DOCTOR WHO Showrunner Reveals How Disney+'s Feedback Changed Christmas Special; Teases Mrs. Flood Mystery

DOCTOR WHO Showrunner Reveals How Disney+'s Feedback Changed Christmas Special; Teases Mrs. Flood Mystery

Returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has addressed the speculation surrounding Anita Dobson's Mrs. Flood and also explains how Disney+'s feedback majorly altered the recent Christmas Special...

By JoshWilding - Dec 28, 2023 02:12 PM EST
Filed Under: Doctor Who
Source: SFFGazette.com

Doctor Who's Christmas Special, "The Church on Ruby Road," properly introduced us to Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor and his new companion, Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday. It was a fun adventure and one which set the tone for returning showrunner Russell T Davies' new "season 1."

Despite it initially appearing as if the Doctor might leave Ruby behind, the Time Lord's desire for a companion got the better of him and they left in the Tardis together.

However, in a mid-credits scene, Ruby's neighbour, Mrs. Flood, seemed positively non-plussed as she watched the time machine dematerialise. With a wink, she then spoke to viewers by asking, "Never seen a Tardis before?" 

Some fans believe this was little more than a cheeky way to end the light-hearted Christmas Special, while others are resolute in their opinion that there's something more to the character and that she was perhaps changed when the Doctor travelled back in time and saved Ruby as a baby. 

Talking on Doctor Who: Unleashed (via SFFGazette.com), Davies added further fuel to the fire by saying, "Mrs. Flood is a mysterious character. You will eventually find out more about her. She’s a slow burn, Mrs Flood. Who is Mrs Flood? Come back and find out!"

Actress Anita Dobson also chimed in to add, "Today what you see is a friendly neighbour. What the future may be, no one knows. Russell is writing it as we speak."

Theories currently range from her being the Rani, another version of River Song, and even an older Ruby, so we'll see whether this leads anywhere. Davies has set up a lot of compelling mysteries for this new era of Doctor Who, anyway, including the identity of Ruby's parents and the unknown woman who retrieved The Toymaker's gold tooth (which contains The Master's essence).

There's also the matter of an unidentified older woman who showed up in the 60th-anniversary special's "mavity" scene, the nightclub where Ruby's band was performing, and the trailer for the show's return next May as three different characters...or the same one in different guises.

Of course, you'll be aware that Disney+ is now involved with Doctor Who and it turns out they're giving it more than just a home on streaming outside of the UK. Talking on that same episode of Doctor Who: Unleashed, Davies revealed that their notes led to a big change to "The Church on Ruby Road."

"This was the very last scene to be added," he said of the memorable opening sequence which sees a giant snowman fall on Gatwa's Doctor. "Disney always tests a first episode, and they tested this and people wanted to see the Doctor earlier, simple as that. They came back with that note, and I was like, 'Well, actually, OK, who doesn't want to see Ncuti?'"

Davies is still thought to have the final say, but the streamer's input may well prove beneficial to Doctor Who in the long run based on how effective this scene was. 

The long-running sci-fi series returns with a new batch of episodes next May. You can watch the trailer by clicking here.

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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 12/28/2023, 2:22 PM
I liked “The Church on Ruby Road” and thought it was a good Christmas special & intro to Ncuti’s Doctor and Millie’s Ruby , both of whom i already like.



I could easily see “Mrs Flood” being an older Ruby , I feel that might be something DW would do or maybe another variation of River given the name (though I’m unsure of that)

Also that scene of The Doctor & the policeman was so sweet and heartwarming , sold me on 15th even more!!.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/28/2023, 2:26 PM
@TheVisionary25 - I have a few theories on Mrs Flood but too soon to call however she did early on say she had seen a Police box long ago which could make her the one who dropped of baby Ruby or something more even before identifying it as a TARDIS.
dracula
dracula - 12/28/2023, 3:03 PM
@TheVisionary25 - hopefully its not another river. That story was finished. There seems to be a gap in River's timeline, from when kid river regenerated in the 60's and growing up with Amy and Rory. Room for at least one more regeneration but seems like she never properly met the doctor until Lets Kill Hitler
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 12/28/2023, 3:47 PM
@dracula - true but RTD has been calling back to the shows history so I wouldn’t be surprised
1stDalek
1stDalek - 12/28/2023, 7:43 PM
@TheVisionary25 - I think Mrs Flood is another Classic Who Time Lord, could be the War Chief or the Monk. Master would likely be using an anagram and knowing RTD the Rani would have an actress of Indian decent (unless he's going back to his Master well and use an older actor for a bit before regenerating them to their actual actor choice).
InfraMan
InfraMan - 12/28/2023, 2:53 PM
The singing bits gave me a Gremlins 2 vibe for some reason, but otherwise this was a fantastic first adventure for Ncuti’s Doctor. These Christmas specials always get a little outré though, so no biggie.

I’m definitely excited for more Ncuti! :)

dracula
dracula - 12/28/2023, 2:59 PM
RTD's bias for David Tennant really shows

First he has The Doctor regenerate into new clothes, instead of the previous doctor's (who's clothes werent even overly feminine).

