New 'Tales Of The TARDIS' Episode Announced To Feature Fifteenth Doctor And Ruby Sunday
New 'Tales Of The TARDIS' Episode Announced To Feature Fifteenth Doctor And Ruby Sunday
A surprise seventh episode of the series where classic ‘Doctor Who' characters reunite to talk classic serials will feature the current Doctor and companion meet to do the same on June 20
An empire of death will be preceded by a plethora of classic memories. Doctor Who’s premier spinoff for its Whoniverse hub on the BBC iPlayer, the anthology series Tales of the TARDIS is returning for a surprise seventh episode shortly before the end of the current season.
Usually, the anthology series would see classic companions reunite with each other or their Doctor to reflect on a certain adventure in the Memory TARDIS, like the Fifth Doctor and Tegan Jovanka finally taking time to actually talk about the tragic loss of Adric in Earthshock. Streamlined versions of the discussed episodes are bookended by such scenes. However for this episode it’s the incumbent Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa and companion Ruby Sunday played by Millie Gibson who will be stepping inside for the episode premiering on Thursday, June 20 at 8 PM on BBC Four and iPlayer. That’s noon on the US west coast to 3 PM on the east coast, the day before the season finale “The Empire of Death”. Not that there's any legal availability this side of the ocean. The only previous character introduced after the show’s 2005 revival to partake before this was Clyde Langer from spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures. Played once again by Daniel Anthony, he was told the events of The Three Doctors by Third Doctor companion Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning.
The choice to bring Fifteen and Ruby into the Memory TARDIS for an episode has many fans strongly believing there’s an obvious tie-in, even with the episode subject still unrevealed. A chance to fill Ruby in on the relevant figure. The leading candidate is Sutekh, making the subject serial 1975’s Fourth Doctor serial Pyramids of Mars. Sutekh is a member of the alien race known as the Osirans that inspire the mythological gods of Ancient Egypt, with Sutekh himself being most Anubis-y with his dog-like appearance. He sought to destroy all life in the cosmos.
While it’s unknown how far in advance the listing will update to reveal what the episode will cover, there’s still this week’s seventh and penultimate episode of the main show’s season, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”. Its synopsis reads “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.” After Jonathan Groff put in a memorable, charming turn as the titular “Rogue”, this episode will see actress Susan Twist’s mysterious appearances in every episode thus far this season come to a head, now playing Susan Triad, the head of Triad Technologies. Whatever is discovered about Ruby, her mom and grandma, Carla and Cherry Sunday played by Michelle Greenidge and Angela Wynter will be there to see it. We might even learn what the deal is with Anita Dobson’s Mrs. Flood. Our UNIT cast lacks Ruth Madeley’s Shirley Anne Bingham but Lenny Rush debuts as Morris Gibbons, and the Vlinx, Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Bonnie Langford’s Mel Bush, and Yasmin Finney’s Rose Noble are all back. It releases on BBC iPlayer at midnight on June 15, when it releases on Disney+ for the rest of the world, which in Eastern Time is 7 PM Friday, June 14.
Source: RadioTimes