TL;DR – A tense, brooding episode, and that is just the Welsh coastline.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Doctor Who Review –

One of the strengths of Doctor Who is that you never know what tone you are going to get. Will this be a fun romp with Space Babies or a deep dive into historical racism with Rosa. It can be an entertaining comedy, a profound emotional time or a deep dive into horror. Today’s episode falls firmly into the latter category with a dash of the supernatural.

So, to set the scene, they land on the Welsh coast, which is full of green beauty. The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) is in the middle of reminiscing with Ruby (Millie Gibson) about his love for the place when he steps on a woven construction in the grass (my boy needs to start looking where he steps). It seems like some sort of memorial, something that kids make, but when the Doctor disappears, the TARDIS locks itself, and a figure in black signs some kind of warning. Well, things started getting weird, and why do they stay 73 yards away? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

There can be a bit of a hit or miss when we get a Doctor-less Doctor Who episode, but I think we can put today’s in the hit category, thanks to some compelling writing and Millie Gibson just going for it. I think part of why this worked is that this is so early in Ruby’s time with The Doctor, and his sudden disappearance lands a bit more different than, say, if this had happened with Rose or Amy. This different dynamic really helps the first half of the episode, where we are not sure if The Doctor is going to reappear and save the day or if this is all down to the companion.

There are a lot of interesting moments that work in juxtaposition, like the Welsh village people both undercutting the seriousness but also showing just how much danger Ruby is in. The way that every support system, like her mother Carla (Michelle Greenidge) and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), gets stripped away from her, so it is all on Ruby to save the day. It also helps answer the “why didn’t you just go to UNIT?” questions that would have inevitably come up. Indeed, I was entirely unsure how the episode was going to play out until they name-dropped Roger ap Gwilliam (Aneurin Barnard), and then I 100% knew how the episode was going to play out.   

It is clear that this season is starting to lean more towards the supernatural than its traditional Science Fiction base, and I, for one, don’t mind that, helping to shift things up a bit. However, I am not a fan of having episodes like this end in a sort of hand-wavey way that winks at the audience rather than explains what happened. Also, um does Russell T Davies not know that the United Kingdom already has nuclear weapons? Or, in this story, is he implying that at some time in the future, the UK will get rid of its nuclear weapons only then to rebuy them all from Pakistan? Because why would Pakistan sell them? Why would the UK get rid of them? And I think the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty would have something to say about that.

In the end, do we recommend Doctor Who: 73 Yards? I did miss The Doctor’s energy this week, but that didn’t mean that this was not an exciting time. They ramped up the intrigue, which was good, and it also gave Millie Gibson many moments to shine.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Doctor Who yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Doctor Who

Directed by – Dylan Holmes Williams
Written by – Russell T Davies
Production/Distribution Companies – BBC Studios, Badwolf & Disney+
Starring – Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson with Hilary Hobson, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Anita Dobson, Jemma Redgrave & Aneurin Barnard and Susan Twist, Maxine Evans, Siân Phillips, Sion Pritchard, Gwion Morris Jones, Elan Davies, Glyn Pritchard, Grham Butler, Ali Ariaie, Albey Brookes, Miles Yekinni, Amol Rajan, Sophie Ablett, Shane David-Joseph, Rhyanna Alexander-Davis & Amanda Walker