The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Here it is, safe and sound. That’s your story, darling. The legend of Ruby Sunday.

Carla Sunday

Warning: This review contains spoilers. If you have not watched The Legend of Ruby Sunday yet, please find my spoiler-free review here.

Synopsis

The Doctor and UNIT investigate Ruby’s past. But as the Time Window reveals horrifying secrets from Christmas Eve, the mysterious Triad Technology unleash the greatest evil of all.

Review

It is always challenging to review the first part of a two-part finale without knowing where the story is going to end up in the concluding part. With this story more than any other, I feel like I might need to come back and re-evaluate my rating after the broadcast of Empire of Death.

There is a lot to enjoy about The Legend of Ruby Sunday, which does attempt to tie the plot threads together, but it does feel ever so slightly like it might be attempting to do too much too soon. I certainly thought afterwards that this finale would benefit from an additional episode, perhaps to explore the Time Window and using the UNIT technology to look into the mystery surrounding Ruby’s mother, almost like the way that Utopia or Turn Left lead as an unofficial opening part of the finale, which sets up Sutekh in its final moments, rather than this story which does suffer with pacing problems. The audience are told that there is somewhat of a ticking clock and a high possibility of there being a trap but there does not feel as though there is any sense of urgency, with the Doctor not only wanting to look into the mysterious woman who has appeared everywhere that he and Ruby have landed, but also the mystery around Ruby. Ultimately, this story has the weird feeling of being simultaneously rushed and at the same time quite slow, as it has time for the sequences in the time window, as well as the introductions when the TARDIS first arrives at the UNIT Tower. All that being said, the final moments really ratchet up tension superbly up until the reveal of Sutekh, with the reveal that Harriet is another Harbinger and Susan Triad’s breakdown and transformation. Russell T Davies is experienced enough in writing two-parters to know that this allows him more time, and this story benefits from not feeling rushed towards a conclusion. The story also misdirects superbly, making the audience believe that Susan Triad really could be the Doctor’s granddaughter, before tugging the rug out from under their and the Doctor’s feet.

I do feel as though the story is overstuffed with characters, which does lead to a lot of people stood around doing nothing. This is something that might be proved to be wrong and some of the characters included here do feel as though they are just window dressing. In particular, I felt as though there was no need for Morris, Rose and Harriet and for all the impact that they had on the story, I felt as though this might as well been one role – probably Harriet. I also felt that there was very little reason for Mel to be in this story, and that her role in the story could have been performed by any of the Doctor’s previous companions, or indeed, wasn’t really necessary at all. Given that, presumably, Russell T Davies bought Mel back in The Giggle to try and rehabilitate her and see her use her computer scientist skills, I’m not convinced that we’ve seen her do that much. I wrote in my spoiler-free review about the inclusion of some characters that feel distinctly like a C or D subplot, which is Mrs Flood and Cherry Sunday, who might as well not be there. Ultimately, Mrs Flood has not featured enough for The sheer number of characters in finales is certainly something that Russell T Davies has carried over from his first era as showrunner and I am curious to see if he has learnt from those errors in his time away from the show.

I feel as though now is the time to address the return of Sutekh and the role that Susan Twist has been playing throughout this series. The story is clever in its misdirection, casting an actor with that name, which has led to the internet being ablaze with speculation that this time we might finally, really be getting to see Susan reunited with her grandfather. It’s almost astounding in how glaring that reveal would be, but Russell T Davies wouldn’t do something that obvious. Twist has turned up in every story since The Church on Ruby Road, and first appeared in Wild Blue Yonder, but here with the Doctor brought face to face with the original, Twist puts in a performance of someone truly traumatised by the nature of what she has experienced in her dreams really effectively and makes her breakdown in the story’s final moments. Instead, he brings back Sutekh, which is something that I’d seen mooted on social media, but I think I’d dismissed it as being one of those things unlikely to happen, almost like the Rani. I’m not sure how the return of a one-off villain from the Fourth Doctor era would have gone down with the casual viewer, but on reflection, the return of the last of the Osirians makes sense with the direction that the show has been heading down since the return of Russell T Davies. I feel that it would be remiss of me not to mention the return of Gabriel Woolf at the age of 91 to the role of Sutekh, who seems to have lost none of his menace despite the passing years. Sutekh’s patience in playing the long game with the Doctor, all the time binding himself to the TARDIS, as well as his viciousness and power makes him a foe to be reckoned with. The way that Sutekh mocks the Doctor for his belief that it was actually Susan is such a lovely touch.

This story is focused on Ruby’s origins for the most part, and the story does thrust her and her foster mother, Carla, front and centre for a lot of the story. Like I’ve said above, the scenes in the time window feel as though they are slightly too long and there are stages where it doesn’t really feel like we’re treading new ground. There are also some poorly written lines, like the ones about being able to tell Ruby’s mother that she survived and is loved, which felt a little bit hollow. Once the story establishes that we still cannot see Ruby’s birth mother’s face, it feels as though the narrative needs to move on, but it feels like this is really hammered home. All that being said, both Millie Gibson and Michelle Greenidge are really strong in these scenes, and Gibson in particular has been a revelation in this series, but despite her being the titular character, she does not feature as much as this implies.

If Millie Gibson has been a revelation, Ncuti Gatwa has been too. He is really good here and manages to capture multiple facets of the Doctor effectively here. He shines in his scene with Kate, where they discuss Susan, which is a really solid quiet moment, which allows the story a little bit of respite. Speaking of Kate, this story is interesting as the Doctor directly contravenes her orders in the time window, which leads to Colonel Chidozie’s death and the look given by Kate reflects that this is the Doctor’s fault. It’s interesting to see that level of potential conflict brought into their relationship which is something that dogged the relationship between the Brigadier and the Third Doctor. Jemma Redgrave, as usual, elevates this episode and she is certainly an unsung hero of any story that she appears in. Returning to the Doctor, I am liking the way that this Doctor does wear his emotions on his sleeves, leading to let his emotions out after the death of Chidozie in that scene with Mel, which did use that character well.

Verdict: The Legend of Ruby Sunday is a bit messy but mostly enjoyable. If you scratch too hard at the surface it does not stand up to scrutiny, but the final reveal into the cliffhanger works really well and saves this story. 7/10

Cast: Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday), Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush), Yasmin Finney (Rose Noble), Alexander Devrient (Colonel Ibrahim), Lenny Rush (Morris Gibbons), Genesis Lynea (Harriet), Susan Twist (Susan Triad), Fela Lufadeju (Bailey Sinclair), Michelle Greenidge (Carla Sunday), Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood), Angela Wynter (Cherry Sunday), Tachia Newall (Colonel Chidozie), Jasmine Bayes (Corporal Sullivan), Aidan Cook (The Vlinx), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Vlinx) & Gabriel Woolf (Voice of Sutekh).

Writer: Russell T Davies

Director: Jamie Donoghue

Producer: Vicki Delow

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 15th June 2024

Behind the Scenes

• Sutekh returns to the show following an interval of 49 years, having made his only televised appearance in Pyramids of Mars.

Cast Notes

• Gabriel Woolf returns to voice Sutekh, having also voiced The Beast in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. He has also voiced Sutekh for Big Finish

Best Moment

I really like the conversation between Kate and the Doctor about Susan is really touching.

Otherwise the build-up to the reveal of Sutekh works really well.

Best Quote

Previous review: Rogue

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