 "Lucky Day" is a ‘Doctor-lite’ story and features the return of former travelling companion Ruby Sunday (played by Millie Gibson), who is this story's leading role opposite Conrad Clark (played by Jonah Hauer-King), with both the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) only appearing briefly.
This story focuses on Ruby, who begins a relationship with Conrad as she attempts to find her place in the world after leaving The Doctor. However, when it is revealed that Conrad has been using Ruby to discredit UNIT and its leader Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (played by Jemma Redgrave), Ruby and Kate have to deal with the repercussions of Conrad's actions.
This story was devised by showrunner Russell T Davies, who enlisted Pete McTighe to write the story and to explore further Ruby and Kate's characters while also exploring the spread of online hatred and its effects. It was directed by Peter Hoar.
It has been revealed that showrunner Russell T Davies wanted to include a story covering the spread of ‘toxic, online hatred’, and contacted writer Pete McTighe to write the script. Pete McTighe had previously written stories under former showrunner Chris Chibnall. When writing this story, he said that he wanted to take the opportunity to explore what happens to a companion after they leave The Doctor, feeling that it had infrequently been done in the past. Pete McTighe described this story as a mix between action, romantic comedy, and gothic horror. He also compared one of the main settings to Devil's End from the 1971 Third Doctor story "The Dæmons" and the fact that it was a Ruby-centric story to the 2024 story "73 Yards".
Previously speaking about this story, Pete McTighe said of the move of focus away from The Doctor: ‘Of course, The Doctor is in the episode, in a very significant way, but really Lucky Day is Ruby's story. I love what Millie Gibson did in her first season, so being able to come in and develop her character even further was really exciting. Throughout all of Doctor Who (with the exception of Sarah Jane Smith) we've never really explored what happens to someone after they stop travelling with The Doctor, and how those adventures impacted them. I loved being able to delve into that aspect of the character’.
This is Millie Gibson’s first of two appearances, as Ruby Sunday, that she made during the main part of this season, as well as her first appearance since the 2024 Christmas special, "Joy to the World".
In July 2024, during a Doctor Who panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, it was officially announced that Jonah Hauer-King had been cast in a role that would be involved in Ruby's character arc. Further details were later revealed that Jonah Hauer-King would portray Conrad Clark, a podcaster who would become Ruby's boyfriend.
Guest appearances include: Paul Jerricho, who plays Alfie, and who previously played the role of the Castellan in the 1983 Twentieth Anniversary Special "The Five Doctors"; Lachele Carl reprised her role as newsreader Trinity Wells; Alex Jones appears as herself, a Welsh presenter on The One Show interviewing Conrad Clark. The remainder of the guest cast includes Jemma Redgrave, Ruth Madeley, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Alexander Devrient, as well as Nicholas Briggs, as the voice of the Vlinx, and Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood.
The read-through took place at Wolf Studios, Wales on the 7th November 2023. This story was part of the second production block and recorded along with "The Robot Revolution". The two stories in this block were filmed concurrently by utilising a back-to-back filming technique. Principal photography for the story began on 14th November 2023. Millie Gibson and Jonah Hauer-King were spotted filming scenes together two days later.
Location filming was carried out in Cardiff City Centre on the 24th November 2023. The production team made use of Howells department store for the abandoned department store scenes, which was similarly used as a filming location in "Rose". For the scenes set in the village, the town of Newton, Porthcawl, was used with recording taking place from the 27th to the 29th November 2023. Two-thirds of the budget allocated to the six-week filming block was used during those three days, three hours of which were spent shooting with a helicopter.
The primary Shreek costume was constructed using fibreglass moulds and clay, with the final moulds eventually being injected with silicon and painted. The Shreek costume used an animatronic head. The Shreek costumes used by Conrad's friends were designed as derivative versions of the primary Shreek costume. The design team at Millenium FX tasked a designer to look at the primary Shreek costume once and then constructed the derivative version from memory to reflect the costumes' in-universe construction. The team had to make the costumes look convincing while also looking like rubber costumes, which proved a challenge. The Shreek performers were unable to see inside the mask, requiring outside direction for the actors to know where they needed to go.
The inclusion of mannequins, in the scene where Conrad explores the abandoned department store featuring the Shreek, was a result of Pete McTighe wanting to include a callback to the first story of the show's revived era, "Rose", which featured the Autons.
Costume designer Pam Downe designed Ruby's outfits with dark blue and green colours, which Millie Gibson felt were ‘more mature colours’. One of her outfits included a pinstripe suit and trousers that Millie Gibson said was reminiscent of one of David Tennant's previous outfits.
