Please stop threatening to eat one of your cats, one day Russell will surprise you! 🐈😼🥺

One thing to note about the church pillar stabbing the Goblin King and not baby Ruby: it's coincidence and bad luck. For any other story, I'd argue it doesn't work. However, the story is all about stuff like this.

This special confirmed I didn't dislike the Christmas specials - I just didn't like Capaldi's (except Husbands) but I did like the Chibnall Dalek specials - basically, as long as the episode is one I like, I don't care what date it airs. If future specials keep up this quality, I am happy to enjoy many more years of them.

I’m really glad most people are loving it, I wish I was in the same camp the episode just didn’t really do much for me. Favourite Christmas special is probably A Christmas Carol.

8:49 I'm so glad someone else noticed that detail! 😀 Also, being in a band and able to play an instrument doesn't mean that one necessarily has good singing abilities.

Finally something positive I just don't wanna be involved with something negative

You read my mind with that Todd in the Shadows clip! 😂 He doesn't get to use that gag often enough these days.

The goblin song gives me jabba’s palace vibes

This special is really a great start or first impression for Ruby and Doctor, and the dynamic was also interesting. For me, my favorite specials, including this one, are "The Runaway Bride", "The Snowmen", "The Husbands of River Song", "Resolution", "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe." I think that the dynamic between Doctor and the companions is my weakness, I always appreciate an episode when dynamics are so interesting. And the reason I like "Resolution" is this special pictured Daleks really well, it's horrifying, which was also the reason why this one is so enjoyable. As for the "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe," I am aware of that there would be many opinions say otherwise, and I understand why. Nonetheless, this one really hit me hard on personal level, the war, Madge's toughness and affection, the last part that Madge took them home always makes me cry so much.

Really glad you liked this story. After it broadcast I thought to myself 'what have the trolls got to complain about now?' - then I saw hundreds of comments of people saying it was the 'worst episode ever, would give minus stars if I would, the food was late and the chips were soggy' etc., the usual negative google review. I genuinely thought they had all seen a different episode to me, they must have, I had such a great time watching it. When I started seeing people say 'Ncuti is a bad actor', yeah that kinda signalled to me they weren't being honest and were just towing the mainstream media narrative 'Doctor Who is dead, it's political correctness gone mad, it's woke, it didn't even say the Tories were literal angels on Earth'. Honestly it has just proven to me that audience reviews are basically useless now, because the majority of people who like something generally don't say much, but when people have a political agenda to tear something down, they will forgo sleep and food to make hundreds of comments telling everyone why 'thing bad, thing woke'. I'm glad I wasn't just going mad and this review makes me feel validated.

I watched this episode with my mum and my 10 year old Brother and it was his first ever episode of Doctor Who he's seen and afterwards he said he wants to see more! What better approval is there? Amazing! And Ncuti Gatwa is absolutely incredible as the Doctor, I hate that we have to wait 4 more months to see more of him but at least that's not too long to wait!

In your Giggle review, you mentioned how Ncuti got robbed of the usual regeneration shenanigans that other Doctors have gotten. I didn't even stop to consider how disrespectful that was to Ncuti. I saw it as they wanted to give him a unique beginning, skip the finding himself part, and let him just take off right away. I liked using Tennant saluting him as a passing of the torch. I hoped that there would be some fans who saw that and were more warmed up to the change of actors. As disrespectful as his intro was, I LOVE Ncuti as The Doctor. He's so fresh, so free, so alive! It's contagious! I LOVE his entrance on the rooftop! "What the hell are you doing?" "Um, just, this!" "Well what did you do that for?" Same old Doctor but with a fresh lease on life.

The use of Bring Me The Horizon when discussing the Doctor pulling the Goblin ship down onto the church spire reinforces that MrTARDIS is the most based Doctor Who KZfaqr

The Christmas specials are rarely my favourite, in fact let's not mince words, I think the only ones I truly have a lot of affection for are The Christmas Invasion, A Christmas Carol, The Husbands of River Song, The Return of Doctor Mysterio and now The Church On Ruby Road my God these titles are getting lengthy

I’m so glad I was the only one who got Nine vibes from his “learning the vocabulary of rope” bit, even if Ncuti delivered it more chaotically than Nine who was more deadpan matter of fact. I really enjoyed this as a first story and it makes me really enthusiastic about directions to be taken for the new series.

Although some are divided on how he was introduced in The Giggle, Ncuti Gatwa is absolutely amazing in this special. Such charisma, sass and the perfect blend of comedy and drama. One thing I must ask, will you be making references to Eric from Sex Education in future reviews as it is Ncuti’s most famous role? If you can make Malcom Tucker jokes in Capaldi related reviews, it’ll be just a fun and easy to do. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a bit of Eric in 15?

