‘Doctor Who’: Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson on Mystery of Ruby Sunday’s Parents
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Doctor Who 2023 Holiday Special “The Church on Ruby Road.”]
“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 traveler came to call, a traveler known as The Doctor.”
With that, Doctor Who introduces us to Ruby as a baby, then shows her later as a young adult (Millie Gibson), having been adopted by Clara (Michelle Greenidge) and still knowing nothing about her parents. At one point in the special, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa, already fantastic and so much fun as the Time Lord) travels back to the moment she was left at the church to save her from goblins and sees whoever left her walking away. But all we can do is try to analyze that person’s walk and boots!
That mystery is “part of what The Doctor finds intriguing,” Gatwa tells TV Insider. “The Doctor’s someone who also really appreciates the ordinary. The ordinary is extraordinary to him. And so there’s something extraordinary about this whole situation that he needs to try and figure out.” That also “strengthens the bond” between The Doctor and his newest companion because this big question “piques his curiosity.”
Gibson has already started seeing the theories about who left the baby at that church, including that it’s Ruby herself (“I’m not sure about that one”). What she is able to tease is it’s “ongoing throughout the series: Who is Ruby’s mother? It’s a really cool concept, I think, and I’m very excited to see what the fans come up with,” she says.
Though showrunner Russell T Davies didn’t reveal the truth until near the end of filming, Gibson did have a theory during her audition. “I think it was my dad that came up with a really good one, and I won’t say it because I don’t want to spoil anything just in case people rule it off because I’ll be giving away a good theory there,” she adds.
Shortly before she meets The Doctor, Ruby is interviewed by Davina McCall (playing herself) about being a “foundling,” and the television presenter tells her that her DNA sample has been taken and will be used to track her genetic heritage to find someone in her family hopefully. But then later, Davina calls to tell her there’s no trace of her mother or father, and if they’re not in the database, there’s nothing more to do. Isn’t that unusual, Ruby asks, to not have a single trace anywhere?
Bad Wolf/BBC Studios
“I think that was her last hope in her eyes,” Gibson says. “But then obviously, when she meets The Doctor, he opens a whole new world to her where it’s like, ‘Okay, maybe he can help me find her.’ But that moment when Davina does break the news to her, it’s heartbreaking. It is sad, but I remember I didn’t want to make it too sad because it’s Christmas day, and she’s a positive gal.”
Still, while she might not have answers yet, she is getting closer. Is she ready for that, considering she’s known who she is her entire life without them? “I think before she met The Doctor, she had more of a sensible answer in her head, like, how bad could it be? But then when he’s opened her eyes up to this whole new world, she’s like, ‘Okay, maybe I don’t know if I want to know this,'” Gibson admits. “I think it’s just nail-biting and very just sad. I think she’s just sad about it inevitably.”
In “The Church on Ruby Road,” The Doctor and Ruby’s adventure is confined to her present-day (and location), though she realizes he’s a time traveler after comments about Houdini (he frees himself from ropes and remarks about a “long, hot summer” with the escape artist) and going back (after she was taken as a baby). With that, she rushes outside and sees the TARDIS, with her neighbor, Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson), encouraging her to enter (and wishing her luck). But why does Ruby step inside?
While she is “a very family-oriented girl,” according to Gibson, “she is craving adventure. She even says to Davina McCall, ‘I’m just waiting for my life to begin.’ [Then] there’s The Doctor. She’s just giddy and excited and craving a bit of life and fun.”
Speaking of Mrs. Flood, who earlier in the episode watches The Doctor take off in the TARDIS, comments he looks like he lost a pound and found a sixpence, and asks who he is, she has one of the most intriguing moments of the entire special to cap it off: After the TARDIS takes off with The Doctor and Ruby inside, she asks, “Never seen a TARDIS before?”
“How cool is that ending?” Gibson gushes. “Honestly, it gives me goosebumps every time. I think Anita Dobson is so brilliant and probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I am going to tell you: Yeah, you’re going to see a little bit more of her.”
The Christmas special was actually the second episode Gibson filmed, and she calls it “a lot more fun than the first one I filmed,” teasing, “you’ll see why.” But as for “The Church on Ruby Road,” she found it “really fun to be free with finding how [Ruby’s] personality works” and working with Gatwa after not getting to do so much in the other episode due to his work on Sex Education. She enjoyed “just finding that bond and that connection” as well as working on the scene where The Doctor and Ruby run around trying to hide things the goblins could use to cause accidents. “The challenge of all of that was just so much fun. It really adds to the dynamic on screen, you can see,” she shares.
Speaking of the goblins (singing, too!), “we all became so enamored with [them] by the end of the shoot,” Gatwa laughs. “The mini ones, to be fair, I only remember as little tennis balls running around everywhere. But the Goblin King, that was a real-life thing that we could interact with. And by the end of the week, we all felt like it was so cute, baby eating aside.”
So, who do you think Ruby’s parents are? Head to the comments with your theories.
Doctor Who, New Season, 2024, Disney+
