Ncuti Gatwa Shines in Doctor Who’s Delightfully Weird Christmas Special

It’s been six years since the last Doctor Who Christmas special. We’ve still had “festive” episodes in the form of New Years specials, but at the risk of sounding like a cranky “There’s a war on Christmas” grouch, it just hasn’t been the same. Many of the New Year’s specials have been good, for sure, but there’s something magical about Christmas and Doctor Who that has become as synonymous with the holiday as unwrapping presents.

Of course, “The Church on Ruby Road” being the first Doctor Who Christmas special in a while will be one of the least important things about it to most people. It’s the first episode fully starring Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor, as well as his regeneration’s first companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson)! The 60th anniversary specials brought back faces we already knew and loved, but can we fall in love with these new faces just as much?

Yes. Oh my God, yes.

We had gotten a taste of Gatwa’s Doctor in the last quarter of the final 60th anniversary special, but now that David Tennant’s Fourteen is away sipping tea with the Nobles, he has his chance to fully shine.

Many Doctors’ first episodes feature them acting exceedingly erratic and chaotic as a symptom of recently regenerating, but recent regenerations have disappointingly done away with that. Gatwa’s Doctor continues this sad trend, but his baseline level of energy and enthusiasm is high enough that it’s hard to complain too much about it. 

One of his first scenes in this episode is just him dancing in a nightclub, something difficult (but fun!) to imagine many other Doctors doing, but it fully encapsulates the younger, perhaps slightly more down to Earth attitude of the Time Lord so well. At least at first, this Doctor doesn’t always need to be saving the planet, but can also mingle and even blend in with its inhabitants.

Of course, he eventually runs into trouble, which leads him to Ruby. Left on the doorstep of a church as a baby and raised by her adoptive family, Ruby is torn between loving her found family but yearning to know her biological one. While the Doctor is spontaneous and adventurous, Ruby is a little more reserved and still in the phase of disbelief any good companion has to go through. The mandatory “It’s bigger on the inside” scene in particular is a reminder of how magical Doctor Who is when seen through the eyes of a newcomer. 

That vicarious sense of going on an adventure with the Doctor was diluted when Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor traveled with a full crew of three at most times. Despite having infinite space, the TARDIS starts to feel crowded when it has more than one full-time companion at a time, and it’s a relief to see the show scaling back its capacity to focus more on the core cast before expanding it.

The 15th Doctor’s first threat he faces without help from, well, himself isn’t Daleks, Cybermen, or even the Slitheen, but fucking goblins, which look to be actual puppets or costumes instead of CGI. They’re not exactly the most threatening foes, but they temporarily make the show feel more like a goofy fantasy than a goofy science fiction show. It’s adorable seeing the Doctor have to shift his vocabulary from reversing the polarity of the neutron flow to determining what rope in a floating goblin ship to pull and how coincidences make a baby tastier to these creatures.

There are plenty of old and new Doctor gadgets, too. His psychic paper is the same as always, but the sonic screwdriver’s new design reminds me of a 2000s-era mouse in the best way possible. He also breaks out a new invention, gloves that allow the wearer to shift all their weight onto the hands wearing it, which allow the user to perform superhuman acts of strength. It’s a fun addition I hope we’ll see much more of.

“Fun” is what encapsulates the vast majority of “The Church on Ruby Road.” There are occasional serious or emotional moments, but the special never loses sight of the best thing about Doctor Who: how goofy it is! It’s fun in its own way to get absorbed into understanding how this fiction’s version of time travel works and the history of Gallifrey, and certainly if the show were only silly all the time it wouldn’t carry the same weight. But it’s incredibly refreshing for the 15th Doctor’s first adventure to not get bogged down in plot, focusing on really getting to know this Doctor and Ruby, allowing the series to already build an emotional connection between them and the audience.

There’s one scene in particular that shows off just how much Gatwa and Gibson are willing to swing for the fences in their performance, but it was such a delightful surprise I wouldn’t want to spoil it here. What I will say is the two form an almost-instant (nearly certainly platonic—just because Gatwa is out as queer doesn’t necessarily mean his version of the Doctor is, but I’m not sensing any romance between these two) connection, bonding over both being abandoned as children and their deep care for those they love. 

Near the episode’s conclusion, they share a heartwarming moment that shows the Doctor’s protector instincts in full force. Let’s hope they actually work and this companion gets a happy ending when her journey on the TARDIS is over, because the Doctor doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to companion life expectancy…

I’ve never been a sports fan, but from what I understand of team loyalty, people will stick by their teams no matter what but complain the most about them if they’re performing poorly. That’s how I have felt as a Doctor Who fan over the past few years. Whovians have suffered loss after loss, with average to truly awful stories far outpacing the occasional winners that remind us of why we fell in love with this show in the first place.

It may be too soon to say if Doctor Who is truly back to the quality it had the last time showrunner Russell T. Davies was in charge, but so far, we’ve had four hits out of four. No longer have I been tuning into the show out of a sense of obligation, but instead, with a sense of excitement every time the theme song blares through my TV’s speakers.

For the first time in a long time, it might just be safe for Whovians to have hope.

Doctor Who “The Church on Ruby Road” starts streaming December 25th on Disney+. 

Joseph Stanichar is a freelance writer who specializes in videogames and pop culture. He’s written for publications such as Game Informer, Twinfinite and Looper. He’s on Twitter @JosephStanichar.

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