Warning: Contains Spoilers!

The phrase ‘you just can’t please some people’ could easily have been invented with Doctor Who fans in mind. They didn’t like the Chris Chibnall era, so they wanted it to go back to the way it was; it went back to the way it was for three specials starring the much-loved David Tennant and they complained about that; it changed again to a new Doctor and a fresh new approach… and they complained about that too. So here’s the deal: I’m not that kind of Doctor Who fan. When I watch the show, I’m looking to be entertained – not looking for things to complain about. If a story entertains me, who cares if it contradicts a line that William Hartnell would have said if it hadn’t been cut from the script of The War Machines for reasons of timing? Not me, that’s for sure. I write these reviews for my blog so, of necessity, I have to occasionally pick up on the odd point, but I’m not actively looking for fault. I love Doctor Who and I don’t foresee that changing.

Having said that, I approached The Church on Ruby Road with an equal measure of excitement and anxiety. This was the biggest change that Doctor Who had undergone in decades – and that has nothing to do with the skin colour or sexuality of the actor playing the Doctor. The ending of The Giggle drew a line under the Doctor Who as we know it; the Doctor that we have watched for six decades is sipping tea in Donna Noble’s garden – this flamboyant gentleman in the long leather coat is The Doctor 2.0, a completely reinvented character. Sure, he has characteristics of his predecessor; he has a TARDIS and a Sonic Screwdriver (even if it does look like the remote control from an upscale mid-90s video recorder) and he is a crusader on the side of right, but he also dances in a nightclub wearing a kilt and spontaneously bursts into song to confound his enemy. This is not just a new Doctor; this is a new Doctor Who.

There was no cause for anxiety, of course; Russell T. Davies is one of British television’s best working writers and he knows exactly what he’s doing. Similarly, Ncuti Gatwa is one of the hottest young actors around and the series is lucky to catch him on the cusp of his meteoric rise. Within a few years he will have left Doctor Who behind him and moved on to be one of the greats of film and television. Joining Gatwa in the TARDIS is former child actress Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday; her strong performance in the role belies her mere 19 years on the planet (she was only 1 year old when the series was relaunched in 2005) and she’s another actor with an incredible future ahead of her. Watching these two vibrant young people dominate the screen makes poor old David Tennant and Catherine Tate – the incumbents a mere fortnight earlier – seem like a pair of weary old pensioners by comparison (I’m allowed to say that because I’m the same age as both).

So, what’s the story? Well, former foundling child Ruby Sunday still lives with her foster Mother and Grandmother somewhere in North London. She’s trying to find her birth mother on a Long Lost Families style TV show hosted by Davina McCall, but she seems to be being tormented at every stage by cackling little Goblins, that initially remain unseen. In the shadows is the Doctor, watching her with keen interest. What does the Doctor know about Ruby Sunday? For now, this is not revealed. When Ruby’s Mother fosters a small baby short term, the Goblins get very excited and kidnap the baby, hoisting it up to their flying sky-boat. Now, if you’re thinking this has a sound of the 1986 fantasy movie Labyrinth about it, you’re probably right – but only superficially. The idea of Goblins kidnapping babies is long established in European folklore and it feels like the gothic fantasy of traditional ‘fairy’ tales (possibly seen through the prism of nostalgic 1980s fantasy movies) is what RTD is aiming for with his new vision of Doctor Who.

Ruby puts herself in danger to try and rescue the baby and the Doctor turns up when she least expects it. It’s a classic Nine and Rose introduction, but with more running over rooftops and dangling from Goblin airships. The rescue of the baby from the airship is the ‘hero’ set-piece of the story and, as mentioned earlier, it does feature a sing-song in which the Doctor and Ruby participate. It just about gets away with being diegetic (the song occurs within the context of the story), but does presume that both lead characters are extremely good at improvising song lyrics. Both Gatwa and Gibson were self-effacing about their singing on the accompanying Doctor Who Unleashed, but for my money they both sounded really good. The Goblins were suitably silly, little long-eared pirates that I was never quite sure were live action or CG until the making-of (they were the former) and their Goblin King – a long way from tight-wearing David Bowie – was a grotesque Jabba the Hutt style creation.

With the baby saved from the Goblins, you could be forgiven for thinking that the story was over, but when the Doctor literally sees the timeline change before his very eyes, he realises that the mischievous Goblins have piloted their ship 19 years back in time and kidnapped the foundling Ruby. It’s a real gut-punch, as her foster Mother is instantaneously transformed from charitable hub of the community to someone world-weary and resentful. The Doctor realises he must travel back in time, rescue Ruby and change history again, using a bit of tech established earlier in the episode. The scene of the Goblin ship being skewered on the church steeple is truly epic, but I can’t help thinking that it would cause irreparable damage to the building’s structural integrity! It’s never really explained why no-one seems to be able to see the Goblins and their whacking great flying boat apart from the Doctor and Ruby – either in 2023 or 2004.

In fact a great many things aren’t explained in this episode. Why was the Doctor so interested in Ruby prior to events with the Goblins unfolding? Who was the mysterious woman in boots (everyone seems to be focussing on her boots, I really don’t know why) that left the infant Ruby on a church doorstep? And who is the mysterious Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) who positively screams her mystery at the audience? Flood! Gerald Flood! Could it be Kamelion?? Almost certainly not. But, it’s fun that RTD is building up an air of mystery for the new series when it comes along later in the year… IF – and ‘if’ being the operative word – those mysteries pay off in future episodes, because some of his fellow showrunners were a little too enamoured with dropping in copious amounts of enigma that never really went anywhere. I’m looking at you, Mr Chibnall… but not exclusively you.

So, I came away from my first viewing of The Church on Ruby Road feeling a little bit outdated, like maybe I was too old and the series had passed me by. Maybe it was culture shock or the mince pie melancholy or something, but when I watched it again the next day, I totally got it. I think the last time I went from being unsure about a new Doctor to totally digging them was Peter Capaldi and he worked out fine, so I’ve no real doubts about the future Ncuti Gatwa. The Church on Ruby Road was good-natured, fun and literally as camp as Christmas, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from the festive episodes. Some fans will judge the whole forthcoming Gatwa era by this episode alone, but they are foolish to do so; what we have here is a show risen like a phoenix, once more at the height of its powers, written by one of the best writers working in television today and starring an actor who, if his career was any hotter, he’d be on fire! This is the beginning of a complete new life cycle for Doctor Who and I can’t wait to join in that ride!

‘Doctor Who – The Church on Ruby Road’ is available to stream on BBC iPlayer in the UK & Ireland and via Disney+ internationally. It is also available on DVD and Blu-Ray.