TDP 1364: TV #Doctorwho review Lucky Day
Lucky Day (Doctor Who) 3 languages Tools Appearance hide Text Small Standard Large Width Standard Wide Color (beta) Automatic Light Dark From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 316 – "Lucky Day" episode Promotional title-card Cast – – – Others Benjamin Chivers – Young Conrad Kirsty Hoiles – Moira Clark – Conrad Clark Gethin Alderman – The Shreek Kareem Alexander – Jordan Lang – Carla Sunday – Cherry Sunday – Louise Miller Madison Stock – Elsa Paddy Stafford – Sparky Blake Anderson – Jack Aoife Gaston – Michelle – Alfie Michael Woodford – Derek – Alexander Devrient – Colonel Christofer Ibrahim Tina Gray – Audrey – Shirley Bingham – – Herself – Himself – Herself Calypso Cragg – Influencer 2 James Craven – Influencer 3 Selorm Adonu – Influencer 1 Aidan Cook – The Vlinx – Voice of the Vlinx – Mrs Flood Production Directed by Written by Script editor David Cheung Produced by Vicki Delow Executive producer(s) Joel Collins Music by Series Running time 46 minutes First broadcast 3 May 2025 Chronology ← Preceded by "" Followed by → "" "Lucky Day" is the fourth episode of the of the series . It was written by , and was directed by . The episode was released on , , and on 3 May 2025. It features the return of companion (), who plays a leading role in the episode opposite Conrad Clark (), with both the () and (), the series' main leads, only appearing briefly. The episode focuses on Ruby, who begins a relationship with Conrad as she attempts to find her place in the world after leaving the Doctor. When it is revealed that Conrad wants to "expose" for their goals being "fake", Ruby and have to deal with the repercussions of Conrad's actions. The episode was devised by showrunner , with Davies enlisting McTighe to write the episode. He used the episode to explore Ruby and Kate's characters while also exploring the "the spread of online hatred" and its effects. The episode's monster, the Shreek, was based off of McTighe's childhood fears of dog-like creatures in the dark, with the creature being portrayed via costume and an animatronic head. Filming took place in November 2023 and it was with the . The episode received positive reviews from critics, who highlighted Gibson's performance, the twist regarding Conrad's true identity, and the episode's social commentary, but were more critical of underdeveloped plotlines in the episode, as well as the execution of Conrad as an antagonist. Plot [] and arrive on New Year's Day, 2007, and meet eight-year-old Conrad. Following this, Conrad investigates sightings of the Doctor and the , seeing a younger Doctor with his then-companion in 2024, where he is marked as prey by a creature called the Shreek. In 2025, after stopping travelling with the Doctor, Ruby gives Conrad about her encounters with extraterrestrial life an interview on his podcast. They start dating and she gives him an antidote to act against him being marked by the Shreek, which has been recently captured by . At a weekend away at Conrad's home village, Ruby fears she is in danger and tells Conrad she is suffering from following her experiences with the Doctor. Two Shreek appear in pursuit of Conrad, who admits he did not take the antidote. Ruby calls UNIT and their leader to the village. The Shreek are revealed to be fake, part of a setup orchestrated by Conrad, whose relationship with Ruby was a ploy, against UNIT. A scandal breaks and Conrad and his followers continue to perpetuate disinformation about the non-existence of aliens, discrediting UNIT. After Conrad publishes details of UNIT employees, Kate realises he has an insider in UNIT. The insider sneaks Conrad into the building. Alerted to his presence, Kate allows Conrad to reach the command floor, where he livestreams his intrusion. In order to expose Conrad's lies Kate releases the Shreek, which hunts Conrad. With the Shreek attacking him, Conrad admits on his livestream he has been lying about UNIT. Ruby stuns the Shreek, although it manages to injure Conrad's arm. Public sentiment turns in UNIT's favour, though Colonel Ibrahim tells Kate that she went too far by releasing the Shreek. Ruby decides to get away to overcome her trauma, and Kate offers her support when she is ready to talk. Conrad is imprisoned and the Doctor berates him for harming Ruby and his friends. Conrad asks the Doctor if he has yet met Belinda, who the Doctor has not, since that's his future. The Doctor tells Conrad that he will die in prison and be forgotten by history. However, after the Doctor leaves Conrad, Mrs Flood releases him. Production [] Development [] Showrunner wished to include an episode discussing the spread of "toxic, online hatred", and contacted writer to write the script. McTighe had previously written episodes under former showrunner . When writing the episode, he said that he wanted to take the opportunity to explore what happens to a after they leave , feeling that it had infrequently been done in the past. McTighe described the episode as a mix between , , and . He also compared one of the main settings to Devil's End from the 1971 serial and the fact that it was a Ruby-centric story to the 2024 episode "". Ruby was referred to as having following her time with the Doctor, which Davies wanted to portray in the episode. The episode also allowed McTighe to explore Kate's character further, with her willingness to go too far being something that McTighe stated would have further repercussions "beyond this episode, beyond this season, even beyond this show." 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 its motivations simple, with a desire to hunt, to make a monster that could not be reasoned with and terrifying. Prior to this, the Shreek were first mentioned in Caged, a 2024 Doctor Who novel by . McTighe also included a number of to past episodes and . "Lucky Day" is a "Doctor-lite" episode, which Davies stated required them to find "inventive ways" to include the Doctor, one of which is a to a story set in the . The took place at on 7 November 2023. Casting [] The episode starred (left) and (right) as and Conrad Clark. returns as outgoing series regular and former companion . It is the first of two appearances that Gibson is set to make during the , as well as her first appearance since the 2024 Christmas special, "". In July 2024, at the Doctor Who panel, it was officially announced that had been cast in a role that would be involved in Ruby's character arc. Further details later revealed that Hauer-King would portray Conrad, a