The Legend of Ruby Sunday is the first part of 2024’s Doctor Who finale and it brought back a classic Who villain that new fans of the sci-fi hit may not necessarily recognise. At last, we know the identity of The One Who Waits.
Spoilers for Doctor Who season 14 below
Russell T Davies led audiences and the Doctor down a misleading route with Susan Triad, the mysterious woman who consistently appeared across time and space throughout every episode of the new season.
We thought we might be getting a family reunion, with the Time Lord finally reuniting with his granddaughter (also called Susan), whom he hadn’t met since the days of William Hartnell’s Doctor. This was further supported by her surname, an anagram of TARDIS.
Instead, we got a brilliant yet cheesy reveal that Susan’s company is a pun on the name of the villain Sutekh. That’s pronounced Sue-Tech, so it’s a cheeky homophone and certainly not another anagram as the script states (where is the ‘K’ Russell?!).
While the episode revealed that he is the God of Death, one of the many entities along with the Toymaker, Maestro and Trickster (from The Sarah Jane Adventures), you may want to learn more about who this big bad villain is.
We’ve collated some key episodes for the lore of this God, along with some other additions that Whovians speculate could play into the grand finale, Empire of Death.
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Pyramids of Mars
This serial (consisting of four episodes), first aired in 1975, when Tom Baker donned his stripey scarf as the Time Lord. By his side was Sarah Jane Smith, who later appeared during Tennant’s run and had her spin-off of Doctor Who.
Evoking a similar style to The Mummy films, the Doctor and Sarah interrupt a dig in 1911, where someone is trying to free Sutekh from his prison. He is part of the Osirans, a race with God-like powers who are worshipped in Egypt, but also across the universe.
Sutekh wishes to bring death and destruction to the world, but the Doctor traps him in the far future during a showdown on Mars. Sutekh will no doubt bear a hateful grudge against the Doctor and will seek revenge for being imprisoned.
UK viewers can watch Pyramids of Mars on BBC iPlayer, while US viewers can catch it on Tubi.
The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit
Sutekh has not made a named appearance in Doctor Who since the Tom Baker era. However, this villain is sometimes known as Satan, so there’s speculation that he and the Beast from new Who may be connected or even the same.
This is further supported by Ruby’s adopted mum, Carla, calling the entity the ‘Beast’ in UNIT, and that both villains are voiced by the same distinctive voice actor, Gabriel Woolf, who is now 91 years old. The fourth Doctor also states that ‘Satan’ and ‘The Beast’ are both nicknames for Sutekh.
These could be coincidences, but Ncuti Gatwa did reveal in an interview that the Beast was one of his favourite villains, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Russell connected the dots here.
Even if the two characters aren’t related, this two-parter with David Tennant’s tenth Doctor is hauntingly disturbing and gripping, so well worth a rewatch regardless.
UK viewers can watch The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit on BBC iPlayer, while US viewers can catch it on Max.
Wild Blue Yonder
We know that Sutekh latched onto the TARDIS, but there’s some debate about when this happened. One theory that keeps cropping up is that it took place during Wild Blue Yonder, the second (and best) episode of the 60 Anniversary Specials with David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
During this, the Doctor invokes superstition at the edge of the universe by claiming that the monsters they’re facing cannot cross a salt line. This act allows supernatural beings, such as the Pantheon Gods, into existence. Therefore, it’d make sense if this was where Sutekh started hitching a ride.
This episode is also where the poor time machine starts making strange groaning noises, further corroborating this theory. Once again, if this analysis is incorrect, Wild Blue Yonder is still an excellent watch.
UK viewers can watch Wild Blue Yonder on BBC iPlayer, while US viewers can catch it on Disney+.
The Church on Ruby Road
Besides Sutekh, one other major plot in Empire of Death will almost certainly be Ruby’s mystery mum, and how she plays into all of this.
If you want a refresh on what happened to Ruby as a baby, the strange snow and of course whatever the heck is going on with her weird neighbour, Mrs Flood, this is the episode to watch.
UK viewers can watch Wild Blue Yonder on BBC iPlayer, while US viewers can catch it on Disney+.
