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| “ | And that's how the story of the Church on Ruby Road comes to an end, with a very happy ending for little Ruby Sunday. But life goes on, doesn't it? Ruthlessly! And what happens, you might wonder... oh, what happens to that mysterious traveler in time and space known as the Doctor? I'm sorry to say his story ends in absolute terror. Night-night! | „ |
| ~ The Rani as Mrs. Flood at the end of Empire of Death, foreshadowing her true nature. |
Mrs. Flood is the main antagonist of the Fifteenth Doctor's tenure in the Whoniverse.
She is an incarnation of The Rani, a renegade Time Lady formerly known as Ushas who has faced off against the Doctor in his sixth, seventh, tenth and fifteenth incarnations thus far. She is a genius-level biochemist and inventor who rejected the Gallifreyan policies of non-interference over other races and became an outcast from their society.
Mrs. Flood appears throughout the Fifteenth Doctor's tenure in the series, a seemingly innocuous old woman who can break the fourth wall and travel through time. However, after her bigeneration into her next incarnation, she joins forces with her bigenerated counterpart in order to free Omega from the Under-Universe in order to create a new race of time Lords.
She was portrayed in this incarnation by Anita Dobson.
History[]
The Rani first appears as her latest incarnation, Mrs. Flood, in the Christmas special "The Church on Ruby Road" where she's in the middle of arguing with her neighbour Abdul, accusing him of being responsible for blocking the street path on Ruby Road with the Doctor's TARDIS, when she greets Ruby as she's returning home with her groceries, wishing her a happy birthday. She's later seen walking down the street with her own shopping, only to drop them in shock upon seeing the TARDIS warp away. She later appears in the episode to see the Doctor warp to Ruby Road twice, the second time showing Ruby Sunday the TARDIS behind her, wishing her good luck as she joins him as his companion. As the TARDIS warps away at the end of the episode, Abdul rushing in to see it disappear in shock, only for Flood to tell him to not make such a fuss before turning to the camera and breaking the fourth wall, asking the audience if they've "never seen a TARDIS before".
Flood appears again in the Season 1 episode "73 Yards" where, in the alternate timeline where the Doctor disappears and Ruby is followed by a mysterious old woman (a future version of herself trying to fix the timeline), she exits her house to see Ruby and her adoptive mother Carla try to communicate with the woman (unsuccessfully like Roger ap Gwilliam). She asks if Ruby's okay for a moment before quickly leaving at the sight of the woman following Ruby, claiming that she has nothing to do with her.
Flood reappears in the two-parter season finale "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" and "Empire of Death" where she is tasked with caring for Carla's elderly mother Cherry while she and Ruby go with the Doctor and Rose Noble to UNIT. As soon as the others leave, Cherry asks for a cup of tea, only for Flood to deny her request, warning that a storm is approaching, beckoning the return of Sutekh. Later, as Sutekh spreads his Dust of Death across the world, Flood comes over to comfort a confused Cherry in their last moments, mysteriously claiming that "she had such plans" as the dust disintegrates the two of them. When the Doctor kills Sutekh, everyone killed by him is restored to life, including Flood and Cherry, with the two old women embracing in joy.
At the end of the finale, as Ruby shows baby pictures of herself to Carla, Cherry and her newfound biological mother Louise Miller, Flood appears on the roof of their house in a white suit with an umbrella, narrating the end of Ruby Sunday's story to the audience before turning her attention to the Doctor, warning that "his story ends in absolute terror" before bidding farewell.
Mrs. Flood reappears at the start of the Season 2 premiere "The Robot Revolution" where she is now the next-door neighbour of the nurse Belinda Chandra, witnessing her being abducted by a pair of robots from the planet Missbelindachandra One. When the Doctor came along to see the aftermath, Flood quickly retreated into her house, but not before telling the audience "You ain't seen me". Flood reappears at the end of the next episode "Lux", where she somehow appears in 1952 outside the Palazzo Cinema, showing the crowd outside the Doctor and Belinda leaving in the TARDIS after defeating Lux Imperator before warning them that they're on a limited run and that it ends on May 24, 2025.
She then appears at the end of "The Well", working as "Squadron Leader Chinchappa" in outer space forty thousand years in the future as Mo relays the events on the planet Midnight to her, with her learning from Mo that the Doctor was there and had a Vindicator device with him. Flood appears again at the end of "Lucky Day" to visit and break Conrad Clark out of prison. Flood appears in "The Story and the Engine" in the form of the Doctor's story to the Barber as he's having his hair cut as she enters the hospital Belinda's working at to collect her prescription.
Bigeneration[]
Mrs. Flood plays an important role in "The Interstellar Song Contest" where she's in the audience of the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest, watching the Doctor contacting the final coordinates for the Vindicator at the space station the contest is playing at. However, the concert is hijacked by the Hellion Kid who pops the bubble keeping the space station's gravity stable, causing everyone in the audience, including Mrs. Flood, to be pulled into space and freeze in the vacuum.
