TL;DR – It hit the energy that you wanted for the first time a Doctor and their Companion met – chaos, fun, with a hint of sadness.

Post Credit Scene – Depending on which version you are watching, there is something before the credits proper start, but after the end of the episode.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Doctor Who Review –

We have just barrelled through the 60^th Anniversary specials with The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, and The Giggle; however, we are not done yet. There is a tradition that has been more or less followed throughout the years, and that is a special Christmas Episode. It has been a while since we had a Christmas special that was also our first proper introduction to a new Doctor, but let’s dive in to see if they can pull it off.

So to set the scene, one Christmas Eve, a stranger came to the old church on Ruby Road. A woman cloaked in black dropped her daughter off at the church at midnight and left. She was named Ruby after the street, but no one knew who her mother was or why a time-traveling Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) appeared. In 2023, Ruby (Millie Gibson) is just an average woman going through her life, well, almost normal. Because you see, there is a trail of bad luck that keeps following her around. The bad luck that spawns from tiny little hands pulling out electric plugs. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

Every new Doctor brings a different energy when they come into the role, and I am not sure that any one image summed up Ncuti’s Doctor more than him dancing in the club bathed in purple light while wearing a kilt. It brings a more youthful energy to the role while also winking at Ncuti, who is from Scotland. It also helps reinforce the ending of The Giggle, where we discover that bi-generation had some sort of therapeutic effect. I am not going to get into what that means for regeneration because there are already some wild theories going around, thanks to Russell T Davies’ appearance on a podcast or two.

But The Doctor is only one half of the equation and more than anything, The Church on Ruby Road is Ruby’s episode. Well, on that front, I think we got an excellent introduction to the character. We get to meet her friends, her neighbours, and her family. We get to see how her past drives her, but not in a heavy emotional baggage kind of way. She found a loving family, but she would like to know where she came from. But more than anything, she is a hero. She did not hesitate before jumping on that ladder to save the baby. Her interaction with The Doctor on the ladder might be one of the funniest things I have seen this year.

But on that front, where there is a ladder, there is a wooden goblin sail ship in the sky. Thankfully, unlike most people, I had missed The Goblin Song before I got to see it live here, which is good because I don’t think I would have wanted that stuck in my head when meeting family for Christmas. I thought the Goblins were a reasonably strong villain. They are mischief makers, to the point where they probably would have been left alone like the Adipose before they took things too far. Also, the idea that a Goblin Ship would have human-sized wooden air ducts was ridiculous and amazing all at once.

Now, much like Rose (Billie Piper) showing up on Donna’s (Catherine Tate) first day or Vote Saxon posters appearing in Season Three,  Russell T Davies likes to throw in a little mystery to tie the season together or hint at something bigger coming. But this season, there is a bit of bait and switch. The big hint here is that there will be some mystery around who Ruby’s mother is. Indeed, they cloaked her in black and had The Doctor look longingly at her. However, the bigger mystery is how Ruby’s neighbour, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson), knows what a TARDIS is? I liked that they dropped that in there right at the last second.

In the end, do we recommend Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road? Yes, we do. Indeed, I think this might be my favourite of all the 2023 specials because it is very much looking forward to the future. Ncuti and Millie have great chemistry together, and I love everything they have built around Millie’s world. If there is one thing I am not sure on, it is the new Sonic Screwdriver, but time might only be an issue of time.      

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Doctor Who yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Doctor Who
Directed by – Mark Tonderai
Written by – Russell T Davies
Production/Distribution Companies – BBC Studios, Badwolf & Disney+
Starring – Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson with Davina McCall, Anita Dobson, Michelle Greenidge & Angela Wynter and Coccy Bradley, Mary Malone, Hemi Yeroham, Gemma Arrowsmith, Rachelle Beinart, Jess Judge, Dilu Miah, Giuseppe Lentini, Andrew Francis & Lukas Disparrow