I hadn’t even realised davina McCall had been killed

I loved the moment when the doctor told the police officer that she'd say yes. Such a fun moment that really understands the doctors character.

8:52 pretty sure you can rhyme the second to last word with the either a last word or another second to last word or just second to last, idk.

Love it great video as always! Feast of Stevens is an elite holiday special

I feel like I’m repeating myself because I’ve said this elsewhere on KZfaq, but I LOVE this episode, especially Ruby and the Doctor. Their bond is SO GOOD in this episode! Also, about the part where the goblins goes back in time and kidnaps Ruby as a baby, I watched a video once where someone said that a story about one person being miserable is more powerful than a story about a massive group of people being miserable, so the stakes in this scene being the happiness and well being of one family is more powerful than if Russell would make the stakes about all of London/the world being miserable.

My favorite Christmas specials are still The Runaway Bride, The Snowmen, and Twice Upon A Time but Ruby Road is still very good.

Having literally left his pain behind him, 15 seems to have gone back to the enigmatic curiosity of classic doctors, but still with potential for an arc. Watching him find a degree of piece with his identity through Ruby's family and then having it ripped away made this episode a tear jerker.

YES! I felt the exact same way about Ncuti giving 8 and 9 energy in those scenes lol. Also, very glad you loved the Goblin song. I've seen some people online hate on it, and I seriously don't get why. I very much agree that it's brilliant, both musically and visually, great campy fun :) I do have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of the resolution with the Goblin ship. Yeah, seeing the Doctor pull the ship down was epic and visually stunning, but it was a very violent solution for his first outing. Like, it wasn't totally out of character, seeing as how he's not even the first Doctor to impale someone on a church spire on their first outing lol (aka 12 in Deep Breath), but still, I felt like he never gave them a chance or an official warning. 12 gave more chances to a literal android, plus his arc was about not being sure whether he's a "good man" or not. Here, 15 just does it, catches the baby, no second thoughts or regrets and keeps moving as if the Goblins weren't actual living beings. It's the kind of thing I've leant to expect from Chibnall, but hoping for better from RTD. Not to mention the fact that plot wise, it also felt like another rushed, last minute solution. I guess I just didn't like that it was both too easy, and so violent; but maybe that's just me. Finally, I am actually surprised to hear you be so certain that Ms. Flood isn't an original character. Tbh it's my leading theory atm. I feel like we might get an actual return of Susan at some point, but I doubt it'd be her. I also highly doubt she's the Master (Russel said we won't be seeing the Master back for a while despite the tooth thing), and have a hard time believing she's gonna be the Rani lol. If the Rani or Susan do come back, I feel like they're more likely to be the mystery woman who seems to be watching the Doctor from afar (who was Neuton's maid and the woman at the club), rather than Ruby's next door neighbor. I feel like Ms. Flood is probably going to be someone whose more directly linked to Ruby (and/or possibly her birth parents), rather than someone from the Doctor's past. (And side-note: Don't think I knew about your wife being an SFX makeup artist, that's so cool!) Thank you for another great review!

Mrs Flood is a regenerated Professor Kronos (Shada), or maybe not - thank me later x

MrTardis featuring Todd In The Shadows… 😂 now THAT’S a smartly used trope… would have been better if Todd actually had a cameo in this review 😂

I honestly rank this in my top 3 Christmas specials, "Husbands of River Song" is still probably my favorite but It was a fun ride and I'm very excited to see what's next.

For me this episode was ok. A decent episode but not a great introduction to the show. Ruby lacks a motivation and world view to really challenge the Doctor and the episode as a whole needed a silent moment where the Doctor and Ruby really connected. I’m also worried that Ruby will be defined by her backstory rather than her character like Amy and Clara

I really enjoyed this episode, it has a lot of fun and vibrancy and charm and mostly energy thanks to Ncuti. Really good impressions on the new themes and cast for the show. I guess the only slight nitpicks I have are that as cool as the final sequence with the Doctor taking down the Goblin ship was, you technically could have removed that whole sequence with the Goblins stealing Ruby and the story wouldn't have changed, it felt a little bit tacked on just to add some last minute drama to the episode, but it was sweet and epic and cool so I'm not mad, I guess I just felt like maybe it could have been paced a bit better so it didn't feel quite so sudden and dare I say needless? And the only other thing is that I was a bit confused as to why the Doctor kept popping up around Ruby at the start. At first I thought it would be a timey wimey thing where the Doctor there is actually from the future going back to see Ruby to set events in motion, but it didn't seem to imply that, so was he just tracking her because he sensed the bad luck energy around her? I just think that could have been a bit better explained, unless of course it's all part of a big story twist that'll be elaborated on later of course

I'm not a fan of 99.9% musicals, so that aspect didn't work so well for me (though it wasn't bad, in my opinion). Aside from the musical number, I really enjoyed it. I think the plot was rather clever and the acting was fantastic. Im looking forward to the season ahead (cautiously optimistic).

