The Doctor and Ruby arrive at UNIT HQ in order to seek help in investigating the woman whom they have been seeing throughout time and space in recent weeks. She exists in the present day as well - a philanthropic tech mogul named Susan Triad. However, UNIT have been investigating her for some time and Kate Stewart has already placed an operative within her organisation - his one-time companion Melanie Bush. She is working as a media assistant to Triad. So far she has found nothing to be concerned about. She is a pleasant individual who cares for her employees and who wishes to make affordable IT available to the masses.
And yet the same face keeps appearing on different planets and in different time-zones.
At the same time, the Doctor wishes to investigate Ruby's origins and discover the identity of the hooded woman who abandoned her at the church on Ruby Road - which may go some way to explaining the odd phenomena which surround her, such as snow falling where it should be impossible to do so.
The TARDIS cannot revisit the moment of her abandonment again but Ruby has an old CCTV tape which her foster mother Carla has kept all these years. New scientific adviser Morris explains that this can be adapted using UNIT tech to create a 3-D image of the event, which might identify the woman.
As Triad prepares for a press conference in which she will announce giving away free technology, Mel takes the opportunity to obtain a DNA sample from her, then makes for UNIT HQ where she is reunited with the Doctor. She explains that she was able to return to Earth following the death of Sabalom Glitz.
Triad's DNA sample comes up as human. Ruby arrives with her mother and Morris prepares a Time Window, which will create the three dimensional virtual reality simulation of what the VHS depicts.
As Ruby repeats the story she was told of that Christmas Day, snow begins to fall - even though the program is not yet running.
They witness the event, including the arrival of the Doctor. He notices that unlike the rest of the imagery, which is grainy and shadowy, the TARDIS looks solid, as though it is in the chamber with them. Attempts to identify the hooded woman fail as the image glitches at the key moment when her face might be seen.
He is then surprised to see something which doesn't match his memory of the event - the woman stopping to point towards him before turning away.
The Doctor realises that time is shifting and the event is changing. He deduces that the woman may not be pointing at him at all - but something behind him. This is the TARDIS. A UNIT officer named Winston is sent to look behind the TARDIS and see if anything is there. A strange black shadow is seen momentarily. They hear him call out then contact is lost. The entire image then breaks down, and they discover Winston's body - aged to death and crumbling into a sand-like powder.
The Doctor insists on meeting Triad, after beginning to suspect that she may actually be his granddaughter Susan, perhaps unaware of her true identity. When he meets her in person, however, he cannot sense any Time Lord presence. On hearing that she hasn't been sleeping well due to vivid dreams, he mentions the names of some of the people he has recently encountered who look just like her and this seems to trigger some vague recollection.
At UNIT HQ team member Harriet suggests running the 3-D model again but this time in reverse, to try to identify the black shape. It now appears to emanate from the TARDIS itself, as though wrapped around it.
At UNIT HQ team member Harriet suggests running the 3-D model again but this time in reverse, to try to identify the black shape. It now appears to emanate from the TARDIS itself, as though wrapped around it.
Kate worries that the entity might surround the actual TARDIS in their main control room. Harriet begins to speak oddly, and at the same time Triad interrupts her press announcement to make similar remarks about the coming of the "God of Death". Harriet points out her full name - H. Arbinger - the harbinger for the entity. Kate demands that it show itself. The features of Harriet and Triad are transformed into skull-like visions and it is revealed that the name of the IT company, S Triad Technology, has hidden a terrible secret in plain sight. Sue Tech - Sutekh.
A huge black jackal-like creature is revealed, wrapped around the TARDIS, announcing that it will bring death to the entire Universe...
Triad has released Sutekh's dust of death, which destroys every living thing which it touches. Harriet does the same at UNIT HQ, killing everyone there. Mrs Flood, Carla and Cherry all perish as the dust cloud spreads through London and beyond.
The Doctor and Mel arrive at the HQ and join Ruby in the Time Window chamber where they enter the TARDIS - which proves to be quite unlike the real one. It contains a jumble of elements associated with all the incarnations of the Doctor, who explains that it is created from memories.
Sutekh then materialises with the real TARDIS and explains how he saved himself when they last met by seizing hold of the ship. Ever since then he has been attached to it, travelling through the Vortex and growing in strength. Having once been mistaken for a god by ancient Egyptians, he now has the powers of one.
Knowing of his granddaughter, Sutekh then laid a trap for him using Susan Triad, creating copies of her throughout his travels.
With Harriet in control of the real TARDIS, the Doctor, Ruby and Mel take to the Memory TARDIS and flee Earth.
From space they see the planet consumed by the dust, and the Doctor explains that it will be spreading across the entire universe to every planet and every time the TARDIS has visited.
Sutekh is joined by his servants and informs them that the Doctor and his companions must be tracked down, as the mystery of Ruby's parentage must be known.
Weeks pass and the Doctor discovers that the Time Window is still active, and he explains to his companions Sutekh's obsession with Ruby. He can see every moment in time and space, but this one fact eludes him and it is driving him insane. The Doctor and Ruby are unaware that Mel is beginning to hear the voice of Sutekh in her mind.
