GALLERY
CAST
Regular Cast
Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday)
Guest Cast
Jinkx Monsoon (Maestro), Jeremy Limb (Timothy Drake), Kit Rakusen (Henry), Sherinne Kayra Anderson (Tea Trolley Lady), Ed White (George Martin), George Caple (Paul McCartney), Chris Mason (John Lennon), Philip Davies (George Harrison), James Hoyles (Ringo Starr), Chan Shoker (Studio Producer), Josie Sedgwick-Davies (Cilla Black), Susan Twist (Tea Lady), Simon Jason-Smith (Vinnie), Laura June Hudson (Elderly Woman), Murray Gold (Himself), Shirley Ballas (Herself), Johannes Radebe (Himself)
CREW
| Written by | Russell T Davies |
| Directed by | Ben Chessell |
| Produced by | Vicki Delow |
SYPNOSIS
The Doctor and Ruby meet The Beatles but discover that the all-powerful Maestro is changing history. London becomes a battleground with the future of humanity at stake.
PLOT
In England, 1926, Henry Arbinger is having a piano lessons with his teacher, Timothy Drake. He asks the man to play something exciting, and is introduced to a melody called “the Devil’s chord”. The piano lid suddenly drops, but knocking is heard from inside. Maestro emerges from the lid and reveals that Henry’s name is short for “Harbinger”, calls Timothy a genius for unlocking “the lost chord”, and consumes the music from his soul. Remarking on their need for more music, Maestro turns to the piano and begins to play a tune.
In the TARDIS, Ruby asks The Doctor to take her to see the Beatles record their very first album. They venture out to Abbey Road on February 11th, 1963 and enter the studio. Taking over a tea cart, they enter one of the recording studios and come across the Beatles in the midst of a recording session, but are confused at their tone-deafness, as well as their choice of song about Paul McCartney’s dog. They also peek into separate sessions with Cilla Black, and an entire orchestra, who are also all inexplicably tone deaf.
In the cafeteria, after reading a headline of the Soviet Union threatening Finland, The Doctor theorizes that music’s sudden disappearance is leading humanity to a dark future. The Doctor and Ruby approach Paul McCartney and John Lennon respectively to ask about what happened to music. Paul and Lennon reveal that the human race has stopped caring about music since the early 20th century and they plan on finishing the album and retiring to normal everyday lives. The boys react angrily when the Doctor and Ruby try to reassure them of music’s importance.
The Doctor has a piano lifted up to the studio’s roof, while Ruby makes a note of a mysterious dark smog overtaking the skies. The Doctor implores Ruby to play the piano, and plays a sad song she wrote for a friend. The music attracts the attention of Londoners, who emotionally react. The piano violently shifts, interrupting the playing, and Maestro emerges. The Doctor flees into a cellar, and uses his screwdriver to silence the environment around them as Maestro searches. Maestro reverberates a puddle of water to return the sound. An elderly lady begins playing Clair de Lune, distracting Maestro. The Doctor suspects Maestro to be part of the Toymaker’s legions: the Pantheon. Ruby tries reassuring him, but The Doctor fears its powers. He takes Ruby back to 2024, where she finds London has been devastated by war in a nuclear winter.
They are interrupted by Maestro, who summons a piano and transport them elsewhere. They reveal they are the child of the Toymaker and grow stronger by consuming music until they are able to steal the music of the spheres. The Doctor deduces that Maestro could be banished by a different combination of notes, but Maestro reveals they can drain anything that makes a sound. They start playing the piano, which affects the TARDIS. Panicked that Maestro could drain the power of the TARDIS, The Doctor immediately takes Ruby back to 1963, escaping Maestro’s control. He then recalibrates the TARDIS, but it makes a mysterious groaning sound.
Returning to Abbey Road Studios, he plugs the sonic into the control booth and uses John Lennon’s guitar to find the Notes of Banishment. Maestro uses physical music notes to kidnap Ruby, disables the sonic, and threatens to consume her music. Ruby begins singing “Carol of the Bells”, which confuses Maestro due to its power from deep within her soul and Maestro states that this music was present on the night of her birth, saying that this power is that of The Oldest One. The Doctor uncovers the “Mrs Mills Piano”, which he uses to fight Maestro. They engage in a music battle, the Doctor on piano, Maestro on violin. Ruby joins The Doctor on piano, and Maestro breaks their violin. He discovers the Notes of Banishment, but plays a bum note, allowing Maestro to regain full power, flings the piano down the hallway, and traps The Doctor and Ruby in instruments. Lennon and McCartney come across the piano and play the final note, finally defeating Maestro, who before disappearing, remarks to the Doctor that “the One Who Waits is almost here.”
With music returned to the world, The Doctor and Ruby celebrate on the roof of EMI Studios. Ruby remarks positively but The Doctor halts her, warning her that there is always a twist at the end. He winks and proceeds to lead a musical dance number, “There’s Always a Twist (At the End)”, with Ruby, the Beatles and Cilla Black throughout the studio. Henry Arbinger watches on as they do. Once complete, he and Ruby proceed back to the TARDIS, dancing along Abbey Road, which reacts to their steps as if a keyboard. Once in the TARDIS, it gives a thrum and a slam of its doors.
NOTES
Ruby uses the TARDIS jukebox for the first time.
Ruby’s mother used to have a girlfriend called Claire who was into music and favoured the Beatles. Ruby loved Claire too when she was ten years old.
Ruby confirms she was born in 2004.
Ruby wrote a song on a piano to help a friend called Trudy after a girl had broken Trudy’s heart.
Maestro is the child of the Toymaker.