The Doctor only appears briefly in three scenes. The first occurs at the very beginning of this story when he meets Conrad Clark as a young boy during New Year celebrations when the young Conrad encounters The Doctor and Belinda Chandra using the Vindicator. The Doctor’s second appearance in this story occurs, when he is still travelling with his previous companion Ruby Sunday, when both of them are unaware that their actions, involving a Shreek in an abandoned department store, is being observed by an older Conrad. The Doctor’s third and final appearance in this story is right at the end when he visits Conrad in his prison cell where he chastises him for his lies and for endangering Ruby and his friends in UNIT.
The Doctor’s appearances in this story are in fact ‘out of order’. This is similar to River Song’s appearances. The Doctor's first appearance occurs after the events of "The Well", his second appearance occurs shortly after "The Devil's Chord" and his appearance at the end occurs between the events of "Joy to the World" and "The Robot Revolution".
This story also included a number of Easter egg references to past stories and popular culture. Being a ‘Doctor-lite’ story Russell T Davies stated that he wanted ‘inventive ways’ to include The Doctor, one of which is a flashback to a story set in the previous season.
This story reveals that Ruby Sunday has joined UNIT but is struggling to go about her life and is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following her time travelling with The Doctor, which Russell T Davies wanted to portray in this story. This story also allowed Pete McTighe to explore Kate Lethbridge-Stewart's character further, with her willingness to go too far being something that Pete McTighe stated would have further repercussions ‘beyond this episode, beyond this season, even beyond this show’.
Ruby mentions that she has a new mother ‘which is a long story’ (see "The Church on Ruby Road" and "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death") and a new dad ‘which is an even longer story’ (see "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death").
It is revealed that The Doctor first learned of Belinda from Conrad (who had learned of her by meeting The Doctor and Belinda in 2007). However, at this point in time he has yet to meet her. The Doctor previously alluded to someone telling him Belinda's name in advance in "The Robot Revolution" - thus making their first meeting a temporal paradox.
Former companion Melanie Bush is mentioned. She is currently on her way to Sydney, Australia, where there is ‘something strange happening in the harbour’.
Mrs Flood briefly appears at the end of this story. This time, she is seen as the governor of the prison where Conrad is locked up.
Conrad Clark taunts Kate Lethbridge-Stewart with mention of her father, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (AKA The Brigadier).
Trinity Wells is seen hosting her own online show, as previously depicted in "The Giggle".
It has been revealed Pete McTighe developed the Shreek off the idea of a ‘four-legged, creeping animal’, leaning into his childhood fears about dog-like creatures in the dark. He made the Shreek’s motivations simple, with a desire to hunt, a monster that could not be reasoned with and terrifying. Prior to this story's broadcast, the Shreek were first mentioned in "Caged", a 2024 Doctor Who novel by Una McCormack.
Ruby mentions having fought gods and meeting The Beatles (see "The Devil's Chord").
Conrad believes UNIT has lied about the Sycorax ("The Christmas Invasion"), the Cybermen and the Yeti in the London Underground ("The Web of Fear").
The Doctor is still using the Vindicator (in his attempt to return Belinda to Earth in 2025) every time they land, as previously seen in "Lux" and "The Well".
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart mentions UNIT's Time Window, which was previously seen in "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death".
This story also introduces the Think Tank protest group, whose main goal is to prove and discredit UNIT as frauds despite the evidence against their claims with mentions to past incidents from previous stories in Doctor Who.
The name Think Tank immediately rang a bell for fans, who recalled the same moniker first seen opposing the Fourth Doctor in the 1974/75 story "Robot". In that story, Think Tank used a robot to steal destructor codes for the US, China and Russia's stockpile of nuclear weapons, and planned to start a nuclear war if the world didn't agree to its terms. Pete McTighe later confirmed that viewers were right to match the two as the inclusion was intended as a nod to the earlier antagonists; ‘Yes, Think Tank is a deliberate call-back to the story "Robot" from 1975. I figured Conrad did his research, and stole the name of a previous organisation that opposed and clashed with UNIT’. On his inspiration for this reimagining, Pete McTighe stated: ‘Look around: We're living in a crazy world where misinformation has become currency and distrust is rife’.
The scene in which Conrad reveals himself to be affiliated with Think Tank also features an extract from the score from "Robot".
This story achieved an overnight audience of 1.5 million. "Lux" had previously seen the lowest overnight figures with 1.58 million viewers. Despite this "Lucky Day" was BBC One's third most-watched programme on Saturday night, in what was a low ratings night for the channel as a whole, with all shows failing to break the 2 million mark.
This story though received positive reviews from critics, who highlighted Millie Gibson's performance, the twist regarding Conrad Clark's true identity, and the story's social commentary. They were though more critical of underdeveloped plotlines, as well as the characterisation of Conrad as an antagonist.
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The Firsts:
Millie Gibson's first appearance, as Ruby Sunday, since the 2024 story "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death" and a cameo appearance in the 2024 Christmas special "Joy to the World".
Jemma Redgrave's first appearance, as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, since the 2024 story "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death".
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