Memorial Day (TV story)

**Memorial Day** was the second in a trilogy of minisodes released in the build-up for Series 20. It acted as a bridge between *Final Destination* and *Monsters and Legends*.

This minisode featured Ruby and Damien Barrella before they met the Eighteenth Doctor, showcasing their backstory.

## Synopsis

During a visit to their parents' graves, Ruby and Damien bare their souls towards the people that they miss so much...

## Plot

Ruby Barrella wakes up early in the morning at the crack of dawn. She rolls over to her bedside table and checks the clock, seeing that it's currently only 4am. After lying in bed for another thirty minutes, she gets up and walks out in the caravan's main room; turning on the lights to find her brother, Damien Barrella already up. She offers him a coffee, but he declines for already having one.

She asks him how long he’s been awake for, to which he responds around "four hours". He drinks some coffee, but grimaces at the taste, having let it go cold. Ruby looks for the milk in the fridge, but is unable to find it and asks Damien where it is, but he doesn’t respond due to being on his phone. She snatches it out of his hands to see that he has been looking at a girl’s Instagram reel, who he claims is just a friend from college.

Back in her room, Ruby gets ready to go out then walks back out to find Damien watching television. The screen is displaying a news broadcast, focused around the operations of a task force - in reality, UNIT- and how they had been granted additional funding. It then shifts focus to a man with stubble, grey streak in his hair and Scottish accent, but Ruby does not continue watching for long. She lightly berates Damien for using his phone too much and requests his help in moving a crate of flowers and cleaning products into the car.

Afterwards, she starts up the car as Damien locks up their caravan and prepares to drive off, but notices that he is taking too long. She sighs and gets ready to go fetch him, but he suddenly appears and gets inside. They drive off, eventually arriving at a car park. However, neither of them move to depart the vehicle and rather, just sit there in silence.

Ruby ultimately decides to make the first move and goes to open the boot, taking a few items, before walking down the gravel pathway. She passes by many different gravestones, before finally reaching her destination - the graves of her parents, Sophia and Michael Barrella.

She explains about how much she misses them and how she feels guilty for not visiting more often; talking about Damien’s good performance at college and how she’s still working at the corner shop - during which, she starts to clean the gravestones. It’s then that Damien walks up to the grave and asks that Ruby stays with him, after she offers to head back to the car so that he could have a moment alone.

He asks how she knows what to say, to which she confesses that she doesn’t - the words just come from nowhere. She expresses her hope that they can hear her somehow, when Damien shows doubt behind the point of talking to them. Convinced by this, he opens up about his love towards them and how he wishes that they could see what he has been up to.

Ruby moves to hug her brother, who hugs her back as he cries and wonders what their parents did to deserve this; to which she replies "nothing at all". They stand there for a while, as they continue to hug and cry, before finishing putting the flowers into place. Damien’s stomach then rumbles, making them realise that they should go and find something to eat.

Damien says his final goodbyes to his parents and walks away; Ruby stares at the graves for a little longer, before finally following him into the fog.

## Cast

* Ruby Barrella - Holly Earl
* Damien Barrella - Tom Holland
* The Doctor - Richard Madden (cameo)

## Crew

* Writer - Cal A. King
* Director - Jamie Childs

## Continuity

* Ruby works at a corner shop, the same one that she will later meet the Eighteenth Doctor at. (TV: *Monsters and Legends*)

## Story Notes

 **The Specials** | Regular Episodes | *Lost in the Artirex* • *The End of the Line* • *Dead Men Tell No Tales* • *Gunpowder, Treason and Plot* • *The Operation of Time: Part One* / *The Operation of Time: Part Two*