and the music has moments of being intimidating, particularly in the opening, although it’s clearly trying to be a Disney song. Apparently, RTD had ‘Aladdin’ vibes when he wrote the song’s lyrics according to ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’. I assume that’s the 1992 ‘Aladdin’ film, not the 2019 one.

But the song sounds so jaunty, and it doesn’t feel like it’s meant to scare viewers watching this special, although that could be a deliberate choice concerning the goblins who are looking forward to the Goblin King eating baby Lulubelle. Also, the vocalist doesn’t match to how the goblins sound.

The vocalist happens to be Christina Rotondo, who I believe is voicing Janis Goblin, the lead goblin singer in the goblin band. Her voice sounds too human and not goblin-like at all. Wouldn’t it have made sense to have the lead goblin singer sound more like a goblin with a raspy and hissy sort of voice?

Maybe there’s a political correctness thing going on as to why they didn’t end up with a proper goblin voice instead of a human one, but having the lead goblin singer sound human-like and jolly in what sounds like a pop song about eating babies is off-putting and doesn’t fit with the story’s tone.

It’s even ruined when Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby join in with the singing at the end of the sequence whilst they’re rescuing baby Lulu and getting away from the goblin ship. How did they manage to think up of the lyrics to distract the goblins and keep with the rhyming so quickly?!

Also, to compare it again to the ‘Down in Goblin Town’ song in the extended version of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, say what you will about it, but at least it was trying to be intimidating and was sung by what sounded like a Goblin King who was off-key, joined by goblins with convincing voices.

Oh yeah, and speaking of the Goblin King in ‘The Church of Ruby Road’, what were RTD and his production team thinking?! It looks like a giant, fat goblin with a big mouth that can’t be bothered to get out of his… well, throne, I suppose. I’m not sure, as it’s not a conventional throne room.

At least I can acknowledge the Goblin King in ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ can move about and be a little threatening with his club-like sceptre. Also, the Goblin King in ‘An Unexpected Journey’ talked. The Goblin King in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ barely talks at all throughout this story. 😐

I appreciate the amount of actors, puppetry and CGI that goes into the making of these goblins and their Goblin King, but it doesn’t reflect how they end up in the story. They also don’t provide much of a threat, especially as the Doctor and Ruby are able to get away from their ship with baby Lulubelle. 😐

By the way, something that may interest you. Apparently, one of the goblins is played by Rachelle Beinart. She’s well-known for playing Po, one of the ‘Teletubbies’ on TV. It was so interesting to find that out about her when she was interviewed in the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ behind-the-scenes featurette.

After escaping the goblins, the Doctor and Ruby return to the Sunday flat with baby Lulu safely recovered. They soon dash around the place to make sure it’s goblin-proof and that there are no accidents and bad luck. Ruby’s mother Carla returns, and the Doctor is introduced to her by Ruby.

Gradually, Ruby reveals to Carla how she received a phone call from Davina McCall and was told none of her birth family were found. Carla comforts Ruby when she’s feeling upset and frustrated, and the Doctor shares he’s an orphan too. Good of RTD to connect to the Timeless Child thing again.

Despite the Toymaker claiming to have made a puzzle out of the Doctor’s history in ‘The Giggle’, I’m glad that RTD isn’t ignoring what Chris Chibnall did in his era with Jodie Whittaker. He’s making use of the fact that the Doctor is an orphan from another world and is connecting Ruby to that as well. 🙂

Unfortunately, when Carla notes about things being a coincidence, including that the Doctor and Ruby are orphans, the flat shakes and shudders until the roof cracks in two, caused by the goblins. The Doctor looks around and checks everything is okay before he notices that Ruby has vanished. 😮

By the way, I noticed Ruby had vanished before the Doctor did, as I kept asking “Where’s Ruby?” before the Doctor asked. Going out and looking for Ruby and finding her nowhere, the Doctor returns to find that Carla and her mother Cherry have no memory of Ruby, which shocks the Doctor.

It was also interesting to see that the flat became a drearier place with no Christmas decorations after Ruby vanished. Carla also appears different, as she’s unhappy and resents looking after Lulubelle on Christmas Eve. It’s almost like when Ruby vanished, the light in Carla’s life went out as well.

It’s very saddening to see. Brought to tears, the Doctor works out that it was the goblins who went back in time to capture Ruby as a baby in 2004 to be eaten up by the Goblin King. The Doctor returns to his TARDIS and travels back in time to the night when Ruby was abandoned on the Church of Ruby Road.

