Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road

The 2023 Christmas Special of Doctor Who, this is also the very first adventure of the 15th Doctor, portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa.

 

Normally the Doctor tends to regenerate at the end of a series, but in this case the 13th Doctor ended the previous season, and the 15th began the new.  And the 14th?  For that you need to have a look at the 60th Anniversary specials!

 

This christmas special, featuring the first real outing of the 15th Doctor, focusses on him meeting his new companion, Ruby Sunday, an orphan who lives with her adoptive mother Carla and grandmother Cherry.  She was abandoned at the church on Ruby Road, hence where her name came from, and is looking to find her birth parents to no avail.  A new baby arrives at her fostermom's, Lulubelle, but is kidnapped by goblins.

 

Ruby chases them over the roof, with the Doctor also in pursuit and meeting her as such as they board the goblin airship.  When the baby is about to be offered to the Goblin King, who feeds on babies and causes back luck on those around, but after saving them a crack appears in the ceiling of Ruby's house causing a change in her foster mom's personality and no-one recollecting Ruby.  The Doctor realises the goblins must have gone back in time to kill baby Ruby, and saves her in the past, impaling the Goblin King in doing so.

 

He brings baby Ruby to a church on Ruby Road, to ensure the parson finds her, and setting the timeline right again.  Together with Ruby, they step into the TARDIS of to new adventures.

 

So a fun intro to the new characters, with a very catchy Goblin jazzband singing about their plans for babies, it was definitly a great fun special.