Sergeant Rugg was one of the deadly pawns, along with Mrs. Wiggs, used by the Celestial Toymaker against Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet when they were trapped in his realm.
Steven liked reading books about military history and recognized Rugg's army sergeant's uniform as being from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. (PROSE: The Celestial Toymaker)
When not in a contest, Rugg stayed in doll form.
When Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs failed to prevent Steven and Dodo from finding the key to the door leading to the Dancing Floor, the Toymaker commanded them to stop the Doctor's companions from getting to the TARDIS on the Dancing Floor at all costs. The pair failed in this task as well, as they found themselves forced to dance with the Dancers, and were left to "forever tap their feet" — or at least until they started shrinking to become dolls once more. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker)
Behind the scenes
- Bearing in mind that Cyril, the Knave of Hearts and the Kitchen Boy were all the same person, this may have been the case with Rugg, Joey the Clown and the King of Hearts. However, this was never confirmed on-screen.
- Peter Purves's narration for BBC Audio's CD release of the story's soundtrack in 2001 strangely describes Rugg as being a "ruddy-faced policeman" — despite Rugg's references in the dialogue to his "regiment" and "the Iron Duke". Unfortunately, this error was not corrected when the narration was reused for the photographic reconstructions of "The Celestial Toyroom", "The Hall of Dolls" and "The Dancing Floor" featured on the DVD release in 2024.