The biggest issue I have with this special is that the opening scene sets up a different story from the rest of the special. The opening sets up the question who’s Ruby’s mother? The rest is about baby-stealing goblins. If I watch this special without the opening scene, I do like it.

4:47 OMG, I had the exact same thought! And the exact same scene in mind! 😀 6:23 And this gives me 10th Doctor vibes. Like Ten explaining the mysteries of the universe.

Agreed with almost everything you said here. I absolutely loved it for a ton of reasons. But I found the changes to the timeline in Ruby's mother and family the most heartbreaking and affecting part of the episode. With all the "evil stepmother" narratives in fairy tales and fiction, it's so refreshing to have such a healthy and happy found family depicted in Doctor Who. And when Russell (temporarily) takes that from us, and turned Carla - probably my favorite of all the companion moms we've seen in new Who - into a much worse person, it broke my heart. That whole part of the storyline had such Dickensian vibes, perfect for Christmas. (Probably why this special is fighting with A Christmas Carol for my favorite Who Xmas special, though I do love The Christmas Invasion and Voyage of the Damned a lot, too.) This special is Russell T Davies - one of Britain's greatest storytellers - at the top of his game. And with a cast worthy of story. I absolutely loved it. It has me really excited for a new era of Who, in much the same way I felt back in 2005.

The Christmas specials are my biggest fixation. I spend hours on end imagining what the new years special’s would’ve been like if they had been Christmas ones.

In terms of my thoughts on the Christmas specials, my top 3 would be Voyage of the Damned, A Christmas Carol, and maybe The Husbands of River Song. I need to rewatch the Capaldi specials though, I can remember liking Last Christmas but I can't actually *remember* it. In terms of my least favourite, it'd be The End of Time part 1, The Doctor, The Window and the Wardrobe, and The Return of Doctor Mysterio. Ruby Road would sit somewhere in the bottom half.

Was not expecting a Todd In the Shadows cameo. Even if he didn't know he was talking about this song when he said it

My favourite xmas specials were The Christmas Invasion and The Runaway Bride. Havent liked any since although ive grown to like A Christmas Carol over the years. So i wasnt particularly excited for this episode beyond watching dr who on Christmas day again. I thought it was ok, good fun in parts, really thin plot, just ok ending. The three 60th specials and this episode all suffer to varying degrees from RTD's issue first time around as show runner. He often fails to end a story satisfactorily. I know this is a christmas special and us fans should be grateful its back on Christmas day but i do worry that all the new episodes seem to have convenient endings having been set up so well in their first and second acts. Going forward, im hoping for higher stakes to the conclusion of stories (this is an old issue of RTD, much as i love the man and his first era) and I'm hoping Ruby's character isnt defined by her backstory alone. Overall, i should add that it was fun to see Dr Who back on Christmas day, the episode had some really nice moments and Ncuti was full of charisma, so the future could be very bright. Thanks for your review, i just watched your interview with Rob Shearman after watching your Dalekcember vids and was very impressed with them all.

Aside from any of the regeneration Christmas specials, my favourite is Last Christmas

Loved this episode. Don’t entirely agree but respect your opinion on the giggle. Loved the bigeneration. Can’t say you get very little of ncuti when it’s still 14s story. Gives us something new instead of the standard. Plus 15 saying “you get a prize honey” tells you all you need to know about him

Not a fan of the suggestion that last Christmas wasn't putting it's best foot forward when it's easily better than this episode in almost every conceivable way (Snowmen too but I that one I already saw your review of). This episode in general felt kind of empty. We didn't get a lot with Ruby or the Doctor and the villains left little impression. It was fine but that's in. Husbands of River Song still the best Christmas special.

I don’t know if it’s just me but without having actually watching Doctor Who that much I’m still a liter twisted on the events of the 14th Doctor directly to the 15th and I feel like it went bye super quick, although probably just because I haven’t watched it all!

The fact that the doctor says Janis' name implies they have met her before - I want a big finish spin off series!

Not a clue who Mrs Flood is, but I’m still hoping to meet The Corsair. I understand she was a bad girl.

