'Doctor Who' Generates Answers For Mrs. Flood Mystery, Archie Panjabi’s Villain Role

What’s the matter? Never guessed the Rani before?

It’s nearly been a year and a half since Doctor Who planted suspicions in its audience when at the end of “The Church on Ruby Road”, the Sunday family’s neighbor Mrs. Flood, played by Anita Dobson placated someone astounded by the disappearing TARDIS before breaking the fourth wall to the audience confirming she knew what one was. “What, never seen a TARDIS before?”. When we returned to the neighborhood in last year’s two part finale, she exhibited some very odd and ominous behaviors, culminating in a narration where she promised the Doctor’s story would end in “absolute terror”. In her second season, she ends up as Belinda Chandra’s neighbor before appearing in 1952 and as the leader of the mining mission on the Midnight planet 400,000 years in the future, demonstrating her time traveling capabilities for the first time. She freed right-wing conspiracy theorist Conrad Clark from his imprisonment. And then in Saturday’s “Interstellar Song Contest”, she’s there to watch when a terrorist attack sends the audience of 100,000 into the cold void of space. And it was fatal! Froze her double brain stem, which even after being revived still affected. Double? Quickly, Mrs. Flood, admitting she was a time lady, began regenerating, or as it turns out, bi-generating, just as how the Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa debuted in “The Giggle”. Out popped Archie Panjabi, declaring them to be The Rani, the genuine article. After linear air, the show’s socials, crew, and stars chose not to hold it in any longer.

The Rani is a Renegade Time Lord, an enemy of the Doctor, who first appeared in the 1985 classic serial, The Mark of the Rani, originally played by Kate O’Mara. She only made two appearances before the end of the classic run, but debuting nearly 30 years before The Master’s first onscreen female incarnation, Missy played by Michelle Gomez, it made her a kind of female counterpart. While the Master could be suave, cunning, and a little unhinged, The Rani could be more cold and scientific. It is said that The Rani was hiding in secret as Mrs. Flood and “meticulously waiting for her time to face the Doctor”. Her second appearance might have been the biggest indicator as to who the Rani was, as Mrs. Flood very conspicuously wore outfits worn by previous companions, including Clara Oswald, Rory Williams, Romana, and Ryan Sinclair, and in Time and the Rani, she attempted to trick a regeneration sickness kind of groggy Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) into thinking she was his companion, Mel Bush, played by Bonnie Langford. Bush has been appearing every year since 2022’s “Power of the Doctor”, employed by UNIT since “The Giggle”. Should make quite the reunion, as she is confirmed to be appearing somewhere within the two part finale “Wish World” and “The Reality War”, which airs over the next two weeks. The latter gets the typical streaming-first releases of the season, while “The Reality War” will premiere simultaneously worldwide in a primetime domestic slot linearly, early to late afternoon American slot on Disney+ most similar to the 60th anniversary and Christmas specials.

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Panjabi is an Emmy Award winner whose breakout role for American audiences was in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham as Pinky Kaur Bhamra. She is best known for starring as Kalinda Sharma for six of the seven seasons of CBS series The Good Wife from 2009 to 2015. She received three Emmy nominations for the role including her first win in 2010 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Her subsequent series regular gigs included season 3 of Shetland, season 2 of Blindspot, season 3 of Snowpiercer, the former Peacock original Departure, which she executive produces, and miniseries including I Know This Much is True, Hijack, and Under the Bridge. The film roles that followed Beckham include The Constant Gardener, A Good Year, A Mighty Heart, and most recently 2015’s San Andreas. Now that she’s been officially revealed, Panjabi was finally able to give her own statement that read “It seems there’s been quite a bit of speculation about the Rani’s return…and who can blame you? Kate O’Mara’s portrayal was brilliant, ruthless and unforgettable. Now, under Russell T Davies, she’s back- and I’ll ask…what in the Whoniverse will we bring to her? Let’s just say, you might not be ready!” In a very Hollywood-minded era of Doctor Who guest stars, she is the third Good Wife alum after Chris Noth as Jack Robertson in Thirteenth Doctor stories series 11’s “Arachnids in the UK” and New Year’s 2021 special “Revolution of the Daleks”, and Alan Cumming as King James I in series 11’s “The Witchfinders” and as Mr. Ring-a-Ding aka Lux in this season’s second episode “Lux”.

Showrunner Russell T. Davies gave two statements, the first to the press, revealing that the story decision was a bit of wish fulfillment itself. “Ncuti always said he wanted to face the Rani, so after 32 years, she’s back! It’s an honour to work with Archie - I’ve been a fan for years, and what a joy, to see her twinned with Anita Dobson. It’s the greatest threat the Doctor has ever faced… and there are even more villains to come!” His second statement was teasing “Wish World”, which only got a preview clip on Doctor Who: Unleashed, because a Next Time trailer would risk a lot more broken eggshells on walking attempts. It showed Conrad giving anti-Doctor propaganda speeches painting his history with the Rani very differently. “NEXT WEEK: Wish World. Enemies old and new unite as the Doctor faces the Unholy Trinity. This is only two thirds of the Trinity, the two Ranis count as one, cos I say so 😑 The third is lying in wait, exactly 160 years away 🤔 So stand by! This is the big one! First of a two-part finale! The Pantheon is stirring. Old friends are helpless. And the whole of reality is in danger as we hurtle towards May 24, in the Ranis’ most terrifying experiment yet. Pity the fate of poor Frau Zufall! And remember, a message is calling across time and space… “Tables don’t do that.” #dobs ♥️♥️➕👶”

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Indeed, Davies managed to pull off, in the third-to-last episode of a season with a medical professional of color for a companion, the reveal of a surviving Time Lord who promptly regenerated, just as he did with Professor Yana as The Master in series 3’s “Utopia”. However, The Ranis weren’t the only, as Susan Foreman, the Doctor’s granddaughter played by Carole Ann Ford, appeared in visions to the Doctor encouraging his survival after the space blowout. The O’Mara Rani and Susan had their last television appearance in the “Dimensions in Time” 30th anniversary charity special, with Susan’s last in-series appearance being 1983’s 20th anniversary serial The Five Doctors. It’s also worth noting that these survivals come in the wake of The Master’s destruction of Gallifrey and slaughter of its people in series 12, with a portion of deceased Time Lords converted into CyberMasters, Cybermen Time Lords. The Master’s aforementioned original return came at a time when it was thought the Doctor had destroyed Gallifrey to end the Time War. The fact that the tooth containing him was picked up by a mysterious figure following the defeat of the Toymaker in “The Giggle” hasn’t been touched on? Maybe leading us here. The Mrs. Flood Rani’s bigeneration can be watched below.

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Source: Doctor Who