A new and mysterious character played by Anita Dobson was introduced in the Doctor Who 2023 Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road. Mrs Flood is Ruby Sunday’s ever-watchful, sometimes pleasant, sometimes querulous Minto Road neighbour in the Notting Hill section of London.

When we first see Mrs Flood, she’s complaining to her neighbour Abdul (Hemi Yeroham) about the Doctor’s TARDIS taking up space on the pavement near the front of her house. We are at once informed that she is physically fit yet annoyed to have to walk around an antique police box and accuses Abdul of placing it there.

“Listen, sweetheart, I’m not what you’d call decrepit. I do my callisthenics, I keep myself fit and able, thank you very much. I did a fun run last Easter in 25 minutes flat. Blisters the size of apples, and I kept going. But all the same, how am I supposed to get round that great big thing of a morning?”

“I haven’t seen one (a police box) on the streets of London for 50 years, and don’t want to see one now!”

Are we meant to think she’s unpleasant or sketchy? It does seem paranoid for her to accuse Abdul of placing the TARDIS there. When Abdul asks why she’s suspicious of him, Mrs Flood pulls the most sinister face we ever see her make and says, “Because you’ve never liked me. I’ve seen you… looking.”

Mrs Flood appears to be in the habit of sitting outside in front of her home and watching everything that goes on in the neighbourhood. Most people prefer their neighbours to mind their own business and not be judgemental so if Abdul favours her with a few nervous glances as he walks by, it’s understandable.

Later in the episode when the Doctor decides to travel back in time to rescue baby Ruby from the goblins, Mrs Flood drops her shopping bags in astonishment as the TARDIS dematerialises in front of her. After this scene, Mrs Flood undergoes a remarkable change in attitude and humour.

After the Doctor rescues baby Ruby, the TARDIS materialises across from where Mrs Flood is sitting outside her house. She waves and smiles as the Doctor goes to check on adult Ruby and her family. When the Doctor decides to then take his TARDIS back in time to rescue Davina McCall, Mrs Flood takes this all in from her perch.

When the Doctor Returns from his rescue, Mrs Flood whistles to get his attention.

“Busy man, sweetheart. You and your box of tricks. You look like you’ve lost a pound and found a sixpence. What’s wrong?”

The Doctor wonders aloud to Mrs Flood if he is the bad luck and she asks him who he is, to which he answers, “No one. Just passing by.”

“Well, you take care,” answers Mrs Flood.

At some point after this exchange, Mrs. Flood suddenly knows all about the TARDIS if not the Doctor. Can it be that the Doctor recruited her for a mission — or did she know all along and pretend not to? In a programme about time travel, the Doctor can come back to Minto Road at any time and enlist the help of someone who seems friendly, ever-present and watchful of everything that goes on in the neighbourhood.

There is possibly a hint of this in the Doctor Who: Video Commentaries for The Church on Ruby Road. Showrunner Russell T Davies confirmed Ruby’s mysterious origin story will play a key role in the 2024 series and that there were people at the Church where Ruby was found as an abandoned baby whom we haven’t seen yet.

“The story that we’re kicking off here about the adoption and having been fostered and then adopted and being a foundling actually runs through the entire series. This one’s quite a fable – the foundling on the church doorstep in the snow. That story then continues into the series – we come back to that church. There’s all sorts of things… there were people in those scenes you don’t know were there. There’s a lot more to come.”

In the next scene we see Mrs Flood, she discreetly encourages Ruby toward the TARDIS and wishes her good luck as she enters.

The TARDIS dematerialises and this time Abdul witnesses it and remarks about it to Mrs Flood, who now has much more friendly and charitable feelings toward her neighbour as she gently chides him. It’s as if, like Ebenezer Scrooge, she’s experienced a Christmas epiphany.

“Oh, Merry Christmas, Abdul. Stop making such a fuss.”

It is then we hear the most surprising line from Mrs Flood as the breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience with a wink.

“Never seen a TARDIS before?”

We will see more of Mrs Flood since Anita Dobson filmed scenes for Episode Four of the 2024 Doctor Who series.

A new 8-episode Doctor Who series starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson will debut in May 2024.