I struggle to get on board with the Doctor's sexy night club dancing when you compare it to episodes like The End of the World, The Doctor Dances and especially Matt Smith's endearingly dorky moves in The Big Bang. But yeah, he got plenty of other much more Doctory moments in the rest of the story and I liked it overall.

I like The Church on Ruby Road

Doesn’t Ncuti Gatwa have experience in musicals?

Dare I say, best festive special since Voyage of the Damned

I feel like it’s a bit muddled with the motivations of the Goblins but overall it’s the best Christmas episode since like A Christmas Carol

Oh I ignored this video because the title was so long I couldn’t see REVIEW lol

Honestly, I think "Christmas Carol" is THE christmas special, but I feel like after that you can't top the christmas factor, so I'd rather hope they won't try. Apart from that I liked Russell's specials, because they were just stories that happen to be set during the festive period for mood. Love "Bride", because I am a sucker for having Donna around.

I didn't love this ep, but, I do think much has been improved. Visually the show looks great, the writing is better, music is killer and I think the cast are solid. I don't hate the Goblin Song which many appear to loathe, but, I do find the whole episode a bit flimsy and childish--not the worst thing ever by any means though. On the contrary I could see a younger audience enjoying this which would be great. I don't think the Jodie era put out great material that would appeal to anyone--a drag--but I think this Doctor and companion could really take off. (Sad to hear she'll be leaving so soon). tl;dr: While it may not be for me this is a good product and should attract new viewers, which I imagine is the goal of the entire endeavor.

Loved the episode amd loved your review as always! My favourite part was when Ruby was taken out of the timeline, because it felt so reminiscent of the Trickster from SJA. Personal theory, the goblins could be part of the Trickster's brigade, and he would work as "The One Who Waits* imo

I enjoyed it, it wasnt the best but it certainly wasnt the worst i will say i didnt like the goblin song though just wasnt for me but im glad you and anyone else enjoyed it.

I think that this a great ep

Yknow what, I'm glad all of the "woah ive regenerated and I'm finding myself, i was a brilliant woman just a moment ago" happened in the 60th specials, while those episodes were a bit bogged down by alot going on, this one feels incredibly well paced and lets Ncuti and Millie hit the ground running, I love it.

Me i overall think the special it great but the goblins really didn’t do much in the episode and I like Ncuti and Millie’s song a tad bit better than the goblin song and the cast was great I just mis in someways the post regeneration wonkyness of the doctor not knowing who he is yet minus the sleeping part

I thought the episode was pretty meh. The resolution was poor even by Doctor Who standards, and the antagonists were very uncompelling. I really didn't like the musical number, which felt very forced, and I'm not really a fan of how RTD2 seems to have pretty much abandoned the concept of being sci-fi and is now seemingly just straight-up fantasy. I loved the fairytale motif of series 5, but the show at least tried to stay grounded and come up with some justification. More generally, it just didn't feel especially exciting or fresh. It felt like RTD had never left and this was series 5 following the Tennant specials. Doctor Who thrives on change, but this era is feeling old before it has even truly started. I can't bring myself to care about the new mystery boxes RTD is coming with with, and if the quality remains this underwhelming I'm not sure my interest will be maintained for much longer. I liked Ncuti in the episode, but he didn't really blow me away. I feel like RTD didn't quite know what to do with him, whether to make him feel approachable or enigmatic. His first scene in the nightclub just feels out of place with his potrayal in the rest of the episode; in his first scene, he's supposed to come across as mysterious, with a similar approach as we got with Eccleston. But then the rest of the episode that idea isn't really returned to. Millie I'm more unambiguously positive about. I think she was great, and if there's one thing I'm happy to return from RTD1, it's the well-written and engaging companions. Moffat's companions felt like characters more than real people, playing to the same tropes of how Moffat tends to write women, whilst Chibnall's companions felt more real but were just not very well written. RTD is the master of writing good companions and Ruby is another hit. But ultimately, my worry with RTD coming back was that it would feel like a regression of the show rather than an evolution. Unfortunately, after the three specials that were very deliberately a look backwards, and now this episode which felt like it could have seamlessly aired 15 years ago, that worry is looking more and more correct to me.

Overall, a very strong start to Ncuti’s era of Doctor Who and definitely one of the best Christmas specials

Todd in the Shadows reference!! However, I'm still not sold on this special. It's basically a GREAT cast selling an oddly anemic script in which not that much seems to happen. Also, Ncuti's performance is fine, but I don't find his Doctor very tangible so far - and I put the blame on him always having to play the second fiddle. He's either giving cues to Tennant or he's pushed to the side so Ruby's character can be introduced. Sure, Series 14 probably will catch up with all that, but I'm not sure whether this approach over this long period of time really helps to make Ncuti acquainted with the general audience, especially when it still struggles to understand what the deal with that bi-generation is. Hurm. Idk.

