It’s been six years since there was a Doctor Who Christmas special, Twice Upon a Time, which saw the Twelfth Doctor’s final yuletide adventures. Since then, we’ve had Thirteen causing ripples by being the first female incarnation of the Timelord and in November the show returned to its “New Who” roots with Russell T Davies taking back control of the Tardis. A brief detour to Fourteen and the return of David Tennant, a brief ‘bi-generation’ as part of the 60th-anniversary specials, and we’re back to Christmas in the Whoniverse. All big adventures and a smattering of what’s to come for the Fourteenth Doctor.
What does Christmas mean for Doctor Who? There’s a place for indulging the complex storylines and heavy emotions that Who can deliver, but Christmas Day is not the time for that. It’s more about songs, goblins – and Anita Dobson, of course! Oh, and Davina McCall. As well as a brand new fifteenth Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa in his first full episode in the role.
This special marks a real return to Who Christmas tradition in that it’s utterly silly, a bit chaotic, and yes, it has a song. While recent years of Who got a bit bogged down in mythology and the serious side of the narratives, for this one, Russell T Davies has said quite clearly, “It’s Christmas, let’s have some fun”. It’s a pleasant reminder that Who, at its heart, is not a dark sci-fi mythology-led show, but a fun family sci-fi drama.
The plot is relatively straightforward: the Goblin King needs babies for food, and the goblins do their goblin business to provide that. Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) gets mixed up with them while trying to save a baby her mother is fostering for the holidays that looked like a nice snack to the Goblin King. Meanwhile, The Doctor reveals that Ruby’s recent clumsy, accident-prone stretch isn’t just a bit of bad luck, but the result of the goblins meddling in time to get Ruby and the baby lined up for a Christmas meal. In the midst of all this, we get a bit of Ruby’s backstory in classic Who tradition, weaving in the new companion’s story.
It’s also nice to see the Russell T Davies tradition of grounding those companions firmly in their home life, their own story back at play. To that end, we uncover a few secrets about Ruby that may unfold further in the coming seasons. We see teasers of her past; a foundling left outside a church by a mysterious woman the Doctor sees walk away. We meet her adopted family and her neighbour, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson), and discover that Ruby, a foundling, has been trying to find her birth family (enter Davina McCall, getting squashed by a Christmas tree thanks to goblin meddling). There’s a lightness of touch as this intriguing backstory is introduced, while staying mainly focused on the job at hand: saving Christmas and not having an unfortunate Goblin-King-twist on the baby Jesus in a manger narrative. It’s good to see a classic, dark Russell T Davies undertone here as well.
It’s a return to the classic Russell T Davies companion set-up where the family, the history and the background of the companion are integral to our understanding of the Doctor’s world, and will likely form an important plot point down the line. Then there’s Anita Dobson’s character, Mrs Flood. Who sits outside her house and watches the Tardis appear and reappear, asking, “What, you’ve never seen a Tardis before?” Clearly, we’ve not seen the last of Mrs Flood.
As for The Doctor’s introduction, we see Gatwa spinning around in a kilt in a nightclub, banter with a policeman, and meet Ruby’s family. We see him moodily staring off as Ruby’s mother (we assume) leaves her at the door to a church, and we see him reflect on being abandoned as a baby himself. It’s a mix of old and new Davies, threading some of the original Who lore through this new series, while Gatwa gives The Doctor a fresh burst of energy. The moment Fifteen meets Ruby’s eyes across a crowded dance floor feels reminiscent of the story Davies tells of meeting his late partner Andrew, which he described on Desert Island Discs, saying that he’d revisit that moment in time and space if he could.
The Church on Ruby Road treads a neat balance between the kind of one-off Christmas nonsense needed for this kind of episode and the set-up of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby. It’s different from the 60th-anniversary specials, which primarily cater to an established fanbase. The Christmas special is attempting to appeal to family members coerced into watching it by die-hard fans and trying to convert casual viewers into returning for the new series next spring. Is the plot sometimes a little light on details? Yes. While the goblins seem to pose little threat to the planet at large, or at least a larger masterplan beyond a baby-shaped Christmas dinner is not indicated. It’s just scary enough, just dangerous enough, just exciting enough to satisfy Christmas evening viewing and while goblin time-bending choas might not be the most sophisticated or menacing Doctor Who plot, that’s sort of the point. Nobody needs a deep dive into 60 years of Who mythology after Christmas dinner, neither do they want children terrified of a goblin Invasion. A catchy song over some mild danger is probably good enough. What Davies delivers in allows the Doctor to save the day just in time for another mince pie.
Overall, the episode does that really well. There are monsters and chases, along with an engaging, suitably mysterious introduction to the new Doctor and companion. A tantalizing tease for the tone and sort of plot lines we can expect next season. For the seasoned Who fan, this feels like coming home.
Davies already firmly parked the Tardis back in the Whoniverse in the recent specials, but they were a trip to the past, while this is a look to the future: a new Doctor, a new companion, and a new era. And Davies is treating it that way for now, moving away from the old mythology-laden stories in favour of one-off fun and possibly starting afresh next season.
The ‘bi-generation’ of the specials offered a fresh slate for the Fifteenth Doctor, wiping away some of the emotional baggage, giving Davies and Gatwa freedom to play a little more in the Whoniverse. And play Gatwa does. He’s not so much a breath of fresh air as a whirlwind. He’s witty, energetic, and entirely himself. Comparing him to previous recent Doctors, he has the physical energy of Matt Smith’s Eleven, merged with some of the wit of David Tennant’s Ten, along with a sprinkle of Peter Capaldi’s Twelve’s more unhinged moments. In short, it is not a total reset, not a total Davies retconning of the previous showrunners. Instead, it is more of a classic, the Doctor as the sum of their parts, getting a reset by whoever steps into the Tardis. One episode isn’t enough to get the measure of Ncuti’s Fifteen, but it’s an exciting teaser, as is this Christmas episode as a whole. It’s exciting because Davies’ new Who is still so full of possibilities and questions. Will ‘Mavity’ have more of an impact than we think? Who is Mrs Flood? What of Ruby’s past? What of the Doctor’s past? What is on the jukebox? And much more.
And as a coda, we have, for the first time, a queer actor in charge of the Tardis. And a gay showrunner is back in charge. What does that mean for the Whoniverse? All good things, hopefully. Gatwa is outright fabulous as The Doctor and does not have to hide a shred of who he is in this role, and that’s exciting. So are the hints of more inclusivity with folks being able to see themselves reflected in the Whoniverse for the first time.
This Christmas special is a thrilling indication of what’s to come, and a really fun ride. There’s Gatwa spinning in a kilt in a nightclub, Goblin Kings, and mysterious neighbours. There’s a universe of possibilities for the newest incarnation of The Doctor. Now, if we could all get that goblin song out of our heads!
By Dr Emily Garside
Stream Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road on BBCiPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ in the US and internationally.
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