| Carla Sunday | Talk |
Carla Sunday was the adopted mother of Ruby Sunday.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Carla worked as a foster mother, having fostered thirty-three children by 2023 at some point or another. According to Ruby, she still kept in touch with them, though only Ruby remained with her into adulthood, living with Carla in Manchester. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (2023).) Together, they lived through the pandemic, and the recession. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, adapted from The Church on Ruby Road (Russell T Davies), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2024).) Carla also managed to get the VHS cassette that had recorded the night Ruby was left at the church. While the tape did not fully show the face of Ruby's mum, the pair made a tradition of watching it at least once a year. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
In 2023, Carla and Ruby moved into a flat in 3 Minto Road after they had moved to London to take care of Carla's ailing mother, Cherry. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (2023).) Shortly after the November 2023 UFO incident, (PROSE: The Star Beast [+]Gary Russell, adapted from The Star Beast (Russell T Davies), 60th Anniversary Novels (Target Books, 2023).) Carla and her family lived through the Giggle. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, adapted from The Church on Ruby Road (Russell T Davies), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2024).)
Secretly plagued by Goblins[]
When Ruby was due to be interviewed by Davina McCall for her television programme about foundlings on 1 December, Carla told Ruby to not let anyone tell her story for her, as it belonged to her. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, adapted from The Church on Ruby Road (Russell T Davies), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2024).) The interview was ultimatly cut short due to sabotage caused by Goblins.
On Christmas Eve, Carla was given a baby named Lulubelle to foster for a few days by Ruth Lyons. Carla left her in Ruby's care as she went to the shop to get supplies for Lulubelle. Upon returning, she saw Ruby with the Fifteenth Doctor, who claimed to be there to check on Lulubelle as "a routine visit". Concerned, Carla demanded to learn why, leading to Ruby revealing Davina McCall had rang to say she couldn't find Ruby's parents. Understanding, Carla hugged Ruby, proclaiming she was glad, because it meant Ruby could stay with her. Suddenly, cracks formed across the roof in their flat and the Doctor vanished. When he returned, he remarked on many confusing things like goblins and time travel. Carla dismissed him as "crazy", but Ruby ran after him, bidding Carla goodbye. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (2023).)
A promise[]
At some point, after Ruby had started travelling with the Doctor as his companion, Carla spoke with him in her home. She told him that she couldn't stop Ruby traveling with him and wouldn't want to. She told him that Ruby deserved to see and feel it all, but that she was still her mother and needed to know she would be okay. She asked if he would keep her safe and he promised that he would. (TV: Rogue [+]Katie Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
A happy ending[]
When Ruby returned to collect a VHS cassette depicting the evening of her birth from Carla, she learned that Rose Noble and her mother worked for UNIT. Upon hearing this, Carla insisted she was going with them to the headquarters. She left Cherry in Mrs. Flood's care. Once at the base, the Doctor gave Carala level one clearance, allowing her to see the time window the group were using to project the image from the tape of the night Ruby's mum abandoned her. Carla watched on, commenting that Ruby's mother was crying but also recognised the swirling particle cloud that appeared as the Beast. Later, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart ordered Carla be removed from the command room when the Vlinx confirmed that Sutekh was manifesting into the room. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
Carla, along with everyone else on Earth, save her daughter Ruby, the Doctor and Melanie Bush, was killed by Sutekh's Dust of Death. She then, like the rest, was restored to existence when the Doctor banished Sutekh from the universe. Back at UNIT, she told Ruby that she had to walk back home and that Cherry had told her off for not dusting. She then thanked the Doctor for bringing Ruby back home and was present as he and Ruby used the information from Roger ap Gwilliam's DNA database to learn the identity of Ruby's biological mother, Louise Miller.
She was later present when Ruby brought Louise to visit their flat. When Louise stated that she had always wanted to get in touch with Ruby, but was worried that she might hate her, Cherry told her there was no hatred in the house and Carla told her that what they did have was photos. She told her that she had about 500 proper photos of Ruby, ones that she had printed off. Shortly afterwards, she watched along with the others as the Doctor departed for a new adventure in his TARDIS, then settled in with them to look over an album of some of the photographs she had mentioned. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