Accessing the Time Window through the Memory TARDIS, the Doctor is puzzled to see events from Ruby's future - when she encountered politician Roger Ap Gwilliam in 2046. They see him announcing the creation of a national DNA database. The Doctor realises that they can use this to check Ruby's DNA.
They travel to the Department of Health in 2046 and a blood sample is taken from Ruby which should provide the identity of her mother. Sutekh has been monitoring all of this through Mel, and he now orders her to bring the Memory TARDIS to him.
Mel transforms into one of Sutekh's servants and Harriet brings them all back to UNIT HQ. Here, the Doctor tells Sutekh that he now knows the name of Ruby's mother. He tries to bargain with him, even promising to worship him. Ruby then steps forward to say that she will reveal the name if Sutekh frees the Doctor. She will give him the name, which is recorded on a tablet screen. Sutekh climbs down from the TARDIS. Just as she is about to hand it over, Ruby drops and smashes the screen. It has all been a diversion, giving the Doctor time to uncoil a length of "intelligent rope" which he has taken from the Memory TARDIS. He uses this to ensnare Sutekh then takes to the real TARDIS with Ruby. He had known that Mel was possessed for some time due to her lack of empathy, and so had prepared this trap for Sutekh. The being is then dragged through the Vortex at the end of the rope, the Doctor arguing that if you bring death to death then the outcome is life. Life is restored to the Universe as they travel.
Once completed, Sutekh is cast adrift to disintegrate in the Vortex.
The TARDIS then returns to UNIT HQ in 2024. Susan Triad is there, now a normal human being with only the memories of this particular version of her - brought properly into being by Sutekh's demise. With her great technical knowledge, Kate offers her a role with UNIT.
Morris is able to use Ruby's DNA sample to find out the identity of her mother. She is Louise Alison Miller, a 35 year old nurse from Coventry. She had fallen pregnant at 15 with a troublesome teenage boyfriend, and this is why she had elected to abandon the baby at the church on Ruby Road. The reason for the hooded woman pointing in the Time Window reconstruction was to indicate the street name, and nothing to do with the TARDIS.
Some time later, Ruby has decided to go and see her mother and the Doctor transports her to Coventry in the TARDIS. Ruby elects to speak to Louise and reveal who she is. The pair are reconciled, and soon after Louise is making friends with Ruby's foster family as well. They all meet up at Christmas at Carla's home.
Ruby then decides to give up travelling with the Doctor to concentrate on family.
Neighbour Mrs Flood is on the roof of the building, and comments that only one chapter of Ruby's story is over - and greater terror awaits...
The Legend of Ruby Song and Empire of Death were written by Russell T Davies, and were first broadcast on Saturdays 14th and 21st of June, 2024.
They form the two part finale to Series 14, bringing to a close the first full seasons for Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Davies as returning showrunner. It also marks the end of Millie Gibson's run as a full-time companion, though Ruby will guest in some episodes of the next series. The story also sees the proper return of a classic companion in Mel, after her cameo in The Power of the Doctor as one of the companion support group.
The mystery of Mrs Flood, who knows what a TARDIS is and can seemingly communicate directly with the audience, is prolonged, whilst a popular villain from the classic series returns - only to be badly mishandled.
It's not a bad first half, but the pay-off is atrocious...
Sutekh was created by Robert Holmes after he took over the writing of what would become Pyramids of Mars from Lewis Griefer. An inhabitant of Phaester Osiris, Sutekh had decided to wage war against all living things and embarked on a crusade to achieve this with a band of zealous followers. The other Osirans, under the leadership of Horus, tracked him down on Earth - in ancient Egypt, where the animal headed aliens had been taken for gods. Sutekh himself had the head of a jackal. Unable to kill him, as that would make them no better than he, Horus elected to imprison Sutekh in an underground chamber, held immobile by a forcefield generated from a complex on the planet Mars.
His escape in 1911 coincided with the arrival of the Doctor, in his fourth incarnation, and Sarah Jane Smith. On gaining his freedom, the Doctor had trapped him in a time corridor, shifting the exit point so far into the future that he aged to death before he could ever reach it.
So Sutekh was simply a mortal, though long-lived, alien, who was killed whilst trapped in a time tunnel. Whilst the superstitious Egyptians believed him a god, he wasn't one. He just had some superior mental powers. Physically, he was humanoid but with a jackal-like head mostly concealed beneath a helmet.
Rather than employ a mask to cover the actor's head, the production team opted to use a model head on a mannequin body, to give him a more alien appearance.
Rather than employ a mask to cover the actor's head, the production team opted to use a model head on a mannequin body, to give him a more alien appearance.
The new Sutekh is a massive CGI entity who looks more canine than humanoid, and has gained extra eyes. We are led to believe that he somehow escaped the time corridor - despite what was seen on screen in 1975 - and managed to hitch a ride on the outside of the TARDIS - a feat achieved, presumably, by suddenly managing to make himself invisible.
