Doctor Who: Rogue Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs

8. UP - Lady Ruby Sunday Of The Notting Hill Estate

Doctor Who Rogue Jonathan Groff
BBC Studios

It would be too easy to lavish all the praise for Rogue on Ncuti Gatwa and Jonathan Groff, but that undermines all the excellent work being done elsewhere. 

Throwing 21st century Ruby into 19th century Bath is a winning combination, particularly her assessment of Lord Forman as "a half pint of shandy".

Millie Gibson is superb as Ruby, delighting in the chance to star in her very own episode of Bridgerton. While the constant references to the Netflix show could grate on those of us who've never seen it, Ruby's enthusiasm is infectious. 

The scene where Ruby watches Lord Forman and Emily Beckett discuss how they cannot be together is a good demonstration of Millie Gibson's comic chops.

Gibson never gets enough credit for the things she can do with just a look, and her scandalised reaction shots and slapstick response to having a heap of books land on her head are a joy to watch.

And as funny as Ruby gets to be, she also gets to console the Doctor over the loss of Rogue. Her insistence that the Doctor doesn't do what the Doctor always does - deflect and move on - is a touching moment that cements them as a modern TARDIS duo.

I definitely hope that something monumentally bad isn't about to happen to these two.

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Contributor

Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies.