There’s not long to go until Ncuti Gatwa’s first official season of Doctor Who arrives on BBC One (mark your calendars for 11 May). Following on from the Christmas special in 2023, in which they saved Earth from an invasion of goblins, we’re so eager to see the Doctor and Ruby Sunday traveling across the universe together. And one person we’re also hoping to make a return from the Christmas episode is the mysterious Mrs Flood.
Mrs Flood (played by Anita Dobson) is introduced as Ruby’s neighbor, who is surprisingly unperturbed by the sight of the Doctor’s Tardis, and series showrunner Russell T Davies has hinted that we’ve not seen the last of Mrs Flood quite yet.
So who is Mrs Flood? And what’s her importance to the Doctor Who universe? Here’s what we officially know so far and a few of our favorite fan theories too.
Who is Mrs Flood?
Introduced in the 2023 Christmas episode Mrs Flood is the neighbor of Ruby Sunday and is played by Anita Dobson. For the majority of the episode she seems blissfully unaware of the goblin invasion and the presence of a Time Lord in her little section of London. However, during the mid-credits scene after The Doctor and Ruby have taken off in the Tardis, she turns and looks directly into the camera and says, “Never seen a Tardis before?”
Given that suspicious phrase, fans theorized it was likely she was set to return and would have a bigger role to play in the upcoming season.
Showrunner Russell T Davies has since confirmed that it isn’t the last we’ll see of Mrs Flood, although he hasn’t confirmed if we can expect to see her in the upcoming season. Speaking on Doctor Who: UnleashedDavies said: “Mrs Flood is a mysterious character. You will eventually find out more about her. She’s a slow burn, Mrs Flood. Who is Mrs Flood? Come back and find out!”
And Anita Dobson has also spoken about the future of her character, saying: “Today what you see is a friendly neighbor. What the future may be, no one knows. Russell is writing it as we speak.” When asked by Unleashed host Steffan Powell if Mrs Flood is an evil genius, Dobson replied, “I might, I might not.”
What have fans theorized her link to the Doctor is?
Now that we have official confirmation Mrs Flood’s journey isn’t over quite yet, fans have been busy theorizing what her character arc could involve.
One of the most popular theories is that Mrs Flood is the character Rani. Rani is a Time Lord who was once a contemporary of The Master and the Doctor, and faced off against the seventh Doctor played by Sylvester McCoy. Given the name ‘Rani’ could easily be by an anagram of ‘Rain’, which causes a flood, fans have theorized Mrs Flood is Rani.
Others are theorizing she is an associate of The Master, one of the Doctor’s oldest enemies. And others are also wondering if she could be an older version of River Song, who was played by Alex Kingston. River Song was the daughter of the eleventh Doctor’s companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams and she goes onto marry the Doctor. Given all the water associations of ‘Pond’, ‘River’ and ‘Flood’ many people are taking this as a hint as to her connection from her to the Doctor.
However, right now all of these are just theories as to Mrs Flood’s mysterious identity. Maybe she is just an elderly neighbor who is chill about seeing a Tardis?
The new season of Doctor Who is available from 11th May on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