The Doctor can speak Turkish. (He says “Hadi ama” which translates to “Come On” in English.)
The existence of the mysterious group known as “The Pantheon” is confirmed. Sarah Jane Smith had previously faced “The Pantheon of Discord”.
The Doctor claims to have met Mrs Mills and had some adventures.
Maestro briefly plays the theme song of “Doctor Who” on the piano and it is briefly heard on the TARDIS jukebox. The Twelfth Doctor could play the song on his guitar (The Magician’s Apprentice)
Maestro and the Doctor both break the fourth wall in this episode, with the former doing so in the cold open before they begin playing the aforementioned Doctor Who theme song, directly addressing the audience and seemingly performing the piano of the non-diegetic music itself. Later The Doctor comments on the music being used by Maestro to kidnap Ruby, stating he thought it was non-diegetic, which is music that takes place outside the fictional universe of the work in question and is only audible to the audience.
Maestro later also plays the Saxon theme song to control the TARDIS‘ Cloister Bell and the TARDIS lights.
Ruby mentions that her family owned “Revolver” and “The White Album” when she was ten years old.
The music heard when The Doctor and Ruby wander through 1963 is called “California Soul” by Ashford and Simpson.
The Beatles first entered the recording studio in real life on Monday February 11, 1963. They appear to be recording the album “Please Please Me” and Abbey Road Studios indeed was not yet named as the Doctor states.
The reason why no actual songs of the Beatles were used in this episode is because it was simply too expensive.
Cilla Black was a British singer/entertainer/TV presenter who was a friend of the Beatles and sometimes sang together. The Beatles wrote the song “Love of the Loved” for Cilla.
The old woman plays the song “Clair de Lune” on her piano.
The song that The Doctor and Ruby play on the piano is called “The Life of Sunday – Ruby’s Theme”. It was written by Murray Gold.
The Mrs. Mills piano also exists in real-life. It was used by pianist Gladys Mills. The Beatles used the piano for their songs “Penny Lane” and “With a Little Help From my Friends”.
The ending sequence of the Doctor and Ruby dancing on the streets of Abbey Road serves as a double homage: the first is to the famous piano dance from Big (which Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson acknowledge in this episode’s Unleashed), and the other is the film Singin’ in the Rain.
The fact that the two dance in the rain was something of an accident: the scene had been reserved for the end of the day during an outdoor shoot with the intention of it taking place during sunset. When a rainstorm muddled these plans, the production team decided to have the two characters keep their umbrellas from earlier in the song, providing a judicious means for the two to be holding umbrellas.
Maestro was to be revealed as an incarnation of the Master. This was proven false. Instead, they are a child of the Toymaker.
John Lennon, in real life, did not start wearing his iconic round glasses until the autumn of 1966, some three years after this episode is set. Before 1966, he wore black-framed National Health spectacles — though he never sported these onstage.
The Doctor jokes people he travels with always want to go to “the Titanic”, “Mars” or “Bethlehem”. The Doctor previously visited the Titanic (Rose) and Mars (The Waters of Mars), and once recounted a tale to Susan, and her son Alex Campbell, of how Leonardo da Vinci begged to visit Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus Christ. (Relative Dimensions) The Tenth Doctor had previously implied that he was present in Bethlehem during the birth of Jesus. (Voyage of the Damned)
The Eleventh Doctor previously took Amy Pond to London in July 1963 only to find it destroyed by a Dalek invasion. Amy had also desired to meet John Lennon while visiting. (City of the Daleks)
The Doctor and Ruby use the TARDIS wardrobe. (The Unquiet Dead)
Ruby claims that the 21st century can’t have been changed as she herself had not changed only for the Doctor to prove her wrong. Martha Jones once had a similar debate with the Tenth Doctor. (The Shakespeare Code)
The Fifteenth Doctor confirms he had children and that he had a granddaughter called Susan. (An Unearthly Child)
The Doctor mentions he and Susan lived on Totter’s Lane in Shoreditch in the year 1963. (An Unearthly Child)
The Doctor is unaware of what became of Susan. (The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Shoreditch Intervention) He believes she may have been killed in a cellular explosion when the other Time Lords were murdered. (Spyfall)
The Doctor mentions he saw Ruby perform earlier in December 2023 at King’s Arms. She opened with the song “One More Sleep”. (The Church on Ruby Road)
The Doctor theorises that Maestro is one of the Pantheon of Discord (The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) based on them having the Toymaker’s signature giggle palindrome. Maestro later confirms they are the Toymaker’s child. (The Giggle)
The Doctor recalls his catch battle against the Toymaker and how the conflict “tore [his] soul in half” through a bi-generation. (The Giggle)
Maestro remarks that “The One Who Waits” is coming. The Toymaker previously mentioned this entity. (The Giggle)
After the Maestro is defeated, their powers still linger in 1963 for a while, evidenced in Penny Lane functioning like a keyboard. There was a similar after effect present when the Toymaker was defeated. (The Giggle)
The Doctor taking Ruby back to her time which now consists of a destroyed London in order to prove to her the world will end in 1963 unless they defeat Maestro mirrors a similar scene with the Fourth Doctor doing a similar thing with Sarah Jane Smith in order to prove to her that her world will end in 1911 unless they defeat Sutekh. (Pyramids of Mars)
Maestro plans to steal the Music of the Spheres; the music created by the universe’s motion. (Music of the Spheres)
Maestro mentions The One Who Waits. (The Giggle)
A rooftop billboard can be seen that advertises Chris Waites and the Carrollers. This band was previously mentioned by Susan in conversation with Ian Chesterton, having had the same singer as John Smith and the Common Men. (An Unearthly Child)