It was fascinating to see how the special took us back to that opening scene with the Doctor arriving and seeing the mysterious figure who left Ruby at the church walking away. I wish the Doctor found out who that mysterious woman was, since I want to know who left Ruby all alone on Christmas Eve.

But the Doctor hasn’t got time for that, as he rushes to the church where the goblins are taking Ruby as a baby. The Doctor grabs onto the ladder and gradually uses his intelligent gloves in reverse mode to pull the ship downwards, bit by bit. It’s slow progress and it doesn’t make much difference at first.

Thankfully, the Doctor makes a last ditch attempt, as he jumps off the church’s roof and pulls the ship with him, puncturing the Goblin King’s stomach with the church’s steeple and killing it in the process. The ship and the goblins, including the Goblin King, vanish once the Doctor has defeated them.

Goblin King: That’ll do it.

I know I used a quote from Balin in ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ to sum up ‘The Goblin Song’, but this quote said by the Goblin King in that film feels appropriate in response to the Doctor defeating the goblins and their Goblin King in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. It sums up that ‘defeating the goblins’ scene perfectly.

It highlights why the goblins and their Goblin King aren’t really that threatening in the Christmas Special and it makes the special less exciting because of that. I know the Doctor has been able to save Ruby because of that, but shouldn’t there be far more jeopardy for the Doctor to outwit the goblins?

By the way, the goblin version of ‘Ring Christmas Bells’ when the goblins are sending baby Ruby to the Goblin King sounds better than the actual ‘Goblin Song’ sung earlier in the special. At least the goblins sound like they’re singing with goblin voices in that. Why didn’t they use that song instead?!!

In the end, the Doctor retrieves baby Ruby and she’s placed once again on the church’s doorstep before returning to the TARDIS. Returning to 2023, the Doctor rushes up to Ruby’s flat and finds her safe and sound, along with her mother Carla and grandmother Cherry. The Doctor is overjoyed indeed. 🙂

The Doctor also manages to save Davina McCall from having a Christmas tree fall on her by catching it. That’s nice of him. 😀 Returning to where Ruby lives once more, the Doctor thinks better of seeing her again, feeling that he might be the one who’s bringing bad luck to Ruby and her family. Hmm. Who can say?

I mean, knowing how RTD handles companion journeys in ‘Doctor Who’ as with Rose, Martha and Donna, maybe Ruby’s journey with the Fifteenth Doctor might not end up with a happy ending compared to other ‘Doctor Who’ companions. We shall have to wait and see what will occur in 2024.

As the Doctor returns to his TARDIS, Ruby and Carla talk about the Doctor before Ruby realises that he’s a time-traveller and that he just saved her as a baby by going back in the past. Ruby kisses her adoptive mum goodbye before she dashes out of the door, to eventually finding the Doctor’s TARDIS. 🙂

Ruby enters the TARDIS, and after examining the ship from the outside – surprised that it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside – she sees the Doctor leaning on the railing in the console room. She asks who he is and he tells her he’s the Doctor. Err, didn’t he tell her that already in meeting her? 😀

And that’s where the special ends, except we’re given a little teaser to lead into the next season with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. As the TARDIS dematerialises, one of the neighbours in Ruby’s street comes up to Anita Dobson as Mrs. Flood, as he panics, enquiring how a blue police box vanished in front of them.

Mrs. Flood tells him not to make a fuss and the neighbour walks away. Now, Mrs. Flood, as a character, has appeared quite a bit in the special, but she hasn’t served much of a purpose until the very end. Apparently, Anita Dobson played Angie Watts in ‘EastEnders’ alongside Leslie Grantham. 🙂

Not that I’m expecting any of you to know that. I didn’t, since I don’t watch ‘EastEnders’ much. But that’s beside the point. The point is, at the end of ‘The Church of Ruby Road’, Anita Dobson as Mrs. Flood, turns to us as the audience, like William Hartnell did in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, and asks, “Never seen a TARDIS before?”

I’ve no idea what that’s to signify and how that’s going to be resolved in the next ‘Doctor Who’ season, if it ever gets resolved. No idea who Mrs. Flood is as a character by this point and whether she’s connected to Ruby’s birth mother. At present, I’m quite intrigued as to what will occur in 2024.

