This reaction piece was originally published on my (now-defunct) Substack newsletter on 26/12/23.

Doctor Who is back on Christmas Day and that’s just a really nice thing! From my final years in primary school all the way up to my final year at university, there was a Doctor Who Christmas Special; it just seemed to be a given in the schedules. And then. in 2018, it went away for five whole years and it was sorely missed, so much so that I would pick out an older one to watch on or around Christmas Day just to make things feel more Christmassy. But it’s back! It’s really back and now I can share my thoughts on it right here.

Pre-Titles

Doctor Who was on BBC1 at 5:55pm. 5 + 5 + 5 = 15. Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor. Coincidence? I think not!

A Christmas Carol of the Bells! I love that we have an episode called The Church on Ruby Road and then the first thing we see is the titular church on Ruby Road. (Does the Church have a name? A patron saint?)

I also love a short, snappy pre-titles that just gets to the point. A baby is left on the door of a church on Christmas Eve by an unknown figure. The Doctor is a time traveller that likes to solve these kinds of mysteries. It feels like RTD is trying to do his own spin on the Moffat ‘mystery box’ companion trope.

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby

(Honestly, will we ever hear the Kaiser Chiefs sing Ruby in an episode?)

This opening scene feels genuine and believable. Davina McCall has been presenting episodes of Long Lost Family each year on ITV since 2011. Doctor Who has always felt like it has a theme of ‘found family’. We get to hear the new companion Ruby describe her own life in her own words. Davina checks if the terms she is using are okay with Ruby. And then there’s the cackling of goblins, just on the peripherals of the world/screen – causing little bits of trouble. I can practically hear RTD tittering to himself as he wrote this!

Ruby is a foundling. She has a happy relationship with her foster mother. She plays keyboard in a band with her friends. She goes out to a bar and sees a stranger in a kilt dancing the night away, and then manages to just catch her drink. And then she drops it anyway! We’re not here to learn who the Fifteenth Doctor is, that can wait. We’re here to learn who Ruby Sunday is and how she sees the world.

“You’re jinxed, Ruby!” (Me: And there’s a Monsoon coming.)

The Doctor using his sonic to save the taxi cab from being crushed is a really nice low-key character beat. As is the moment he tells the police officer that his girlfriend is going to say yes; reminds me of a similar moment in the TV Movie when the Doctor tells someone which exam question to pick, but executed a little more slickly here.

Just Popping Back From The Shops

Haha, they can’t afford the TfL roundel so the bust stop says London Carriage Association.

An old woman (Mrs Flood) is complaining about a police box blocking the pathway. But the thing I want to note is that she can do a fun run in twenty-five minutes flat which means she’s about as fast as me when I go running; this scares me.

It’s a simple thing but RTD getting other supporting characters to draw attention to the staples of Doctor Who such as the police box and the sonic screwdriver is Quite Good Actually. The most boring thing you could possibly do is have the Doctor explain what these are to the new companion in an infodumpy way. Instead, we are learning about them through their on-screen use and bits of chit-chat.

Ruby’s shopping falls out of the bag thanks to goblins and I’m genuinely upset that the eggs are broken.

The music as Ruby enters the flat sounds like it’s from the beginning of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I can’t explain this.

Ruby’s foster mother has a new baby on Christmas Eve. Coincidence? I think not!

Last episode we had an appearance from John Logie Baird, and then in this episode we have Ruby suggest Noele as a festive name for the baby. So that’s two episodes in a row that RTD has referenced his last TV show, Nolly.

Cherry Sunday’s cup of tea arc MAKES THIS EPISODE.

Little bit of social commentary on the flat rents here as well.

“Rule one: don’t lose the baby.” NEW RULE ONE.

Davina (Mc)calls back. She delivers the difficult news to Ruby that there’s no trace of any relatives; it’s also just the mark of a professional TV presenter.

“I’ve even been trampled by a moose!” lol lmao rofl

As soon as I could tell that Davina was going to have another accident I was just cackling very, very loudly. Reminds me of Jackie Tyler’s “I’m going to get killed by a Christmas tree!”

Don’t Lose The Baby

Ruby finds the baby has been stolen and instinctively gives chase to the goblins. Classic foolhardy bravery from a companion. I love how she berates the goblins for hissing at her.

And now we reach the preview clip. I love the dynamic energy and playful anger from Ncuti Gatwa as Fifteen. “A ladder in the sky and you thought, “Yeah, I’ll give that a go, babes”? But with the prior context, it seems like Fifteen has been following Ruby for a while. Or is that just a coincidence?

His smile as soon as he sees Ruby after jumping on the ladder.

The Doctor has a new gadget in the form of gloves that hold the user’s weight. Fans love it when Doctor Who introduces new things; I still don’t understand all the fuss over the Sonic Shades back in 2015. Also there’s another mavity joke.

They’re called goblins because they will gobble you up!

The Doctor says the Goblin Ship is beautiful as soon as he sees it. I agree. Honestly, who’s sat at home trying to work out the aerodynamics of this work of fiction??

I love how the Doctor knows he’s going to get captured as soon as he arrives so just flashes a cheeky grin and says “Hiya!” Fifteen oozing in charm and charisma here.

Fifteen feels like the Doctor to me whilst talking to Ruby. He thinks Lulubelle is a lovely name, tells Ruby to learn the language of luck and works out how to escape using the ropes of the Goblin Ship. He sees the world differently and makes us want to see what he sees.