After Kid is defeated by the Doctor, the frozen audience members are all retrieved and revived by Mike and Gary. This include Mrs. Flood, who reveals her Time Lady origin as she starts to regenerate due to the freezing process damaging her double brainstem. Unexpectedly, Flood bi-generated into the next incarnation of the Rani, much to the latter's annoyance. As Flood handed her the Vindicator readings she was carrying, the two Ranis made their exits, with the new Rani promising that absolute terror would befall the Doctor.
The two enacted their plan in "Wish World" where the Rani kidnapped a baby from 1865 Bavaria, who was actually yet another member of the Pantheon of Discord, Desiderium, the God of Wishes. They had Conrad Clark wish for the titular world where he was viewed as a god. Their true purpose was to have people doubt the world, causing it to break, which would then awaken Omega, the founder of the Time Lords. However, upon the release of Omega, her fourth incarnation is consumed by him in front of the Doctor, leading her to teleport away in panic as the sole remaining Rani.
Personality[]
As Mrs. Flood, the Rani appears to be an affable, pleasant-minded woman who, unbenkownst to her neighbours, knows much about the Doctor and can break the fourth wall. However, upon her bigeneration, she is revealed to be a cruel, scheming woman who had no regrets about manipulating and then murdering an entire reality for her own gain, with her friendly persona shown to be a facade. However, she appears to be less cruel than her next incarnation, and expresses frustration towards her domineering alternate self and resentment at being demoted to a lackey in her own plan and treated like a servant.
| “ | Never seen a TARDIS before? | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Flood breaking the fourth wall at the end of The Church on Ruby Road. |
| “ | Flood: Do you believe in the power of prayer? Cherry: ...I most certainly do. Flood: Then tell your maker I will come to storm down his gates of gold and seize his kingdom in my true name. Cherry: Woah-woah-woah, what you talking about? Wh-who are you? Flood: I'm sorry, you tiny little woman. I'm so, so, sorry it ends like this. I had such plans... |
„ |
| ~ Mrs. Flood to Cherry as Sutekh's Dust of Death disintegrates them both. |
| “ | You ain't seen me. | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Flood to the audience in "The Robot Revolution. |
| “ | If you want to see a good show, darling, I can recommend this one. (TARDIS dematerialises) Better warn you, though. Limited run only. Show ends May the 24th. | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Flood, Lux. |
| “ | Oh, I'm the Governor. And it's your lucky day. | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Flood frees Conrad from prison. |
| “ | I'm afraid my double brainstem froze. Lethal for a Time Lady. But I've got my own knack for survival. I suppose I should think of some famous last words. How about... let battle begin. | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Flood's "last words" before bigenerating into The Rani. |
| “ | The Rani: Oh, must we? How inelegant. Mrs. Flood: Oh, I'm ever so sorry, ma'am. |
„ |
| ~ Both Rani upon realising they were bigenerating. |
| “ | Our name is the Rani. Although she's become a Rani, while I'm the Rani. The definite article, so to speak. | „ |
| ~ The Rani after bigenerating into her next incarnation. |
| “ | The Rani: Now, have you got the vindicator readings? Mrs. Flood: Yeah, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am. The Rani: Then come with me, Mrs. Flood. Out of the way, boys, because I have a date to arrange. As for the Doctor, oh, I will bring him absolute terror. Mrs. Flood: That's what I said. The Rani: Shut up. Mrs. Flood: Yes, ma'am. |
„ |
| ~ The dynamic between The Rani and Mrs. Flood. |
Trivia[]
- During his initial tenure as showrunner, Russell T. Davies said that, if the Rani was brought back, she would probably have been portrayed by Ruthie Henshall. Ultimately, she would return in Russell T. Davies's second tenure, played by Anita Dobson and Archie Panjabi.
- Siobahn Redmond portrayed and voiced the second incarnation of The Rani due to the death of Kate O' Mara who died before having the chance to record any dialogue for the three Big Finish audio stories The Rani was featured in.
- Unlike both The Doctor and The Master, The Rani has always been depicted as female and has never changed her sex with a regeneration, although this was the standard back in Classic Who it's becoming more of a rarity with Time Lords as the show has progressed and shown that the species members are usually genderless.
- Mrs. Flood's number is unclear as there is an incarnation of The Rani called Kathleen Omer from the game Chemical Imbalance. Whether or not this is canon is unknown, if so Mrs. Flood and the next Rani would be the fourth & fifth incarnations, if non-canon, they would be the third and fourth incarnations.
- Mrs. Flood's name hints at her true nature, as many fans theorized. A flood usually happens due to heavy rain, and "Rani" is an anagram of "Rain".
- At the end of "Empire of Death", Mrs. Flood had an umbrella with her. This may have been a nod to the iconic umbrella of the Seventh Doctor, who first appeared after the Rani killed the Sixth Doctor.