It’s also intriguing how she kept observing the Doctor popping in and out of time when trying to save Ruby’s life in the past as well as Davina McCall’s. And it’s fascinating Mrs. Flood encouraged Ruby to join the Doctor in the TARDIS and said “Good luck” to her. Where’s all this going to lead, I wonder? 😀

The DVD/Blu-ray special features for ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ are as follows. There’s the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ and a behind-the-scenes featurette on ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. There’s a behind-the-scenes trailer on ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, ‘Millie Gibson’s Set Tour’, ‘Get to Know ‘Doctor Who’ – With Ncuti Gatwa’, ‘Get to Know ‘Doctor Who’ – With Millie Gibson’ and an in-vision commentary with Millie Gibson, writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies and producer Chris May.

‘The Church on Ruby Road’ has been a decent and enjoyable full-on adventure with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby. I like how Ruby is introduced as the new ‘Doctor Who’ companion and Ncuti Gatwa does incredibly well in his first full-on TV adventure as the Doctor.

There are drawbacks to this special, especially concerning the goblins, their Goblin King and the famous or infamous (however you want to interpret it) ‘Goblin Song’. It ruined the story for me a bit and I must say this isn’t very exciting enough, even if the introduction to Ruby Sunday is enjoyable. 😐

It also isn’t very exciting as a ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special for me. Maybe time will tell and perhaps the Christmas Specials in the neo-RTD era of ‘Doctor Who’ will get better as time goes on. All I can say is, I’m glad we’ve started the new ‘Doctor Who’ era with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson.

I’m looking forward to finding out what the next ‘Doctor Who’ season with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson will be like and how Russell T. Davies will tell his new ‘Doctor Who’ stories in his neo-era. Hopefully they’ll be entertaining and very enjoyable for ‘Doctor Who’ fans and viewers to get into. 🙂

There are lots of unanswered questions to be answered in the Ncuti Gatwa/Fifteenth Doctor era, including who Ruby Sunday’s birth parents are; why Ruby was left abandoned at the church on Ruby Road on Christmas Eve in 2004; and who Mrs. Flood is. Will the answers be satisfying enough for us all?

Let’s venture forth in the TARDIS with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby! 🙂

As of November 2024, I’ve had the Blu-ray cover of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ signed by Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson at the ‘London Comic Con Winter’ in November 2024.

‘The Church on Ruby Road’ rating – 7.5/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO – THE CHURCH ON RUBY ROAD’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

In the Sky with the Goblins Once Again

Here we are again with another look at ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ in book and audio! 🙂

It’s interesting in terms of revisiting this ‘Doctor Who’ story again via the novelization/audiobook. Back in December 2023, when I reviewed the TV story, it was like a couple of days after watching it on BBC One on Christmas Day before the year finished.

I saw it twice – first on its initial BBC TV transmission on Christmas Day and then on BBC iPlayer via my tablet on Boxing Day. I’m glad I was able to review the story in time for my ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, which happened throughout the 2023 year. 🙂

But of course, since then, we’ve had Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ given to us from May to June 2024 and we’ve had ‘Joy to the World’ shown on Christmas Day in that year. The reception to the Fifteenth Doctor era so far has been…divided…in the grand scheme of things.

I’ve come across love and hatred for this latest era of ‘Doctor Who’ in droves. That’s bound to be expected when checking out a new ‘Doctor Who’ era, but the fact that it’s Russell T. Davies in charge and with the creative choices he’s making, it’s not showing a good sign. 😦

Does that change my opinion about ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as an opening story to the Fifteenth Doctor era? Not really. I’m still quite fond of it, even if the goblins and the Goblin King let it down for me. I still find Millie Gibson’s introduction as Ruby Sunday very good.

It’s also nice to see how Ncuti Gatwa fares in his first full-length TV story compared to his introduction in ‘The Giggle’. I regard ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as a decent start to the Fifteenth Doctor era, even if things set up in it aren’t followed through in future episodes.

Whilst I consider there to be flaws in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as a TV story, what does that say about the novelization/audiobook? Does it match to what’s in the TV adventure or does the author try something different with what RTD wrote in the original TV script?

I planned on checking out ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ novelization/audiobook over Christmas in 2024. Sadly, I got sidetracked with other projects, since the end of 2024 was pretty busy anyway. Thankfully, I got to check it out properly from January to February 2025.