👍

Honestly I don't like (I would even say "hate") this episode and almost everything goblin-related in it (except the final solution for this problem), but Gatwa is awesome (I mean when he inventive Doctor, action Doctor, dancing Doctor, not gloomy "I have no one and I bring people bad luck"-Doctor - that doesn't fit him at all) Miss Sunday was okay, I guess.

Your cats are looking at you askance now..

Wait...we're meant to feel sorry for Ruby as she's Mancunian...I'm from Yorkshire and even I think that's a bit harsh!

To say it was the best RTD special since Christmas Invasion is faint praise really because all his specials were hideous ...though Moffs Christmas specials were genuinely exceptional with Christmas carol, snowmen, last Christmas and husband's of River song ...TCORR isn't a touch on those in fact it's mostly forgettable if it wasn't for the genius use of crack return in the third act ...the rest of it was abysmal ... The Whittaker eras NYD specials was top tier I missed the Dalek NYD specials now they're no more

I quite enjoyed this episode a lot, however the pace felt slow.

I love the episode

Decent episode, serving as a great introduction for Ncuti, but I couldn't care less about the gremli..., sorry, goblins.

Great job on this review. Was nice to see a review focused on the narrative and not so focused on fucking “ wokeness”

My problem with the song is that the voice doesn’t sound like it’s coming out of a little goblin.

please do not eat the car...

My favourite who Xmas special is the runway bride. It's the one I always watch at Christmas time. I'll looking forward to the target book.

I hope, for your cats sake, Mrs.Flood is NOT an original character

My favourite is the Church on Ruby Road, one up from Voyage of the damned. But Church is peak, not only is Ncuti is so fun and has infinite charisma, it felt christmasy with theme of family, the entire cast were great, and that metal ending, just wow

I got to say, I really didn’t like this episode, good acting, but a plot as interesting as watching paint dry.

I think I may be in the minority here but I didn't like this episode. I appreciate the cast giving it their best and the production seems good but I just don't like this story and the pacing is very poor. I was optimistically hopeful that rtd would right the ship after chibnall wrecked things but instead Russell's year if specials has just been bad in different ways. It's all the weaknesses of when he ran the show before without anything good for the audience to latch on to.

I loved this special, ncuti is a great doctor 👌 the only thing I don't like is the way he says "I'm the doctor", I just don't believe it

I'll stand apart here and say that my wife and I really didn't like this episode. I don't know, maybe it's all the baby-eating? Bit bleak at the best of times, let alone on Christmas. Ncuti and Millie are cracking, both together and apart, but my goodness. Also, gotta say, that priest would've named the baby Mary. Like, come on, every other church in England is St. Mary's, and the priest is, y'know, a priest. 100% would've been Mary.

The musical part was so bad

No Christmas special since has topped the tragedy or campy viciousness of Voyage of the Damned, but I gotta say, Church on Ruby Road isn’t far off the same level.

If the Doctor has unloaded his past then why does he have baggage over being adopted? It’s the past that makes the Doctor who he is. I suppose this is a way for RTD to sex up the Doctor by saying he’s bi generated! (How subtle of RTD) Having the Doctor easily fit into a disco dancing about isn’t a good look for a character that in the past didn’t fit in. I did say RTD humanises the Doctor and we do see this here. Classic Who is so much better at keeping the Doctor much more of an aloof, alien character that would never drag himself down to such a human level. If you ignore the goblins and Tardis it’s very much a soap opera. Why was the Doctor already on the roof tops when Ruby was up there? Why is it the Doctor can break into peoples houses but no one seems to care? I much prefer Last Christmas as we have a Doctor in that who’s very much more alien. This new Who is just too Disney-like for me. The writing is in places abysmal and you’ve got to take your brain out to enjoy it. Why put Davina McColl in there? RTD does this all the time he places pop culture references in there which will be meaningless to many abroad and in the future. It grounds Doctor Who down to a certain time. The Star Beast 3/10, The Wild Blue Yonder 4/10, The Giggle 1/10. This I’d give 5/10. Not great but better than seeing Tennant hanging around like a bad smell who shouldn’t even be there.

I wouldn't let my kids anywhere near this, totally inappropriate for xmas afternoon viewing. Referencing being "snowmanned" and dancing in a gay club, disgusting and offensive.