DOCTOR WHO: THE CHURCH ON RUBY ROAD review.

One of the joys of the 21st century iteration of Doctor Who is how emotionally literate the series is. Executive producer Russell T. Davies established this approach right at the beginning in 2005, and in 2023 concluded an 18-year character arc for the Doctor – fittingly so, as this year was Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. Beginning as a damaged loner who didn’t “do families” under Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor, David Tennant’s tired 14th regeneration, wearing the face of the 10th, finally achieved contentment with his adopted family, the Nobles.

Like the best songs, this emotionally driven drama resonates with experiences in audiences’ lives. After an up and down year in my personal life, I found a lot to relate to in the 60th anniversary trilogy. The overriding theme was identity – the Doctor rediscovering who he was, the Meep’s hidden nature in ‘The Star Beast’, the doppleganger paranoia of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and the Doctor’s bigeneration in ‘The Giggle’.

Personally speaking, I’ve come out the other side of 2023 knowing exactly who I am, and I’m now in a place as settled as Donna Noble’s household. Which means I was more than ready for a Doctor who’s rediscovered the joys of living.

Ncuti Gatwa was emphatically the Doctor from his first scene with David Tennant in ‘The Giggle’. With a toothy grin that recalls another, earlier Doctor, he shone with charisma, vitality and authority. Unlike most other regenerations, here’s a Doctor not afraid to be honest about how he feels. In ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, he empathised with Ruby Sunday about being adopted, openly cried, laughed, spun around on a nightclub dancefloor lost in the moment, and gleefully sang his way out of trouble. The 4th Doctor once said there was “no point being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes”, but with the 15th, you could amend that to “there’s no point being grown up if you can’t have a good time all the time.”

Paired with Millie Gibson’s sparkling Ruby (above), we already have a Doctor/companion partnership the equal of the 4th Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith, the 5th and Tegan Jovanka, the 10th and Rose, or the 12th and Clara Oswald. The fizzing chemistry between the two actors is such a joy to watch and experience. In terms of the relationship between Ncuti and Millie’s characters, you already get the feeling that this is a love that goes way beyond a straightforward romantic one. It’s something deeply spiritual, a perfect matching of kindred souls. That’s wonderful to see on television in 2023.

In terms of story, as with a lot of the Doctor Who Christmas specials, it was a bit of fluff – alien baddies kidnap a child the new companion cares about, which brings her into the orbit of the Doctor, i.e. the main point of the episode. The goblins (below) were fun though, while the Doctor and Ruby joining in with the creatures’ dining song was the closest the modern series has come to acknowledging one of its major influences – Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). There was more than a suggestion of Buffy’s musical episode, ‘Once More with Feeling’, about ‘The Church on Ruby Road’.

At the start of a new era, Russell has laid in some intriguing story arcs that he’ll no doubt keep us guessing about for quite a while – Ruby’s enigmatic neighbour, Mrs Flood (a twinkling Anita Dobson), and the mysterious woman who left baby Ruby on the doorstep of the church. I have a mad theory that Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor gave birth to a child which, for some unknown reason, she then had to abandon. Whoever that woman is, her physical build certainly resembles the 13th Doctor. I think RTD might just be bold enough to do it.

At 60 years of age, Doctor Who has never been in ruder health.