Why did the Goblins pick on Davina McCall? Banter, apparently.

The Goblin Song is a foot-stomping Bop. I can already picture a convention where everyone is dressed as pirate goblins and chanting along to this song. RTD wants us to be a weird cult.

Have you heard Christina Rotondo, aka the voice of Janis Goblin, on the Who La La podcast? You should do! Go here!

Goblin King has major Jabba the Hut vibes. The Doctor curtseys him because gender is a social construct.

The Doctor buys time to make an escape by making a song and dance because those are the rules we are operating on today. Now I think THAT is fun and playful writing.

Home Again, Home Again

I like how the Doctor takes a moment to look round the flat, speak with the relatives and appreciates the family photos. This is a departure from the Doctor who tries to avoid making acquaintances and get out the place ASAP.

Cherry still hasn’t got her cup of tea.

The glove is low on battery and That’s A Mood.

The Doctor refuses to say that the Goblin’s form of physics is magic. But Ruby still calls it magic. It’s a kind of magic. (Cherry says “We three queens in the sky”)

RTD is doing a light-hearted situation comedy bit where the Doctor and Ruby try to pretend to Carla that nothing weird is happening. But then it unexpectedly yet brilliantly turns back to Ruby’s phone call earlier where she finds out she has no blood relatives. Being with the Doctor doesn’t mean she can ignore or run away from these things.

The moment where Carla talks about all the children she has fostered over the years is probably my favourite scene in the episode. It’s a heartfelt moment between her and Ruby that shows us their relationship, and then intercuts with the Doctor looking at baby Lulubelle. We can see him thinking, reflecting on all the people he’s met and all the companions he has had, how they all stayed with him and left him. He remembers that he is adopted and doesn’t know where he’s from – RTD really is picking up and running with The Timeless Child arc from Series 12.

The string of coincidences are so powerful they crack their way through the entire flat! Steven Moffat is pointing at his TV somewhere.

Cherry STILL doesn’t have her cup of tea.

And now Ruby has vanished.

The Darkest Timeline

The way the flat is darker and greyer and moodier when Ruby has disappeared. Carla really meant it when she said that Ruby was the light of her life, because things are bleaker now.

The way Carla mentions “£800 per child” is chilling. Lives distilled to economics.

The Doctor and Carla cry silently together. But only the Doctor knows why. 😦

The Doctor vowing to fix the timeline feels like a Mission Statement. The Doctor is someone who travels through time and fixes problems. This is what the show is about. Not terribly unsubtle but at least it doesn’t hit me over the head.

Everything in the episode has been building up to this climax. We care about the baby being rescued because we care about Ruby. We know what’s at stake because we have seen Lulubelle be captured and nearly eaten. The Doctor uses the mass-shifting gloves to weigh down the Goblin Ship and ultimately impales the Goblin King with the church spire. It’s not terribly complex and clever, but it is satisfying in the most straightforward of ways.

Then the Doctor catches the baby. An iconic Hero moment. He weaves himself into Ruby’s timelines.

Who is the cloaked person that we believe is Ruby’s mother? The Doctor could chase after her, but chooses to leave her. Perhaps he’s learnt from experience (See Flux).

Crack To The Future

The Doctor is SO HAPPY to see Ruby. Everything is back to normal.

And then he goes off again just to rescue Davina McCall, who DID NOT die.

The Doctor doesn’t want to ask Ruby to travel with him because he thinks he’s the Bad Luck. Already back to his self-critical ways.

CHERRY SUNDAY FINALLY HAS HER CUP OF TEA!!!!!!!

The Doctor hasn’t fixed the crack in their flat. Send round the UNIT Insurance Claims Assessor I say.

Ruby has her moment piecing all the information together. She works out that he’s a time traveller for herself and then pursues him. She wants to go. And the TARDIS is waiting for her.

Obligatory It’s Bigger On The Inside Moment. Checkbox ticked.

Ncuti Gatwa proudly announces “I’m the Doctor!” Another checkbox ticked.

A mid-credits sequence does feel like a Disney+/Marvel-esque touch. But then again, that also happened in 2014’s Death in Heaven so I’m just overthinking here.

Who is Mrs Flood? Just don’t say it’s The Rani. You can’t just claim every Mysterious Woman in Doctor Who is The Rani. If you think she’s The Rani then you owe me a cookie for being wrong. It’s not the bloody Rani.

Doctor Who will return in (May) 2024. Well, that’s alright then.

> 

In summary, I felt this was the lightest and breeziest of the 2023 Doctor Who specials. Perhaps the Christmas Special is walking so that the new series can really run? But I very much enjoyed the time spent with it. Likeable and memorable characters, cracking bits of dialogue and that chemistry between the Doctor and Ruby is just instant.

I’ve heard (via Georgia Tennant’s Instagram stories) that RTD referred to these specials as ‘The Bridge’ and I can see why. From a standing start, he needed to re-establish Doctor Who on Saturday nights and as festive viewing, he needed to mark the 60^th anniversary with at least one special episode, AND he needed to find a new Doctor and companion. The 60^th anniversary specials with Tennant and Tate allowed him to buy the time needed to cast them and used the Xmas Special to establish them. I don’t really think there could have practically been a better compromise.

Plus, I’m just really happy to just straight forwardly enjoy a run of episodes. Hopefully you enjoyed it too? Let me know what you thought. And I hope you’ve had a Merry Christmas and will go onto have a Happy New Year. And don’t have any accidents, yeah?

>