Doctor Who: Every Doctor's First Episode Ranked Worst To Best

There are moments in The Church on Ruby Road that announce Ncuti Gatwa as a brand-new type of Time Lord. The scene of the kilt-wearing, gin and tonic-saving Doctor dancing in a nightclub affirms that this is an incarnation who wants to savour every moment and experience.

The Doctor's rooftop dash to hang with Ruby on the Goblin Ship is joyous, while Gatwa excels at delivering hand-wavey dialogue about the language of rope. In this respect, The Church on Ruby Road does its job at establishing who this new incarnation is.

So it's incredibly disappointing that the majority of the episode takes place in Ruby's flat. It's hard to see the Doctor truly fly when they're moving from cramped room to cramped room.

Things pick up again when the Doctor travels back to save baby Ruby, but there's a constricting atmosphere to much of 2023's Christmas special, that feels like it's keeping Ncuti back from properly letting loose as the Doctor.

Thankfully though, the policeman scene was added to give the Doctor more screentime early on. It's a moment that allows Gatwa to flex his Doctor muscles, and he nails the kindness and confidence of the character in the span of a few lines.