Doctor Who season 1 recap: All to know before watching season 2
Doctor Who season 1 introduced the audience to the 15th Doctor from the long-running series, played by Ncuti Gatwa. The second season of the show was released on April 12, 2025. Three episodes have also been released for the latest season.
The show largely follows the journey of a mystical doctor who travels across space and time in his special transport, TARDIS. With the second season out and more new episodes on the way, here is a recap of Doctor Who season 1 on Disney+ to refresh one's memories before setting on the next adventure.
Exploring the plot of Doctor Who season 1
Meeting of the Doctor and Ruby
Doctor Who season 1 continues from the storyline shown in The Church on Ruby Road, released as a Christmas special and to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the show. It shows the back story of Ruby Sunday, the 15th Doctor's partner for Doctor Who season 1. The special feature touched upon Ruby's birth story as she was left by her biological mother outside a church on Ruby Road. This occurrence is seen by the Doctor, making him coincidentally connect with his future partner.
The story jumps to Ruby's story, who works as a gig musician and lives with her foster mother, Carla Sunday (Michelle Greenidge). Ruby is also making attempts to find her mother with the help of DNA tests. A search for Carla's other foster baby, Lulumelon, prompts the Doctor's entry as they bring the baby back.
As Lulu returns, Doctor Who season 1 takes a turn as Ruby mysteriously disappears. What follows is an adventure of fighting bizarre goblins who control fate, luck, and coincidences in Ruby's life. The goblins steal baby Ruby from the past, making Ruby go missing in the future. The Doctor saves the day by saving baby Ruby and bringing Ruby back to the present. Thus, Ruby joins the Doctor on the TARDIS as they take off for new adventures.
Journey across space and time in Doctor Who season 1
The duo's first expedition brings them to an abandoned spaceship, which turns out to be a baby farm in space. With only one caretaker, Nan-E, also known as Jocelyn Sancerre (Golda Rosheuvel), onboard, the talking babies remain trapped for around six years. They assumed the duo to be their parents.
A creature created out of the babies' bogeys, Bogeyman, becomes the episode's villain, causing great trouble for everyone on the space station. The duo manages to save the talking babies and Nan-E while also discovering that Bogeyman is not evil and is part of the babies.
The next adventure turns back time and takes the storyline to the 1960s. As Ruby wishes to see The Beatles record their first album in the past, the duo goes back in time to witness the historic moment. But to their despair, the band seems to be off-tune and lacking the original charm.
Witnessing the global chaos and conundrum, the Doctor discovers the absence of music as the reason for it all. People seemed to have lost interest in music, which troubles the Doctor and Ruby. The Doctor asks Ruby to play a song on the piano, and as she does so, the musical villain, Maestro, enters.
It is revealed that Maestro is the child of the Toymaker, being a part of the Toymaker's legions from the past releases. Maestro's strengths grow as they feed on music, thus leading to such a catastrophe across the globe.
In a fierce musical face-off, Maestro and the Doctor fight to overpower each other. Maestro is defeated with the help of the Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney as they play the last part of the Note of Banishment on piano. Before Maestro disappears, they warn the Doctor and Ruby that the 'one who waits' will arrive soon.
Fate and algorithm challenge the Doctor and Ruby
In the episode Boom from Doctor Who season 1, the duo find themselves on the war-torn planet of Kastorian 3. As the Doctor hears cries for help and rushes out, he steps on a smartmine, a landmine driven by AI. He tries to fool the landmine by tricking its algorithm, but the tension of it bursting anytime keeps the pressure high.
In a series of events, Ruby gets severely injured, and the ambulance fails to treat her because they couldn't find her kin. The Doctor explains to the Marine soldiers about the commercial interests and algorithmic nature of the war, with no people fighting in reality. He seeks the help of the AI remains of a dead Marine official, called John, to enter the ambulance's algorithm and help in treating Ruby.
John saves them all as he detonates the landmine that the Doctor stood upon. The war ends and leads to the restoration of peace on the planet.
In the next episode, 73 Yards, a unique and eerie storyline follows as a simple visit to Wales turns into a long period of issues for the lead duo. The Doctor accidentally steps on a 'fairy circle,' which makes him vanish suddenly. Immediately, Ruby starts seeing a frail, old woman standing 73 yards away.
Ruby looks for the Doctor everywhere, but all she can see is the old lady standing 73 yards away and trying to tell her something. Anybody who approaches her runs away from both her and Ruby. Time flies by, but Ruby never finds the Doctor again, with the lady still following her.
Later, Ruby recalls the Doctor mentioning the politician Roger ap Gwilliam, who notes that he was one of the worst Prime Ministers to date. Seeing the politician running in the election, Ruby thinks of something to remove the danger.