‘The Church on Ruby Road’ was novelized by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson. This is my first encounter with Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson as an author. As far as I’m concerned, she hasn’t contributed any more ‘Doctor Who’ adventures in book form or any other form since then.

It should be noted that this is the first ‘Doctor Who’ novelization to be penned by a black woman. Not that I’m expecting you to know that, but I’m intrigued as to how she was chosen to be the author of the ‘Doctor Who’ novelization of the first Fifteenth Doctor TV story. 🙂

Apparently, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson co-founded Impact of Omission, and some of her works have won the 2020 Future Worlds Prize (formerly known as the Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Award). I wonder if Esmie will ever get to pen for ‘Doctor Who’ again.

Incidentally, ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ novelization/audiobook was released in January 2024, a month after the TV story was shown in December 2023. It’s taken me a while to check out the novelization/audiobook, but I don’t check out these novelizations in a hurry.

This almost matches to when the novelizations of the 60th anniversary TV specials were released sooner than later after their TV counterparts’ broadcast. Same goes for the ‘Space Babies’, ’73 Yards’ and ‘Rogue’ novelizations released after Series 14 was finished.

Esmie does a good job in translating Russell T. Davies’ TV script into prose form for this ‘Doctor Who’ novelization. She doesn’t change much in terms of the plot and characters, and the novelization matches how I remember the TV tale being when I read and heard it.

There are additions to the story, particularly in exploring some of the characters and their motivations. Yet ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ novelization is how you’d expect it to be from viewing the TV story compared to the ‘Dalek’ and ‘The Day of the Doctor’ novelizations. 🙂

Mind you, I wish that Esmie had done something more with the goblins compared to how they were presented on TV (something I’ll get into more later in the review). But if you’re expecting this novelization/audiobook to match to what was on TV, you don’t need to fret.

I purchased the BBC Books hardback copy of ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ novelization instead of the Target paperback version that came out later. The hardback copy’s cover is good, especially in featuring Ruby and the Doctor hanging on a ladder to the goblin ship.

The audiobook is read by Angela Wynter, who plays Cherry Sunday in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It was a treat to find Angela Wynter reading this ‘Doctor Who’ story for audio, especially when she sounds so different in her normal reading voice compared to playing Cherry.

When she plays Cherry in the TV series, she speaks with a strong Jamaican accent. When she’s reading in her normal voice, she sounds so clear, especially when voicing the characters of the Doctor, Ruby and Carla. They don’t sound like Cherry in the audiobook. 😀

I’ve not seen Angela Wynter beyond ‘Doctor Who’ and I’ve not seen her in ‘EastEnders’. I know she was in two episodes of Series 12 of ‘Call the Midwife’, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen that season. ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ audiobook showcases Angela well. 🙂

Both in terms of being a narrator and a performer. I checked out the novelization at a leisurely pace with reading and listening to a chapter per day. The chapters themselves aren’t very long. It was easy to get into the story and the characters without any complications.

Incidentally, in the novelization, Cherry is said to have come over from Jamaica to work as a nurse and she met her husband in London. This provides an insight into Ruby’s adoptive family background. I find there are echoes of Lucille Robinson née Anderson from ‘Call the Midwife’.

‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as a story is divided into 20 chapters with an epilogue at the end. I’m surprised there wasn’t a prologue in the book, since the TV story began with the 2004 scene of Ruby’s mum leaving her baby on the doorstep of the Ruby Road church.

With that said, I’m glad Chapter One didn’t have the Fifteenth Doctor narrating to us like he did in the TV story when it began. Whilst it was a better narration compared to the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna’s in ‘The Star Beast’, it wouldn’t have suited for the book. 😐

It’s nice we go through the dates in the early chapters of the book with Chapter One taking place in Manchester, 24th of December 2004, Chapter Two taking place in London, 1st of December 2023, Chapter Three taking place in London, 22nd of December 2023 and so on.

This goes up to Chapter Six taking place in London, 24th of December 2023 where the main action of the story occurs. It allows the reader to absorb the story piece by piece, especially when the TV story was written and presented in a fast pace, making it challenging to absorb the details.

The novelization does confirm that the woman who left Ruby Sunday as a baby at the Church on Ruby Road is indeed her mother. I’m sure many of us knew that at the time of watching the TV story, but there may have been speculation that it wasn’t the case at all.

I mean, it could have been some random stranger that left Ruby as a baby on the church doorstep and not her mother at all. Judging by what the revelation of Ruby’s mum is in ‘Empire of Death’, I wonder if maybe it would have been better if it was a stranger after all.

