Warning: Contains Spoilers!

TV episodes are often filmed out of sequence, sometimes out of choice, sometimes out of necessity. In the case of the new series of Doctor Who, it was because incoming star Ncuti Gatwa was still contracted to complete filming on his previous series Sex Education. His unavailability meant that two episodes had to be filmed with the Doctor absent to varying degrees, those episodes being the fourth and fifth in sequence, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble. Russell T. Davies is an old hand at this kind of thing though, having introduced the ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes with 2006’s Love and Monsters, but which would go on to greater kudos by introducing the Weeping Angels in the Steven Moffat-penned Blink! This is the first series though to have two Doctor-lite episodes… or, more accurately, a Doctor-lite episode and a Doctor-medium-lite episode.

73 Yards is the Doctor-lite episode. It begins with the TARDIS bringing the Doctor and Ruby to the windswept Welsh coat. Ncuti Gatwa’s outfit-of-the-week is a brightly coloured duffel coat and woollen hat, making him look like a cross between Paddington Bear and Where’s Wally? Striding over the clifftops, the two time travellers almost step upon a ‘fairy ring’ in the grass, constructed of string and toys and scraps of paper. Was it just put there by a child or does it have some more sinister purpose? It’s a very folk-horror scenario that brings to mind shades of The Wicker Man and The Devil Rides Out. The banter between Gatwa and Gibson is effortless and attractive, but the tone is a million miles away from the light-hearted silliness of Space Babies, bringing positive vibes to more established fans of the show.

Abruptly, the Doctor disappears and Ruby is left on her own for the rest of the story. Wait, did I say on her own? That’s not strictly true because she is constantly observed by a mysterious old woman in the middle distance, who seems to move further away as she tries to move closer, maintaining a constant proximity. A friendly elderly hiker appears (TWIST ALERT!) and Ruby asks her to talk to the spectral figure for her, but when she does, the hiker ends up running away screaming. This seems to be the effect that the mysterious old lady has on everyone who is able to approach her. It’s a simple start to the episode, no slavering monsters or enormous spaceships, yet it’s some of the most unsettling Doctor Who that we’ve seen in years and a beginning that’s bound to stick in the mind of viewers long after the Bogeyman and farting spaceships have been forgotten.

Ruby runs to the shelter of a nearby pub, filled with stock folk horror locals, in what initially appears to be an homage to An American Werewolf in London. Ominous local Siân Phillips delivers dire admonitions about breaking the fairy ring and we all think we know where this is going… but it’s all a red herring! They’re just winding up the naïve city girl and have no more idea about the Doctor’s disappearance and the mysterious stranger than Ruby does. It’s refreshing to see these well-worn clichés turned on their heads, especially since the trailers for the episode seemed to push them as the driving force of the narrative. I don’t know if this was Russell T. Davies knowingly pulling the rug out from under us, or just the publicity department using the most eerie moments in the trailer, but either way it works.

Unable to find the Doctor, Ruby returns to visit her foster mother and grandmother, but she’s still haunted by the mysterious woman and when her foster mum goes to confront the wraith, she too runs away in horror and never talks to Ruby again for the rest of her life. Wait, did I say the rest of her life? I surely did, because this is one of those ‘whole life in a day’ stories, like Star Trek: The Next Generation’s The Inner Light. Ruby is seen getting older (the ageing effects only kind of work on the irrepressibly youthful Ms. Gibson) and having to live a regular life whilst always having that sinister presence 73 yards away. There’s a welcome cameo from Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, whose forces are similarly freaked out by the old woman, and a palpable sense of ‘he’s not coming back, is he?’ about the Doctor.

Alongside all of this there is the rise extremist politician Roger ap Gwilliam (played by Aneurin Barnard) whose politics lie slightly to the right of comedian Kenny Everett’s General ‘Bomb the Bastards’ Cheeseburger character. He’s a thinly-vailed Trump/Farage nuclear provocateur, who wants to drag the UK into a series of unnecessary wars in order to prove some point about feeling inadequate to his father (or something, that’s usually the reason). Ruby becomes increasingly aware of the threat that he poses to the world and starts to plot a long-game plan to dispose of the evil wanker. The end result is both clever and cryptic, with RTD vowing that he will never actually reveal the true nature of the mysterious old woman. I’m quite glad about that, because it works much better to have an ‘open mystery’ than to have it all tied up with some cheesy sci-fi cliché.

Following on from Boom, 73 Yards presents a much more positive picture of this series of Doctor Who than its weak beginning. It’s hard to even imagine that this was written by the same person who, just a few weeks earlier, gave us the hackneyed and unadventurous Space Babies. Millie Gibson, who at the beginning of the series seemed in danger of being landed with a character that was at best a clone of Rose and at worst a by-the-numbers cypher companion, is given plenty to work with in this episode and she absolutely shines! To carry the show, if only for one episode, at the age of 19 is no mean feat and she carries it off with aplomb. Some have argued that Ruby is a stronger character than the Fifteenth Doctor and whereas I disagree with this on principle, I certainly thing that she’s going 50/50 with the heavy lifting, much in the way that the era of the Seventh Doctor was infinitely buoyed by the presence of Ace.

This is a beautiful, intelligent and thought-provoking story with a red hot central concept and it reminds us what an incredible writer Russell T. Davies can be when he’s inspired by a really good idea… although I think he’s showing his age somewhat in calling it ’73 Yards’. What 19-year old measures in yards? Britain has a somewhat schizoid approach to the use of Metric and Imperial measurements, but the old system wasn’t even being taught when I was at school in the 70s and 80s and I think that the old Imperial standard is increasingly alien to the kids of today. I’m well over twice Ruby’s age and, although I’m comfortable to measure things in feet and inches, I can’t honestly say that I would ever measure anything in yards. It’s a minor quibble though, and from a purely aesthetic point of view, 73 Yards is probably a better title than 66.75 Metres.

Doctor-lite stories are a real Curate’s Egg; sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re not-so-great. 73 Yards definitely falls into the former category. Although it might have been created out of necessity rather than by pure choice, it serendipitously lifts the character of Ruby to a whole new height and strengthens the TARDIS crew. Millie Gibson does an incredible job of driving this episode, playing a character years beyond her own experience and ensuring that Ruby will be a character that will be remembered as one of the classic Doctor Who companions. If they’re still looking for spin-offs in a couple of years, I think they could do a lot worse than The Ruby Sunday Adventures… just as long as she doesn’t bring that freaky old woman with her.

‘Doctor Who – 73 Yards’ is available to stream on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom and on Disney+ throughout the world.