December 15th, 2023
42 comments
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Doctor Who The Church on Ruby Road Blu-ray
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk
The Doctor Who Christmas special is now available for fans to pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray.
Fans can add this year’s festive episode, The Church on Ruby Road, to their at-home collection following it airing on Christmas Day.
The Church on Ruby Road will see the Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa take control of the TARDIS and meet new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson, for the first time.
Long ago on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, stolen babies, goblins and perhaps the secret of her birth…
Little is known about Ruby Sunday as she was abandoned on Christmas Eve as a baby. Now living with her mum, Carla and grandmother, Cherry her world is about to be turned upside down when she encounters the Doctor and the two set off on their first adventure together.
Alongside Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson is Davina McCall who will be playing herself as she joins the cast alongside Michelle Greenidge as Ruby’s mum Carla, Angela Wynter as Ruby’s grandmother Cherry and Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood.
Doctor Who’s Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road, airs December 25th at 5.55pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, and streams on Disney+ globally outside of the UK and Ireland.
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ReleaseDate
January 25th, 2024 - 2:42pmrelease date is 12th Feb 2024
Darren collier
January 16th, 2024 - 3:43pmWhen coming out date. Any chance news
MJS
January 5th, 2024 - 12:13pmI wonder will this be the BBC or Disney cut that gets released? The Disney version doesn’t have the split end titles, the Mrs Flood sequence comes before the credits roll.
John
January 5th, 2024 - 1:42pmWhy wouldn’t it be the BBC version? Its a BBC release.
Gordon
January 6th, 2024 - 12:36amThe 60th anniversary specials dvd/blu ray used the international Disney plus versions
MJS
January 6th, 2024 - 11:29amHi John, exactly as Gordon says. They’ve done it before.
Anomie
January 6th, 2024 - 3:06pmDoes it really matter…
MJS
January 7th, 2024 - 6:14pmAnomie, unnecessary……
Anomie
January 7th, 2024 - 6:36pmA genuine question. Seriously. Does it it matter? What difference does it make?
MIKK89
January 7th, 2024 - 7:51pm@Gordon When You Say the ’60th Anniversary Specials’ use the international Version, What Do You Mean, The Only Difference I have noticed is that the BBC based “WHOniverse” logo is used in a similar way that the Jodie Whittaker Doctor Who Logo is used on the Collection/Animated Releases. otherwise the episodes are the same as the Broadcast Version…
Gordon
January 7th, 2024 - 8:51pmThe UK broadcast version has the exec producers names as on screen text after the titles. The D+ version has them in the end credits instead.
Rex F
January 7th, 2024 - 9:31pmIt’s Who. You know what the fans are like. To varying degrees they all want the definitive, as broadcast version. When there are changes some find it irritating, some annoying, and others are really bothered. (Except for changes on the classic series dvds and blu-rays, where seemingly only three men and a confused dog care.)
Bookcollector
February 10th, 2024 - 2:18pmBBC cut. Just watched it. Loads of extras as well.
Matt
December 30th, 2023 - 3:37amStill no announcement for this or the 60th specials in the US 🙁
daz
December 30th, 2023 - 6:30pmI still think with Disney+ having the streaming exclusivity the physical versions will not be coming anytime soon for anywhere except the UK.
Lewis frisby
December 29th, 2023 - 12:40pmDo we have a release date for this special
Rob
December 17th, 2023 - 6:16amAnyone know how to get the new blurays like this on in Australia? the usual place JB Hi-Fi aren’t getting them anymore???
Bushboy
December 17th, 2023 - 6:59pmThere is a new distributor, Madman Entertainment, for BBC physical media in Australia and New Zealand. I suspect that these titles will eventually be released here but probably after a long wait. My understanding is that the season 20 collection set is due out in February.
I have just given up on waiting and started importing from the UK. It wasn’t so bad when it was only a month or two to wait but it has just gotten ridiculous wait times.
X08-Chill
December 16th, 2023 - 2:58pmThe BBC should do a big 4K release of Doctor Who imo, the 60th, Church on Ruby Road, Power of the Doctor etc.
Twice Upon a Time may have sold badly but that was almost 7 years ago, 4K is much more standard now than in 2017
Daniel O’Brien
December 16th, 2023 - 5:30pm4K is more established now but it’s still a niche format in terms of disc releases. How many 4k titles have the BBC released? I can only think of six or so.
Samuel
December 16th, 2023 - 6:00pmJust wondering when New Who upgraded from HD to 4k, I could’ve sworn there was mention of a camera upgrade with Series 9 back in 2015? (Let alone whatever special grade cameras were used for the 50th).
I’m doubtful putting bogstandard hd episodes on a 4k disc will yeild any bitrate improvements, given the Star Wars prequels of the 2000’s were mostly filmed digitally in HD 1080p themselves, and required image upscaling/ softening to disguise scaling artefacts.
2017’s Twice Upon a Time was an HD 1080p master (no pun), then upscaled to 4k, yeilding artificial results, ignoring the sales demand for 4k 6 years ago.