We are then compelled to accept that he has been hanging on to the TARDIS from Part Four of Pyramids of Mars throughout every single story up to this point... Instead of merely being thought to be a god, he somehow now is a god.
I've always argued that if you are going to bring something back in Doctor Who, then you should bring it back - i.e. as the thing that you actually liked and thought worth bringing back. If you plan to change it too much, why not just create something new? There should always be good reason for bringing anything back, not just ticking a nostalgia box. Sutekh was a fantastic stand-alone villain, in an era of the show that featured many other memorable foes. He should have stayed that way, as RTD2's story does nothing positive to add to the mythos - only to diminish it.
And the CGI's rubbish as well.
The other big disappointment about Empire of Death is the wrapping up of the Ruby's Mother story arc. Fan speculation ran wild on this, with many believing her to be the Doctor's granddaughter - even though RTD2 was attempting to steer them towards Triad for this. Even though no-one could agree who she might be, everyone felt that the character had to be significant and there had to be a pay-off.
But then it turns out she was just a normal teenage human. Nothing wrong with that, but to build up a mystery in the way that this season had done, the audience expected better. It's an anti-climax, and the end of the episode is dragged out to incorporate it. Looking back now, I don't feel the whole snow-falling business was ever properly explained, especially if neither Ruby nor her mother where anything special.
One further issue was Gibson's departure. Unfortunately, the shortness of this season, including a companion-lite episode, meant that we never really got to know Ruby and so never quite invested in her emotionally. Also, fans are becoming increasingly bored with companions who are defined purely by some big secret. They long for the days when the companion was simply an ordinary person like them, given the opportunity to embark on extraordinary adventures.
Fans were also looking to have Mrs Flood explained, but that was at least held back for a later date.
The only pay-off we got was Sutekh - and that was disappointing.
Then there's the return of Mel - one of the positives, as the character was so badly developed back in the 1980's. Bonnie Langford always was a much better actress than people gave her credit for, and it's great that she gets to play a significant role here. If there's a problem, it's a minor one - the lack of any proper explanation as to how she got back to Earth in the present day.
Another positive is Susan Twist as Triad. Not only do we get an explanation for the recurring characters looking like her, but she is also well integrated into the story and delivers an engaging performance as both the likeable Susan and the evil "angel of death" version. That make-up is very good - which makes the use of CGI for Sutekh all the more frustrating.
Gabriel Woolf at least gets to voice the character once again, after originating him in Pyramids of Mars. He had, of course, already bridged the two iterations of the series by voicing the Beast in The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit.
Anita Dobson features only briefly as Mrs Flood - her mystery reserved for another time - and the story concludes with her once again breaking the fourth wall, dressed in white furs and holding a parasol on a rooftop. Fans had speculated about her as well - and this time they would be correct.
The latest scientific adviser is Morris Gibbons, played by Lenny Rush. He had been due to voice Space Baby Eric but the production team thought he deserved a much better role, and one on screen.
The only other new characters whom we haven't seen before are Ruby's birth mother Louise, played by Faye McKeever, and Harriet Arbinger, played by Genesis Lynea.
McKeever appeared in Sky One supermarket comedy Trollied, as well as real life crime drama serials Des (which starred David Tennant) and Little Boy Blue.
Lynea has appeared in Casualty and Silent Witness, but on stage she originated the role of Anne of Cleves in the musical Six, based around the wives of Henry VIII.
Things you might like to know:
- The appearance of the Memory TARDIS would clearly be an attempt to canonise the Tales from the TARDIS, which first appeared for the 60th Anniversary as a framing device to get old companion actors to reprise their roles and introduce one of their classic era stories - a way to repackage repeats, basically.
- Apparently RTD2 was inspired to make Ruby's mother an ordinary human after watching The Last Jedi. And look how that turned out...
- Mel was originally to have perished with all the other UNIT characters at the start of the second episode.
- The Doctor claims never to have seen Susan since the day he left her behind in 22nd Century London. How that fits with all that spin-off material is anyone's guess - and what about The Five Doctors?
- He also claims to be able to recognise another Time Lord simply by looking into their eyes - even though he failed to recognise Missy and "O" as incarnations of the Master.
- Triad's little dance as she came on stage was a reference to one given by PM Theresa May during the 2018 Conservative Party conference.
- Other versions of Triad were to have featured in a longer pre-credits sequence, including one involving Zarbi.
- The Memory TARDIS was to have vanished once the Doctor regained his real one, but RTD2 decided to keep it for potential future appearances.
- Bonnie Langford's reaction to the Sixth Doctor's coat was a genuine one, as the actress recalled her time working on the show with Colin Baker.
- Some fans thought Mrs Flood might be Romana, purely because the final wintry outfit hinted at the one she had worn on the planet Ribos.
- Bizarrely, RTD2 introduces the concept that a Time Lord can have a grandchild before they have a child, being "non-linear" beings.
- But then he also came up with the concept of "the death of death means life" as a means of hitting his boringly predictable big reset button, and "intelligent rope" just to add to the cop-out ending.
- Finally, a good cartoon is worth repeating:
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