In Chapter Two where Ruby is being interviewed by Davina McCall for her TV programme, Ruby has a flashback of her mother Carla telling her not to let anyone tell her story for her. This is a nice addition to the story, since it paints Ruby’s relationship with Carla quite well.

I’m not sure if that’s something Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson added into the novelization compared to Russell T. Davies who wrote the original TV script, but it’s an addition worth having in the book. It gives more insight about Ruby’s relationship with her adoptive mum.

During the interview that Ruby has with Davina McCall, ‘the pandemic’ gets mentioned as well as ‘the recession’ and the Giggle. ‘The pandemic’ is clearly a reference to the Covid-19 pandemic, although hearing it mentioned more recently does tilt my head a bit.

I mean, it’s referred to in ‘Joy to the World’, but since it wasn’t mentioned or referenced to in ‘Revolution of the Daleks’ and later Thirteenth Doctor-era stories, I assumed the pandemic didn’t happen at all. Maybe it’s part of the Toymaker’s puzzle of the Doctor’s life. 😐

Just to be clear, ‘the recession’ that Ruby mentioned in the novelization/audiobook is a reference to the Covid-19 recession that occurred at the same time as the pandemic. Not the Great Recession that happened from late 2007 to mid-2009, in case you were wondering.

‘Mavity’ still gets mentioned in ‘Doctor Who’ nowadays in recent books. Not just in the Doctor saying ‘mavitational’ to Ruby, but also in the descriptive text in the story. I really wish that one day, we go back to ‘gravity’ instead of ‘mavity’, as the joke’s getting very old.

In Chapter Three where Ruby plays a small gig with her band in a pub, there’s an additional piece of dialogue given to Susan Twist’s unnamed character when she requests that Ruby’s music band play ‘Gaudete’. She says the song was performed by Steeleye Span. 🙂

Again, not that I’m expecting you to know that about ‘Gaudete’ nor about Steeleye Span. Maybe Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson added it into the novelization to provide more clarity to the uninitiated. Honestly, I would’ve preferred it if Susan Twist’s character was given a name.

Yeah, funny that. I know she doesn’t play a major role in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ anyway, but considering the revelation that Susan Twist appears more than once in Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’, couldn’t she at least been given a name, even briefly, in the novelization?

I like that the novelization goes into greater detail about the members of Ruby’s band, including Trudy, who happens to be transgender, according to the TV script, even though it’s not made a huge deal of in the final cut of the TV story nor in the novelization/audiobook.

There are also characters like Clark and Big Jim who get mentioned as being part of Ruby’s band. The policeman that talks to the Doctor, after the Henrik’s department store snowman decoration incident, gets a full name in the novelization/audiobook of this tale, I believe.

His name is Harry McLellan. So, a policeman gets named in the novelization but not the Susan Twist character? Hmm. Incidentally, I like the subtle callback to ‘The TV Movie’ where the Fifteenth Doctor predicts to Harry that his girlfriend will say “Yes” to marry him.

And yes! Henrik’s department store which made its first appearance in ‘Rose’ makes a return appearance in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, both on TV and audio. Apparently, the filming location for Henrik’s was James Howell & Co. Ltd. in Cardiff, just for your information.

Talking about Ruby for a bit, it’s pointed out that she chose to wear her red jumper and tartan shorts instead of her fleece-lined joggers and winter coat, as she would be ‘melting’ in those. It does make me think Ruby is far more hot-blooded than we realise. 😀

I mean, I know ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ was probably filmed in the summer as opposed to the winter months of 2023, but it’s interesting she’s not affected by the cold weather quite severely. Tartan shorts isn’t something I’d expect to see being worn by someone in December.

This is in spite of the fact that it was raining heavily on the actual 24th of December compared to what’s in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. Maybe Ruby’s a very sunny girl at heart. 🙂 Or this might be a reflection of what Millie Gibson chose to wear as her character.

I’m pleased that the Goblin Song isn’t sung as it would have been performed in the TV version of the story. At least the lyrics of the song are read out by Angela Wynter, matching almost to how the lyrics of a song would be read out in, say, an audiobook of ‘The Hobbit’.

I’ve only heard the audiobook read by Rob Inglis, not the one by Andy Serkis by the way. It also seems that the Doctor takes longer to burst into song when meeting the Goblin King aboard the goblin ship, as he clicks his fingers to get the goblins to take up the beat first with the singing.

