Doctor Who

This article contains spoiler for the Doctor Who Christmas Special , " The Church on Ruby Road "

Summary

TheDoctor WhoChristmas Special , " The Church on Ruby Road , " introduce Anita Dobson as Mrs. Flood - a mysterious young character who is surely destine to return . The time of Ncuti Gatwa ’s Fifteenth Doctor has finally arrived , with the Doctor andMillie Gibson ’s Ruby Sundaygoing up against quasi - mystical monsters in " The Church on Ruby Road . " Ruby Sunday is positioned as a enigma associate , a abandoned infant whose truthful beginning is still strange .

But theDoctor WhoChristmas Special also set up what is clearly a recurring character - Anita Dobson ’s Mrs. Flood . tantalise as Ruby ’s nosy next - doorway - neighbor , Mrs. Flood ab initio harangued another neighbor over the mysterious police box that materialize in her way , before by and by revealing to viewers thatshe knew it was a TARDIS all along . It ’s presently unnamed whether she ’ll be an ally or an enemy inDoctor Whoseason 14and beyond - but either possibleness is tremendously exciting .

Doctor Who has been played by a crop of fantastic player going back several tenner , and each interpretation has been both unique and memorable .

Doctor Who Season 14 Poster

Mrs. Flood Could Be A Time Lord Explains How She Knows About The TARDIS

Using Occam ’s Razor , the simplest account for Mrs. Flood ’s cognition is that she is in fact another Time Lord . This would certainly be an unexpected twist , because theDoctor Who60th anniversary special seemed to affirm the Time Lords had been pass over out . In one scene , the Toymaker- a being of almost unlimited mightiness and knowledge - referred to the Doctor as the last of the Time Lords . But , while such a remark be on well from the events ofDoctor Whoseason 12 ( in whichthe Master destroyed Gallifreyagain ) , the Toymaker could well have been lying .

Time Lords are humanoids , meaning they can easily jibe in with human culture . Their TARDISes have actually been able-bodied to disguise themselves as actual houses , even materializing around other target they were reduplicate , so it ’s even possible Mrs. Flood ’s house is another TARDIS . She could potentially be a Time Lord , one who knew Ruby Sunday would cross paths with the Doctor , who had decided to supervise this … for an as - yet - unrevealed reason .

The Doctor Who Christmas Special , " The Church on Ruby Road , " introduced spectator to the horrific terror of the Goblins - but what are they ?

Anita Dobson as Mrs. Flood in Doctor Who

Mrs. Flood Could Be Connected To The Master After Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary

In " The Giggle , " the Toymaker disclose he had vote out the Doctor ’s great bane - the Master - and incarcerate him in a atomic number 79 tooth . This tooth was left behind when the Toymaker was banished from this dimension , and it was picked up by an unknown female hand . It ’s entirely potential this is Mrs. Flood , and that she is somehow connected to the Master . If that ’s the grammatical case , then it ’s likely her agenda is a dangerous one for the Doctor and Ruby .

Is Mrs. Flood Another Version Of The Doctor?

Alternatively , it ’s possible Mrs. Flood is n’t just another Time Lord ; she could be an incarnation of the Doctor . Doctor Who ’s late bi - generationmeant there are now multiple Dr. running around , and showrunner Russell T. Daveis has confirmed this rippled down through the timeline - intend previous Doctors could themselves have undergone further regenerations . Meanwhile , theTimeless Childretcon mean there are an unlimited number of pre - William Hartnell Doctors , and Mrs. Flood could be one of those .

The latter is the most exciting possibility . Until Jo Martin ’s Fugitive Doctor , the Timeless Child was bound to a Time Lord agency known as the Division . Although the Division was destroyed inDoctor Whoseason 13 , this agency was regard in time travelling , intend its yesteryear could be interact with Gallifrey ’s future . It would be thrilling to see the Division explored once again .

Mrs. Flood Could Be The Rani, A Classic Doctor Who Villain

One pop theory on social media is that Mrs. Flood could be a very specific Time Lord from the classicDoctor Whoseries - the Rani , a ruthless ratter who loves conduct experiments on what she perceive as low life story - shape . There ’s no grounds to support this theory at this point , other than the fact there are few large female Time Lords who would hold back their identities from the Doctor . For now , this can decidedly be considered a possibility .

Mrs. Flood Could Be Hiding A TARDIS In Plain Sight

Mrs. Flood Could Be Linked To The Toymaker

But it ’s important to note the Time Lord hypothesis - while a ordered one that fit out under the principle of Occam ’s Razor - is far from definitive . The Toymaker and his minionsare a new breed ofDoctor Whovillain , incredibly powerful and almost supernatural in nature . Davy has hint he will be continuing to develop this theme , discussing the melodic theme in an instalment ofDoctor Who : Video Commentaries :

" Every so often we get a chance to do an episode that ’s sort - of supernatural , not exactly supernatural , but where all the rules are suspend … We ’re going to keep doing it , are n’t we ? We love it . "

Mrs. Flood could be one of these beings . Her name may well have a connection to this , because in ancient times , a host of soldier would sometimes be described as a flood descend on their enemies . If this is the font , it would explicate why the Doctor does n’t agnise her ; she is presumptively able-bodied to easily hide herself from him .

Doctor who 14th doctor casting fix its problematic historical episodes

The Doctor Who Christmas Special Hints Mrs. Flood Has Been Replaced

One pernicious contingent in theDoctor WhoChristmas Special hint Mrs. Flood may well be an average man who has been replaced by something else - at least in the main timeline . At one pointedness in " The Church on Ruby Road , " the Goblins change history by killing Ruby when she was just a baby . The Doctor briefly encounters the Mrs. Flood of this timeline - and she is shock when she realise the TARDIS dematerialize . The decipherable implication is that this version of Mrs. Flood had no knowledge of the TARDIS .

The most reasonable explanation , then , is that Mrs. Flood is a normal human being - one who was replaced by someone or something who have sex Ruby Sunday would be crucial to the Doctor . This does n’t necessarily rule out the Time Lord hypothesis ; many Time Lords have restraint over their changes in appearance , with the Doctor as something of an exclusion ( although his subconscious does manipulate it ) . But it does make the estimation of some form of cosmic great power seem a little more potential .

The Mystery Of Mrs. Flood Is Sure To Be Explored In Doctor Who Season 14

One thing seems certain;“The Church on Ruby Road " prepare Mrs. Flood up as another recur character . Humphrey Davy has always loved to crunch hisDoctor Whoin the existent world , meaning the Doctor will surely be returning to Ruby Sunday and her street . That intend Mrs. Flood is perfectly positioned to monitor the TARDIS inDoctor Whoseason 14 , and her dead on target plans - and nature - will be revealed with sentence . It ’s even possible she is somehow connected to the mystery of Ruby ’s origin , and the mean solar day she was abandoned on a church doorsill years ago .

Anita Dobson looking suspicious as Mrs. Flood in the Doctor Who 2023 Christmas special.

A trio of Goblins in the middle of a performance in Doctor Who.

A hand picks up the Master’s tooth in Doctor Who episode The Giggle

Doctor Who’s the Timeless Child as a little girl wearing yellow, on a planet with a purple sky

A monster is behind the Rani in Doctor Who.

The Doctor on Skaro outside the TARDIS in Doctor Who

Neil Patrick Harris as The Toymaker on stage in Doctor Who.

Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor in the Doctor Who 2023 Christmas special

Doctor Who Season 14 Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as The Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday

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