I just think it’s going to be a cataclysmic mistake for the BBC to ignore 4k physical releases of New Who, while BBC iPlayer is hosting 4k web bitrate copies of the exact same episodes. There’s zero advantage, or purpose to own compressed image sets, except if someone happens to like the pretty pictures on the disc cases.
Proper, native 4k disc releases are absolutely the best, best image and sound quality possible – the idea of, as an example, pre ordering say, the recent Tennant specials, knowing that I’ll get to enjoy those stories again in not only better, but the very best quality possible, is far more of a sensible, modern day investment for physical media.
Sofia Fox
December 16th, 2023 - 10:45pmI believe Revolution of the Daleks was the first episode shot natively in 4K, because since then, everything including that episode streams in 4K on iPlayer. Yet no 4K releases for any of the native 4K episodes.
AlbertoFrog
December 16th, 2023 - 11:13pmSofia,
Not quite. “Revolution” is in 4K on iPlayer, then it drops back to HD for “Flux” and the first two 2022 specials, then 4K again for “Power of the Doctor” onwards.
Rex F
December 17th, 2023 - 1:29amSamuel: I think if you do some reading on the market and costs, etc, you’ll be surprised. And you’ll realise why a 4k Who disc isn’t really worth the time, money and effort for the UK only. You’ll make more money on some dvds of other series.
MJS
December 16th, 2023 - 9:32amI think I will wait for the box set, unless there are exclusives on this, like Dr Who Live was on the Deep Breath edition and not the boxset
Gordon
December 15th, 2023 - 9:07pmI’ll just wait to see if it’s going to be on the season box set. I’m sure by the time it gets announced it will be down in price if I end up having to get it. It’s not like it’s gonna sell out or anything as it’s not limited. If I’m that desperate to watch it again in the meantime I can always rewatch on iplayer
Lewis Frisby
December 15th, 2023 - 5:10pmIs there any special features
Samuel
December 15th, 2023 - 4:14pmSo why isn’t there a 4k hdr version?
Iplayer’s going to get the full quality version, so why not put it on a disc?
Really don’t get it.
Daniel O’Brien
December 15th, 2023 - 4:31pmGreater expense and perceived lack of demand?
Robert Sienicki
December 15th, 2023 - 4:59pmI’ve heard somewhere that “Twice Upon a Time” sold really badly, so BBC took it as there is not enough demand for 4K HDR Doctor Who discs.
Daniel O’Brien
December 15th, 2023 - 5:30pmThere’s no sign of the BBC releasing the three recent Tennant specials on 4K UHD discs, so I don’t expect forthcoming episodes to get this treatment (happy to be proved wrong). Doctor Who aside, have the BBC released much on 4K? I can only think of Frozen Planet II and Sherlock season one.
Richard Gallagher
December 15th, 2023 - 5:37pmThey’d be fools to base demand on Twice Upon A Time.
Who fans are conditioned to wait for the next season set to see if the special is included or not. Of course pre-orders were gonna be lower for a standalone Christmas ep.
UK Fan
December 15th, 2023 - 6:03pmI didn’t even know there was a 4K version of Twice Upon a Time released!!! Maybe if they advertised more then people would buy more?!?!
Anon
December 15th, 2023 - 6:04pmOrdered straightaway
Anon
December 15th, 2023 - 6:28pmIm one of those conditioned fans. I will wait till season 15 has aired and the release to check.
D84
December 15th, 2023 - 8:16pmI’m the same, I’m waiting for the full season set as I hope/expect this will be included.
If there is one I’ll try and nab a Steelbook for S14
Rex F
December 16th, 2023 - 1:45amDo BBC Studios know that enough people apparently want 4k? It’s the online era, when fandom is supposedly quite organised – so get the fans who care enough to band together and request one, as BBC Studios won’t turn down easy money if demand is there. I suspect the US market will play a part though, since all BBC 4K material up to now has been encoded as 24p for release across multiple territories. (Before anyone asks why I won’t do it myself, I’ve nothing to do with “organised” fandom and rarely buy new series stuff.)
Anon
December 16th, 2023 - 10:36amUnfortunately it’s not a case of if enough fans want a 4k version. It still has to be commercially viable and means getting more than the fan base to buy.
Rex F
December 17th, 2023 - 12:44amAnon: I think we’re looking at different definitions of fans here, because I’m counting the people who buy the discs. The online fan base is – theoretically – able to work collectively to get Auntie’s attention, and you extrapolate numbers from there. The lack of action from the biggest online sites and forums suggests to me that most people don’t actually care for a 4K disc.
Anita
December 15th, 2023 - 2:57pmAny steelbook version?
I’m Batman
December 15th, 2023 - 3:13pmI hope not. Would rather get the steelbook for the whole series/season with the special included.
Otherwise that would be 3 steelbooks I’ll have pre-ordered this month. My poor wallet.
Richard Gallagher
December 17th, 2023 - 3:41amNo one off special has ever had a steel.