I’d also like to point out that ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ audiobook has almost followed in the footsteps of ‘The Gunfighters’ audiobook, since ‘The Ballard of the Last Chance Saloon’ wasn’t sung in that either. Maybe it’s difficult to have these songs sung in an audiobook

I like how Ruby made a prayer when she and the Doctor descended from the goblin ship to land on the rooftop of her home in rescuing Lulubelle – Lulu for short. It provides more insight into Ruby’s character, especially as she’s the sort-of person who doesn’t pray much.

I quite like how the novelization tackles Ruby’s upset of Davina McCall informing her that her birth parents haven’t been found. This is followed up well in the novelization when Carla comforts Ruby though her upset upon telling her the news after she and the Doctor saved Lulu.

It’s implied in the novelization that it may have been the Doctor’s fault that she got Ruby to vanish from Carla and Cherry’s lives in the first place, especially when he mentioned that he’s an orphan just like Ruby, prompting Carla to say that it happens to be coincidence.

When the Doctor chooses to destroy the goblin ship, as simply taking the baby back wasn’t enough to stop them, he wonders if they’ve transferred to another world when they and their ship disappeared. It’s an intriguing insight to ponder on when you think about it.

I mean, I hope the Goblin King is definitely dead, but in terms of the rest of the goblins, maybe they survived somehow. Maybe they might be due to make a return appearance in ‘Doctor Who’ someday. Perhaps they might return with another Goblin King to worship. 😐

The jeopardy factor of the goblins isn’t that great in both the TV story and the novelization/audiobook. I would have at least expected the goblins to confront the Doctor when he was pulling down their ship to stop them eating Baby Ruby in December 2004.

It’s also mentioned by the Doctor that the goblins are in our reality because of the disarray from the Toymaker’s visit in ‘The Giggle’. This confirms what I’ve speculated in my review on the TV story, considering the Fourteenth Doctor’s superstition becoming a reality in ‘Wild Blue Yonder’.

The novelization ends with Ruby entering the TARDIS. We’re spared the dialogue between Ruby and the Doctor in the TARDIS where she asks, “Who are you?” and he answers, “I’m the Doctor”. Presumably, that’s saved for the ‘Space Babies’ novelization/audiobook next.

Speaking personally, perhaps it would have been better to end ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ with Ruby entering the TARDIS and we don’t see that final TARDIS scene between her and the Doctor. It’d prevent the continuity issues that I have with the TV opening of ‘Space Babies’.

That’s something for me discuss another time, of course. I’m also pleased that in the Epilogue, we don’t have Mrs. Flood turning us to as an audience to say, “Never seen a TARDIS before?”, as she says it more to herself than to anyone else in particular in the novelization.

It’d make sense, otherwise, why would she turn to us as the audience in both the end of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ and at the end of ‘Empire of Death’? The scene of Mrs. Flood dropping her shopping on seeing the TARDIS dematerialising is omitted in the novelization.

‘The Church on Ruby Road’ novelization/audiobook has been great to check out. Overall, this is a pretty straightforward translation of the TV story into prose by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson. This is what one would expect of a novelization not penned by Russell T. Davies.

I guess that’s what’s bound to happen when I check out the ‘Space Babies’ and ’73 Yards’ novelizations/audiobooks. Angela Wynter also provides a very good reading of the story in the audiobook, since I’m able to enjoy the characters, including the Doctor and Ruby. 🙂

There’s no denying ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ has flaws in terms of a ‘Doctor Who’ story, particularly in the realisation of the goblins and how the Doctor defeats them. But through the novelization/audiobook, I’ve been able to pick out more details of the story than on TV.

Checking out this novelization/audiobook has allowed me to appreciate ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as a story more, particularly in the development of characters like Ruby, her family and the Doctor. You’re not rushing through the story in book/audio compared to TV.

I’m looking forward to when I get onto checking out the ‘Space Babies’, ’73 Yards’ and ‘Rogue’ novelizations/audiobooks sometime soon. Hopefully, they’ll be more insightful and engrossing versions of the stories in prose/audio compared to their TV counterparts.

‘Doctor Who – The Church on Ruby Road’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Fifteenth Doctor was ‘The World Tree’ (Audio)	The next story For the Fifteenth Doctor is ‘Space Babies’ (TV) For Ruby is ‘Space Babies’ (TV)
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