After several encounters and incidents, Ruby manages to stop the newly elected Prime Minister Gwiliam from taking office as she haunts him with the old lady's help. The episode then cuts to the future, where an old Ruby lies in a hospital bed. She finally sees the old lady up close and suddenly goes back in time to the day in Wales, this time witnessing it all through the old lady's view.
It is revealed that the old lady was, after all, Ruby's older self. This time, she manages to warn her younger self on time and stop the Doctor from stepping on the fairy circle and saving him.
Finding love, fighting technology
In the next part of Doctor Who season 1, a new character called Lindy Pepper-Bean is introduced. She is an inhabitant of a city called Finetime, where everyone extensively uses a social networking system called 'Dot and Bubble.' As she activated her dot for the day to form a bubble around her, she foundmany of her acquaintances missing.
The Doctor and Ruby make an appearance on her portal, prompting an irritated reaction from her at the strangers. They later show her the real threat and the cause of missing people, the slug monsters. The creatures gobbled up the people who were heavily dependent on the dot.
The lead pair instructs Lindy and another fellow survivor, Ricky September, to come out safe from this infestation. Ricky, unfortunately, dies in the process, but Lindy makes her way out to the other refugees of Finetime. As the Doctor asks the refugees to come with him, they disrespect him for his skin color and move forward to the Wild Woods. Dejected by their decision, the Doctor lets them go and returns to the TARDIS for their next adventure.
In Rogue, the pair enjoy a classic ballroom dance in 1813. The place of the ball seems to be bustling with royal and elite guests of all kinds. As the episode progresses, viewers are introduced to Rogue, a bounty hunter present at the event to find the shapeshifting Chuldur. The Doctor and Rogue develop romantic feelings and begin the search for the dangerous creatures together.
The episode follows an intense search for Chuldurs by the Doctor, Rogue, and Ruby as they try to find them amongst the large crowds of people. On finding their weak point to be a scandal, the Doctor and Rogue stage a fake proposal and lure a few Chuldurs out. On realizing there is more than one, the Doctor revamps his plan to capture them in a triform trap that sends them to an unknown dimension.
Emily, a member of the party who stays close to Ruby, also turns out to be a Chuldur who attempts to take Ruby's form. Later, other Chuldurs return to their original form, and a wedding is set up with Ruby as the bride. The Doctor believes this was a Chuldur and not Ruby, hinting that she had died.
He steps forward and stops the wedding, managing to put the Chuldurs in his trap. However, it is revealed that the real Ruby is in the trap and not Emily. As Emily comes onto the scene, Rogue takes quick action and pushes Emily into the trap, pushing Ruby outside. He asks the Doctor to find him and disappears, with this episode of Doctor Who season 1 ending with a saddened Doctor losing hope of finding his love again.
The finale of Doctor Who season 1
Doctor Who season 1 then proceeds to the last two finale episodes of the series, which bring closure to their story. The Doctor and Ruby arrive at the UNIT Headquarters, where the commander-in-chief, Kate, and her team await their arrival.
They discuss the recurring presence of a lady in all their adventures. From the face of the ambulance to a classic painting in 1813, the lady's presence on every occasion makes the team suspicious of her presence.
Kate reveals that they identified the lady as Susan Triad, who runs Triad Technology. As the team follows the lady, another mystery of Ruby's mother is covered in the finale. It is decided that Ruby's VHS tape of CCTV from the day her mother left her would be projected through the special devices on floor 45. As they witness the scene in a life-like projection, a monstrous presence is felt, leading to chaos in the scene.
The Doctor rushes to Susan Triad, confronting her about her dreams resembling the incidents of his past expeditions. While she doesn't reveal much, the doubts of whether she is the Doctor's granddaughter remain unsolved. Meanwhile, the other team watches the VHS tape again and finds it altered. They observe the monstrous creature again, this time surrounding the TARDIS. This observation leads to the speculation that it might still be present around the TARDIS.
As Susan begins to deliver her speech at a studio, she fumbles with all the visions in her mind. At the headquarters, one of the teammates, Harriette, begins talking about the villains that have come across the show, disclosing in her possessed state that Sutekh, the god of death, is behind it all. Sutekh appears around the TARDIS and claims to bring death everywhere.
A fierce battle between Sutekh and the Doctor follows, where the latter emerges victorious after much effort and strength. The DNA test also reveals Ruby's biological mother to be Louise Alison Miller, who had to leave Ruby in fear of her stepfather and young pregnancy at 15.
At the end of Doctor Who season 1, Ruby reunites with her mother in an emotional meet-up and manages to find information about her father. At this point, the season ends with a tearful goodbye between Ruby and the Doctor as the latter proceeds to leave in the TARDIS, promising to meet her again sometime.
Stream Doctor Who season 1 and season 2 on Disney+.
