News / Doctor Who

Tardis and goblins in Clifton for Doctor Who Christmas special

By Martin Booth  Monday Dec 11, 2023

The Tardis will come to Clifton on Christmas Day in Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode as Doctor Who.

The Church on Ruby Road is the name of the episode, with new Doctor Who companion Ruby Sunday appearing to live on Frederick Place – although BS8 doubles for London’s Notting Hill.

The newly released trailer features Gatwa running over the rooftops of Frederick Place and Ruby – played by Millie Gibson – dangling from a ladder that leads to a goblin galleon sailing above the streets of Bristol.

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The Christmas Day special comes hot on the heels of The Giggle, when Gatwa was first introduced as the new Doctor in a unique bi-generation.

Part of a trilogy of 60th anniversary specials, scenes were shot around the Old City, including disorder breaking out on Clare Street and Broad Street doubling for 1920s London.

In a behind-the-scenes programme following the broadcast of The Giggle, Gatwa talks viewers through his sonic screwdriver, with Frederick Place once again featuring.

The sonic screwdriver of new Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa, contains symbols in Gallifreyan runes from a Rwandan proverb – photo: BBC

Frederick Place in Clifton is thought to be the London home of new Doctor Who companion Ruby Sunday – photo: Martin Booth

A similar view of the corner of Frederick Place also features in a new official photograph of Gibson playing Ruby.

In this photo, the Tardis has landed on a pair of double yellow lines, with Wetherell Place in the background.

Millie Gibson plays new Doctor Who companion, Ruby Sunday – photo: BBC

The corner of Frederick Place and Wetherell Place is only a few hundred yards from the Clifton Triangle – photo: Martin Booth

The distinctive building and railings at 7 Wetherell Place are Grade II-listed.

The house was built in 1860 by JA Hansom Brick “with black brick diaper patterning and limestone dressings, brick external and gable stacks, and a tiled roof with decorative ridge tiles” according to its Historic England listing.

It is “one of the few Victorian houses in Bristol that show a real understanding of Pugin’s principles”, says An Architectural History: Bristol.

Main photo: BBC

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