and Ruby's boyfriend. and also make brief appearances as the of and his companion, , respectively. who plays Alfie previously held the role of the Castellan in "" (1983). reprised her role as newsreader Trinity Wells. appears as herself, a Welsh presenter on interviewing Conrad. The remainder of the guest cast includes , , , , Alexander Devrient, and , as well as in a voice role. Filming and production design [] The primary Shreek costume was constructed using molds and , with the final molds eventually being injected with and painted. The Shreek uses an animatronic head. The Shreek costumes used in the episode by Conrad's friends were designed as derivative versions of the primary Shreek costume. The design team at Millenium FX had a designer look at the primary Shreek costume once and then construct 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 are unable to see inside the mask, requiring outside direction for the actors to know where they need to go. The inclusion of in the scene where Conrad explores the abandoned department store featuring the Shreek was a result of McTighe wanting to include a callback to the first episode of Doctor Who's revived era, "" (2005), which featured living mannequins called . Pame Downe designed Ruby's outfits with dark blue and green colors, which Gibson felt were "more mature colors". One of her outfits included a pinstripe suit and pants that Gibson said was reminiscent of one of 's previous outfits in the series. Filming occurred in the Welsh village of (pictured). "Lucky Day" is directed by . The episode was placed in the second production block of the fifteenth series with the first episode, "", and followed recording of "Joy to the World" in the block immediately preceding. The two episodes in this block were filmed concurrently by utilizing a . for the episode began on 14 November 2023. Gibson and Hauer-King were spotted filming scenes together two days later. was done in on 24 November. The production team made use of for the aforementioned abandoned department store scene, which was similarly used as a filming location in "Rose". For the scenes set in the village, the town of , was used with recording taking place from 27–29 November. 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 three takes with a helicopter. Broadcast and reception [] Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating B- 10/10 7/10 Broadcast [] "Lucky Day" was released on at 8 a.m. (BST) in the United Kingdom and on in the United States at 12 a.m. on 3 May 2025. A broadcast of the episode followed at 7:10 p.m. BST. also handled international distribution of the episode. Ratings [] The episode recorded overnight broadcast ratings of 1.5 million, a decline on the previous episodes and setting a new record low after Lux's 1.58 million. Critical reception [] Robert Anderson, writing for , praised the episode's writing, the performance of Gibson, and the usage of Conrad as an antagonist, though stated that the episode, at times could feel "hollow" and that Ruby's character arc was not as well executed as it could have been. Daniel Cooper, writing for , similarly highlighted the twist about Conrad's identity, McTighe's writing, and the episode's social commentary, but felt Conrad's backstory utilizing "the trope that survivors of abuse perpetuate that cycle of abuse" was overused. Adi Tantimedh, writing for , praised the episode, highlighting the twist involving Conrad and the episode's social commentary. Stefan Mohammed, writing for , found several of the episode's plot points underdeveloped, stating that Ruby's character arc was undermined by her strong home life and that Conrad embodying all aspects of the social issues being discussed made him feel overcomplicated with unclear motivations. Despite this, he found Gibson's performance compelling, and highlighted the episode's usage of Kate. Vicky Jessop, writing for the , positively highlighted the episode, though felt Conrad's execution as an antagonist was weak, and that the consequences of his actions were not explored well enough. Isobel Lewis, writing for , stated the episode had consistency issues not present in the rest of the series; she also found it to retread similar ground to previous series episode "", to which she negatively compared "Lucky Day". References [] ^ (Behind the scenes featurette). 3 May 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025 – via . Eddy, Cheryl (27 January 2025). . . Retrieved 26 April 2025. Gledhill, Lisa (24 April 2025). Quinn, Jason (ed.). "Preview - Lucky Day". . No. 616. . pp. 12–14. . BBC Mdia Centre. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025. ^ Powell, Steffan (presenter); Aiken, Jonathon (director) (3 May 2025). . . Series 15. Episode 4. . and . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Salmon, Will (3 May 2025). . . . Retrieved 4 May 2025. Tantimedh, Adi (2 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Mitovich, Matt Webb (1 May 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Rowan, Iona (30 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Famurewa, Jimi (1 April 2025). . . from the original on 3 May 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025. Mitovich, Matt Webb (2 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 March 2025. Hibbs, James (28 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Petski, Denise (3 May 2025). . . Griffin, Louise (30 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. (writer), (director), Delow, Vicky (producer) (3 May 2025). . . Series 15. Episode 4. . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Tantimedh, Adi (30 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Griffin, Louise (3 May 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. . TVZoneUK. 23 April 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025. Rowan, Iona (29 April 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. Mellor, Louisa (24 March 2025). . . from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025. ^ Quinn, Jason, ed. (November 2023). "Issue 596". . No. 596. . p. 4. Quinn, Jason, ed. (January 2024a). "Issue 598". . No. 598. . p. 12. ^ Quinn, Jason, ed. (February 2024). "Issue 601". . No. 601. . p. 10. Craig, David (16 November 2023). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. ^ Lewis, Isobel (3 May 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025. ^ Tantimedh, Adi (3 May 2025). . . from the original on 3 May 2025. Retrieved 3 May 2025. ^ Jessop, Vicky (3 May 2025). . . Retrieved 3 May 2025.
Ireland