Stories Television Doctor Who Season One The Church on Ruby Road 24 images Overview Characters How to Watch Reviews 16 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 25 Transcript + Script Overview First aired Monday, December 25, 2023 Written by Russell T Davies Directed by Mark Tonderai Runtime 50 minutes Story Type Clean break, Christmas, New Companion Introduction, New Doctor Introduction, Special Time Travel Past, Present Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Breaking the Fourth Wall, Mavity, Original Song, Rewriting History Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Susan Twist, Ruby's mother, Mrs Flood Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Intelligent Gloves, Sonic Screwdriver Location (Potential Spoilers!) Earth UK Viewers 7.49 million Appreciation Index 82.3 Synopsis Long ago, on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, goblins, stolen babies and, perhaps, the secret of her birth. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa Ruby Sunday Millie Gibson First Appearance Carla Sunday First Appearance Goblins First Appearance Goblin King First Appearance Spoiler!Click to reveal 👀 Cherry Sunday First Appearance Davina McCall First Appearance Mrs Flood Anita Dobson First Appearance Show All Characters (8) How to watch The Church on Ruby Road: Watch on iPlayer Watch on Disney+ Doctor Who Unleashed BTS on YouTube Video Commentary DVD The Church on Ruby Road Blu-Ray The Church on Ruby Road Blu-Ray Season One [Steelbook] Blu-Ray Season One DVD Season One Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 16 reviews 20 April 2025 · 57 words Review by Lizzie-Hassan-Robyn Oh my, I really love the Fifteenth Doctor! Suave, energetic, Doctory! He seems like the sort of kind gentleman I'd dream of watching Doctor Who with Robyn, Hassan and me some day. What a shame he's fictional. Conclusion: Good intro, but it's nowhere near as good as Blink. ❤️❤️ - Lizzie xxxxx Next up: The Devil's Chord Lizzie-Hassan-Robyn View profile Like Liked 0 11 April 2025 · 123 words Review by zachbot3000 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! Ncuti is going to be one of the greatest doctors we've ever seen. His charisma is undeniable. And his capacity for drama is evident from the first shot of him in the show, lips quivering with a tear on his cheek. This Christmas special had a lot of heavy lifting going for it. We need to meet The Doctor, we need to meet Ruby Sunday, we need a mystery, and we need to have a fun Christmas time. All in all, I think it succeeded but I would love it if we got maybe an extra half hour for antics. Fortunately it looks like there will be plenty of those in the spring! Oh and WHO IS THAT OLD WOMAN IN THE END???!!! zachbot3000 View profile Like Liked 0 7 April 2025 · 92 words Review by joeymapes21 1 The perfect fun for a Christmas special, this is just a wonderfully light and fun story, that is best suited for Christmas. For the first full episode of this Doctor, and the introduction to Ruby, it works so well. This is a highlight story for both of these characters, who give great performances, and a great dynamic throughout this story, which adds to the enjoyment throughout this story. The Goblins might not be the most threatening creatures, but the key here is the Doctor and Ruby, and they sparkle in this episode. joeymapes21 View profile Like Liked 1 2 April 2025 · 141 words Review by CptnOfTheYellowSub 1 The Goblins are cute. I like their airship of wood and rope. How steampunk! I was not sold on Ruby Sunday as a character from just this first episode. A character introduction is supposed to make me like her. It's like they were trying to take the best bits of Clara and Rose and mush them together hoping to strike magic again, but instead she just felt generic. I like her mum and granny though. They stole the show. I really felt empathy for Ruby's Mum in the kitchen scene. (I've forgot her name.) Not going to forget the name Cherry Sunday though. Please someone get this poor woman some tea. Also yay, foster kid representation! Which just hammers home how generic Ruby is, if I was primed to like her as a fellow foster kid, and yet, I feel nothing. CptnOfTheYellowSub View profile Like Liked 1 31 March 2025 · 8 words Review by CarrotJuice 2 Very fun. One of the better Christmas specials. CarrotJuice View profile Like Liked 2 Show All Reviews (16) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating1,023 members 3.52 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating542 votes 3.58 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1561 Favourited 122 Reviewed 16 Saved 10 Skipped 1 Related Stories Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. BBC Books The Church on Ruby Road Rating: 3.83 Story Skipped Book Reviews(3) More Actions Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite DOCTOR: Once upon a time, late on Christmas Eve, a stranger came to the church on Ruby Road. She carried in her arms the most precious gift of all. A newborn child. A baby girl. Just before midnight, she left her daughter on the steps of the church. The child was taken in, and they named her Ruby, after the place where she was found. As for the mother, she was never seen again. No one ever knew her name, until that night a time traveller came to call. A traveller known as the Doctor. — Fifteenth Doctor, The Church on Ruby Road Show All Quotes (25) Open in new window Transcript + Script [Outside the church] (Snowing. The church has a square tower with a spire on top. A figure places a baby outside the vestry door, the priest comes out and takes it in as the figure walks away.) DOCTOR [OC]: Once upon a time, late on Christmas Eve, a stranger came to the church on Ruby Road. She carried in her arms the most precious gift of all. A newborn child. A baby girl. Just before midnight, she left her daughter on the steps of the church. The child was taken in, and they named her Ruby, after the place where she was found. As for the mother, she was never seen again. No one ever knew her name, until that night a time traveller came to call. A traveller known as the Doctor. [Bar - December 1, 2023] (Filming an interview.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window View Script (PDF)
