Funny / Doctor Who Series 14

"The Church on Ruby Road"

• The Doctor's a bit annoyed after having a giant snowman's head fall on him:
  Woman: You all right?
  The Doctor: A pram? At midnight? [Climbs out of the head through the eyehole] Really?
  Woman: [Angrily flips the hood down, revealing full grocery bags instead of a baby] It's my shopping.
  [The Doctor boggles in disbelief.]
• When the policeman tries to get info from the Doctor, he describes his occupation as "Not a doctor."
• In the "Ruby meets the Doctor" clip we see Ruby hanging on a ladder from the goblin ship when the Doctor appears and then proceeds to sass her up:
  The Doctor: What the hell are you doing?!
  Ruby: I'm... just... there's—!
  The Doctor: But what did you do that for?! Who sees a ladder and just pops on?! A ladder in the sky, and you thought "Yeah, I'll give that a go, babes!"
  Ruby: THEY'VE GOT THE BABY!
  • It's worth pointing out that the Doctor is saying that while jumping over the rooftops while chasing the very same ladder. And then jumps on said ladder.
• The Doctor's still not fixed the "mavity" thing, it seems.
• "I am learning the vocabulary of rope!"
• Everyone thinks that Lulubelle is a terrible name except the Doctor, who idly wishes he was named "Lulubelle".
• Ruby accuses the Doctor of being an expert in time travelling Goblins. He seems to take enormous offence at the fact she called them time travelling goblins, complaining that they "just bimble" while actual time travellers (namely him) are "great. Like, the best. Like, wow". He may be more mellow, but, no, the ego is still there.
• "The Goblin Song" is an upbeat pop song about eating babies, complete with back-up dancers and drummers. It also includes the following hilariously self-aware line:
  ♫ He's the Goblin King! Yes, the Goblin King! He's not a myth, he's an actual thing! ♫
  • And may we remind you, this was released as a charity single for Children in Need. A song about eating children was made available for sale to benefit hungry children. Naturally, the Doctor Who social media accounts wasted no time lampshading this.
• And then the Doctor and Ruby land in front of the King, literally Letting the Air out of the Band. The Doctor’s plan? Restart the music, even improvising new lyrics.
  The Doctor: Rock it, Janis! [band starts playing again]
  • Of note, during the Doctor and Ruby's heroic song about how they're going to foil the goblins' plans and save Lulubelle, which includes straight up "You goblins can go to hell!" as a line? The goblin band keeps playing while the King and other goblins happily dance along.
• After Ruby and the Doctor make it back to the flat with Lulubelle, Carla returns from her trip to the supermarket and asks what's going on, to which the Doctor and Ruby immediately begin Acting Unnatural with big grins and awkward posing to avoid having to explain the entire adventure they've just been through. And right after Carla accepts their flimsy excuses with Ruby introducing the Doctor to her, Ruby and the Doctor proceed to argue in frantic whispers over throwing each other under the bus during the explanations.
• The Black Comedy of Davina McCall showing up as a celebrity Special Guest only to be subjected to the goblins' cruel tricks and getting killed by a Christmas tree (she gets better thanks to the Doctor’s meddling).
  • The scene in which Davina calls Ruby before The Reveal of her in a wheelchair and several casts is definitely worth a morbid laugh given how it goes from a sad and heartfelt moment of Davina breaking the news to Ruby before zooming out to her injured state.
  • Not to mention the list of accidents that led to the injuries.
    Davina McCall: I've been hit, I've been thrown, I've been bumped, I fell off a boat on dry land. I've been in accidents, collisions, I've even been trampled by a moose!
  • Her near-fate might also remind some of the early Christmas specials of RTD's first run in which killer Christmas trees were a bit of a thing.
    Jackie Tyler: I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!
  • The fact the audience thinks RTD turned Davina into a Dead Star Walking until the very end, when the Doctor narrowly averts Something We Forgot at the very last moment.
• The Running Gag with Ruby's gran Cherry griping about not being able to get a cup of tea. At one point, after Ruby and the Doctor have returned from their baby-saving escapades, Cherry snarks that she's given up all hope of getting that tea and accepted a life of abstinence.

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