Second, none of the 50th anniversary specials celebrated the show, just celebrated David Tennant's era.

Third, he creates some BS plot device that allows him to keep Tennant around whenever he needs him.


Claimed some kind of trans issue being the reason for the clothes regeneration, but despite the clothes regeneration being established, had the new guy running around in his underwear for his entire first appearance and in this christmas special, had him dancing around in a skirt.

Jodie's final episode was more of a celebration of doctor who than any of tennant's specials.


Clear he just didn't want to do anything to possibly make his doctor look foolish and wanted to keep him around.
DrSmoonk
DrSmoonk - 12/28/2023, 3:09 PM
@dracula - despite agreeing with most of what you said, I feel like you are severely uncultured and uneducated in the ways of the world. Most people know what a kilt is. Perhaps it’s time you do the same. It’s not a skirt, you imbecile.
dracula
dracula - 12/28/2023, 3:16 PM
@DrSmoonk - so something that looks like a skirt, funtions like a skirt and moves like a skirt okay but pants and a jacket that were previously worn by a woman are not? seriously jodie's outfit was no more femenine than any other doctors

guys wear kilts, but guys also wear any of the types of clothes jodie wore
Ginley
Ginley - 12/28/2023, 3:18 PM
@dracula -

"Jodie's final episode was more of a celebration of doctor who than any of tennant's specials."

Chibnall's last episode was an incoherent blend of random plot threads and references.

You would need a dozen rewatches to even begin to understand how any of these elements connected.

RTD has done more to explore the emotional fallout of the Timeless Child and Gallifrey's re-destruction than Chibnall did in his entire run.

"had him dancing around in a skirt"

Kilt.

He's Scottish.

lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 12/28/2023, 3:56 PM
@DrSmoonk - you're upset over the word ... "kilt?"

harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 12/28/2023, 4:03 PM
@DrSmoonk - Quit trying to sugarcoat it sweety, A kilt is a skirt.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 12/28/2023, 4:09 PM
@DrSmoonk - "kilt"? Enough with the funny word play, it's 2023 and current year, most people have accepted cross dressers, infect it's quite stylish if I do say so myself and you get a nice breeze.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 12/28/2023, 7:54 PM
@dracula - Fully agree with you here. The specials felt too focused on celebrating the Tennant era and not enough on the show as a whole, bringing back a fun one-off 1st Doctor character who's story doesn't even exist anymore and liberally adapting a comic story, while acting like the comic story didn't happen in canon, does not a 60 old celebration make.

Ncuti made that kilt + leather jacket combo look great, but it's absurd that RTD allowed that but couldn't handle the idea of Tennant wearing Whittaker's outfit, which Dhawan wore for a while in the same episode. It's very gender neutral look on purpose.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 12/28/2023, 8:29 PM
@Ginley - That's a totally different issue than the main ones this person brought up.

Doctor is from gallifrey.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 12/28/2023, 3:56 PM
Ncuti is probably the Doctor with the most swagger apart from Jon Pertwee’s Third.



How would you characterize 15 so far?.

He definitely seems like an incarnation that isn’t burdened by his emotional baggage and is genuinely optimistic , adventurous ,empathetic, confident & charismatic but wears his emotions on his sleeve aswell.

ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 12/28/2023, 4:57 PM
Not a bad special, didn't mind The Labyrinth vibes it gave off.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 12/28/2023, 7:41 PM
Fairly entertaining episode, specially to kick of 15th's run, nothing groundbreaking. Adding Gatwa to that earlier scene was a great choice, the episode would feel weird if he just randomly shows up at her house for the first time closer to the mid-point. Good start to the Ncuti era with a solid first episode and him hitting the ground running (though he did have the last episode to stumble around a while), something a lot of other era's can't match.


I still don't get what the point of keeping 14 around was if they're just going to keep going as if a normal regeneration happened and the show goes on as normal, I feel like it just unnecessarily negatively impacts Ncuti and Millie for no gain.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/29/2023, 7:39 AM
@1stDalek - The gain of having two is likely gonna take a while till we see play out and till then not worth worrying about tbh.

As long as Tennant isn't appearing until the long arc payoff for that it shouldn't negatively impact Ncuti anymore than it ever has with prior Doctors cos time travel meant it was ALWAYS possible for more than one incarnation to turn up at any point after they started that way back with the three Doctors story.
OriginalGusto1
OriginalGusto1 - 12/28/2023, 8:08 PM
I'm only here to "celebrate" @blackandyellow's PHD in kung fu. SNHU said they wouldn't remove the viruses from my laptop if I didn't.
KelvTwelve
KelvTwelve - 12/29/2023, 9:30 AM
I hope they never expand on Mrs. Flood. I just thought it was an eastenders reference I didn't get as an American.

This series has enough mystery boxes as is...
marvel72
marvel72 - 12/29/2023, 2:25 PM
They don't read all the feedback or they would have cancelled this shit.

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