[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 4 “Lucky Day.”]
It’s hard to return to normal life after adventures with the Doctor. Doctor Who has shown that time and time again, and this time, it’s Ruby’s (Millie Gibson) turn, having left the Time Lord (Ncuti Gatwa) and the TARDIS behind. But unfortunately, aliens and trouble are right around the corner.
And doubly unfortunate? Her love interest, Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) is nothing like he seems. He comes across as a sweet guy with whom she can talk about her adventures, only for him to be using her for his Think Tank, a group trying to expose the “lies” of UNIT. These people don’t believe aliens exist, even though everyone has seen them. Conrad breaks into UNIT and still refuses to accept the truth even when one, a Shreek that has marked him for prey, stalks him. The episode ends with him locked up — but the mysterious Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) shows up with keys — and Ruby pondering her future.
Below, Millie Gibson talks about returning as a changed Ruby, that awful betrayal, what to expect when she shows up in the finale, and that mysterious Mrs Flood.
Talk about stepping back into Ruby’s shoes, but this is a Ruby who’s dealing with the aftermath and PTSD from everything that she went through with the Doctor. So what did you keep in mind for that aspect of her character now?
Millie Gibson: Well, I’ve lived it, so it was pretty easy to remember. That experience is so complex, and it is such a cool aspect to return to a companion and be like, wait, so how is she after? I love that speech that I do in the pub where I’m like, “I got swallowed by a double bass and I hung over London and I was chased by goblins,” and all this stuff. And it’s like, yeah, what happens? How do you go back home and just have your tea after all that? So it was a really cool story to act and I’m very privileged to be the companion to do it.
James Pardon/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf
But then you also played a Ruby early on in her adventures with the Doctor with the Shreek. How was doing that? It was so good to see Ruby and the Doctor together again.
I know, I loved snapping back into that version of her, even the dress and the costume I wore and even kind of adding it to the timeline of, oh, we’ve just seen the Beatles and now we’re doing this. And it’s like, oh, okay. It gives the audience a bit of insight, the time that you don’t see and this is how it all fits. So it was really clever. But yeah, I loved going back into that dynamic with Ncuti, it was so much fun.
So Conrad was awful.
There’s no beating around the bush. Yeah, Conrad was trash obviously.
How much of Ruby’s hurt came from how much she cared about him at that point and how much was simply the betrayal after how much she’d opened up? She thought she could open up to him.
Yes. Oh my gosh. She finally found someone that understood. All her friends at home think she’s just bats**t mad. But yes, she finally found Conrad on this podcast and even then it took her a while to let her walls down, she was like, he’s not my boyfriend. And then yeah, just, oh, it stabs you in the heart. It’s horrible, but you’re totally right. It was literally just the betrayal and it was opening up to someone and them totally just disregarding it. I mean, his little speech to me when he is like, I’m smothered in lip gloss and listen to your tedious piano solos, it’s so brutal. But yeah, Jonah is incredible. He switches so good. There was a point where he’d already done the switch and then we had to go back to when he was innocent Conrad and I just couldn’t take him seriously. I am like, no, you’re a liar. I can’t look at you the same now. He does that so amazing.
Did Ruby really think Kate (Jemma Redgrave) would let him die?
Oh, that’s a really good question. I’ve never thought about it. No, I don’t think so. I think she sees a lot of herself in Kate. I could see Ruby growing up to be Kate. I don’t know, maybe just like a mank, worser version than — when UNIT’s under budget or something, she could take over. But yeah, I think that Kate had that anger that Ruby was feeling that night she got betrayed because he goes in about her father and all this, Kate’s father and everything he did was a lie and it’s like, “Ugh! I wouldn’t go there!” But yeah, I can imagine Ruby getting up to that point that Kate did, but Ruby has a little bit more of a soft spot. I don’t know, I think she did the right thing. Killing him would be too easy. He needs to be locked up.
Something that stood out was there were no Ruby-Doctor scenes in Ruby’s present. She was with Kate instead. Did it feel like to you that what Ruby needed at the time was that she needed Kate versus the Doctor because of everything she’d been through with him?
Yeah, you’re so right. It was like she was almost like, do I kind of take over here? It’s usually him that does this. And yeah, I really like that dynamic she’s got with Shirley [Ruth Madeley] as well, so she’s like, what do we do? She’s got all the girl power. But yeah, I think the Doctor definitely would’ve let that get out of hand. Even Kate says, “No, I’m glad he is not here because he would’ve stopped me from doing this.” So yeah, it was a good thing but also a bad thing that the Doctor wasn’t there as always.
James Pardon/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf
Russell T Davies told me you’re back for the finale. Is that the next time we see you?
Yeah, so I’m back for Episode 7 and Episode 8 and I don’t think I can say much more than that, but it was so much fun to go back again because I remember the episode with me and Jonah, we filmed that in November 2023 and then when I went back, that was in May 2024. So I was coming back to everyone and I was like, “How have you been? How’s it all going?” So yeah, it was so much fun.
What can you say about Ruby and the Doctor’s dynamic though with everything that Ruby’s been through away from him?
It is weird because it’s a different version of Ruby, and the Doctor’s just always the Doctor. So it was seeing a friend after a few years and you’ve both kind of changed a bit, but you kind of slot back into the same rhythm and routine that you’ve got. That’s what it felt like. And I think with having our beautiful Varada Sethu [as new companion Belinda] there as well, that changes the dynamic, but all for the better. I loved having that kind of threesome moment going on in the TARDIS. But yeah, you see such beautiful friendships form in those episodes. I’m excited for you to see.
Yeah, because Russell said we get the absolute joy of Belinda and Ruby fighting the good fight together. So I can just imagine those two must be able to get things done.
Yeah, I mean, you wouldn’t mess with them two together. What you’ve seen in Belinda, I wouldn’t mess with her. Oh my gosh, no. I’d be like, you are the Doctor to me. She’s just great. The Doctor and the nurse. You’re in safe hands.
And Ruby can pass along the experience that only another companion can understand. That’s something the Doctor cannot understand.
She has the humanity. I think that’s what the Doctor lacks sometimes. He thinks about the solution instead of the process of emotion.
Mrs Flood continues to be all mysterious and has been since your first episode and she’s now showing up in every episode. I know we’re going to get answers by who she is, but can you say when you found out who she is? Did you know from the beginning?
No.
So can you say how your theories about her changed as a result of what you just saw as a fan?
I remember watching the end of the end of Season 1, and she’s on a roof, right? And I remember being a bit like, “Huh, I don’t know,” but Russell wouldn’t say anything. He’d be like, no. And Anita didn’t know anything either. I was like, “Come on, you can tell me.” But yeah, I don’t know how much more I can say than that, but I was shooketh to my core. I think I can relate to all of the fans and the audience watching that. I had the exact same reaction, but she plays it so well. She’s so good. It’s such a smart move.
You’re saying you were shooketh to your core about the end of Season 1? Or the reveal?
Mrs. Flood’s evolution. I can tease that.
At the end of this episode, Ruby says she’s going to take time away, go somewhere new. Does she feel what that even looks like?
I know, I’m picturing her in a cabin in the woods. I don’t know what she’s up to. I don’t know what she does. And you don’t really find out, but I’m guessing it’s therapy. Maybe Kate refers her to a companions rehab center and it’s just me with Martha [Freema Agyeman], Rose [Billie Piper], and we’re all like, “Yeah, how wild’s that? What did you get up to?” That’s what I picture. We’re all in an AA meeting, but for the Doctor. That should so be a thing. I’ve just created a whole episode.
Doctor Who, Saturdays, 3a/2c, Disney+
