DISCLAIMER: This recap of Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 4, “73 Yards,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
“73 Yards” thrusts Millie Gibson front and center, and boy, does she step up to the challenge. She’s a talented actress. I’ve fallen more in love with Ruby Sunday, y’all. Russell T Davies pens an enjoyable episode. It’s experimental storytelling, although it’s not without narrative bumps and potholes. I loved the first half more than the second half. We were left with too many questions at the end. Why did the Doctor disappear? Where did he go? What was older Ruby saying to Joshua, her mom, Kate and the others that made them flee? What happened to Roger ap Gwilliam, aka “Mad Jack,” and why did this fairy circle dedicated to him give birth to an alt timeline?
Stepping on the fairy circle string causes a time loop. Ergo, older Ruby ensuring her younger self keeps that string intact prevents this from happening. Side note: I found the identity plot twist a bit predictable. It became apparent the older woman was Ruby, but it was fun nonetheless.
I was more attracted to the poignancy and heartbreak of Ruby’s story. It delves deep into who she is as a character. She has major abandonment issues, which is understandable, given she was abandoned as a baby. She fears a life of loneliness and isolation. Ruby also wants to make a difference in the world. Separately, I choose to believe older Ruby returns to the present to reassure young Ruby she’s not alone.
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Wales
We open with the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Gibson) arriving in Wales in the present. Ruby mentions the other times she’d traveled to Wales. The conversation pivots to talk of a future politician, Roger ap Gwilliam, who will run for prime minister in 2046. Our titular Gallifreyan notes that he’s the worst kind of evil. Of course, Ruby has no idea what he’s going on about since this is 22 years into the future.
Suddenly, our fave Time Lord steps on a makeshift circle (a fairy circle) full of trinkets, flowers and notes. Ruby reads a few scraps of paper that say, “Rest in Peace, Mad Jack.” After this, Ruby turns, noticing the Doctor is nowhere to be found. He vanished. Weird. She tries to unlock the TARDIS with her key but to no avail. She assumes the Doctor locked himself inside.
73 Yards
Next, Ruby spots an older woman (Hilary Hobson) from afar — 73 yards (219 feet) away, to be precise. She appears to be signing something. Ruby tries to talk to her, asking if she did “this.” Did she make the Doctor disappear? Ruby decides to walk to the nearest town to find shelter for the evening. It’s snowing (always with the snow with her). The mysterious woman follows her, always at a distance. Ruby runs into a hiker (Susan Twist), who reveals the nearby village is called Glyngatwg. Look, it’s Susan Twist again!
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Then, Ruby asks the hiker to relay a message to her enigmatic follower: She’s okay. Ruby is fine. Homegirl can go home now. However, the hiker flees in fear after the older woman tells her something we don’t hear. Creepy. Next, Ruby wanders into a pub in Glyngatwg. She meets a host of characters — Lowri Palin (Maxine Evans), who runs the place. Thin Lucy (Elan Davies) and Ifor Jones (Gwïon Morris Jones), two younger folks. Joshua Steele (Sion Pritchard), a middle-aged man. Enid Meadows (Siân Phillips), an older woman with glasses.
Lowri also has a room she can rent to Ruby for the evening. While there, Ruby notices the mystery woman outside the pub. She’s still gesturing wildly. Joshua decides to chat with her. Perhaps he can persuade her to come inside before she catches her death. Like the hiker, Joshua runs away after the woman tells him something presumably terrifying.
Mad Jack
Later, Lowri, Enid, Ifor and Thin Lucy pull a prank on Ruby by playing up the legend of “Mad Jack.” They claim that since Ruby and the Doctor broke the string of that fairy circle and Ruby read the notes, Mad Jack is now free. Suddenly, they hear an incessant banging on the door that increases in intensity. Thankfully, it’s a vendor. The pub dwellers burst into raucous laughter. They got her good.
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Next, Lowri serves Ruby breakfast and offers her a few shirts to wear. Ruby sits outside the TARDIS, waiting for the Doctor to emerge. She hopes this isn’t the end of their adventures. She wants to see him again. Then, the following day, Lowri orders Ruby to leave, stating that Joshua won’t return to the pub. He says, “Ask her.” Lowri assumes he’s referring to Ruby. However, our Rubes knows he means the mysterious older woman who won’t leave Ruby alone.
So, Ruby hops on a train and heads back to London. The whole way home, she sees her follower popping up. Then, Ruby arrives at her flat to find Carla (Michelle Greenidge) and Cherry (Angela Wynter) waiting for her. Carla comforts her daughter, asserting that all men pop off to their “sheds” eventually. They keep their secrets. Ruby explains how the enigmatic woman has been trailing her since Wales. Carla formulates a game plan. She decides to remain on the phone with Ruby while she talks to the woman. That way, Ruby can hear what the woman says.
Side note: Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson), who last appeared in “The Church on Ruby Road,” reappears here. She seems to know what a TARDIS is. Best keep an eye on her.
Carla Leaves
Unfortunately, the older woman turns Carla against Ruby, too. Carla runs in terror upon hearing what the lady has to say. However, that terror morphs into disgust and loathing as Ruby sees her leave in a taxi. In the days to follow, Ruby phones her mom multiple times a day, hoping she’ll come home. Then, one day, Ruby arrives at her flat to find the door locked — just like the TARDIS. Carla sits in the kitchen, insisting she won’t let Ruby inside. Ruby isn’t her biological daughter. Even her bio mom didn’t want her. Ouch.
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A year later, Ruby meets Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), who informs Ruby that UNIT is there to help the Doctor’s companions reassimilate into normal society. Ruby explains that the older woman is always 73 yards away from her. However, she’s usually not acknowledged by passersby. Kate wants Ruby to take her to the TARDIS, which still sits in Wales. But before that, Kate has her team approach the woman. She reassures Ruby that her team is well-trained to withstand psychic manipulation, witchcraft, supernatural influences, extraterrestrial abilities — you name it.
Unfortunately, not even UNIT is a match for this lady. Kate overhears what the woman tells her crew since she’s wearing an earpiece. Kate and UNIT flee from Ruby like she’s on fire.
20 Years
Two decades pass as Ruby attempts to live a normal life despite her mother and the Doctor leaving her. She goes on dates. However, one of her boyfriends gets suspicious when she refuses to leave the country to go on holiday. (Earlier, she tells Kate she’s afraid going that a plane will sever the “connection,” possibly killing her or the woman.)
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Later, Ruby sees none other than Roger ap Gwilliam (Aneurin Barnard) speaking on TV. He plans to run for prime minister. Ruby wonders if the woman perpetually following her serves a purpose. Maybe Ruby is supposed to prevent Roger from winning the PM race. So, she volunteers to campaign for him. While chatting with a talk show host, Roger more than insinuates his desire to fire a nuke on those who oppose the UK. He wants those nuclear codes. He’s got an itchy trigger finger.
After that conversation, Ruby reluctantly introduces Roger to Marti (Sophie Ablett), who presumably becomes his mistress. Ruby plays the long game, hoping to find the right moment to thwart Roger’s plans. However, Roger becomes the next prime minister of the UK. She sits with Marti, who reveals Roger is a bona fide monster.
Cardiff
Then, the team arrives on the football pitch in Cardiff for Roger to hold a televised press event. Soon, Roger will have access to the nuclear codes. It’s now inevitable. Ruby sees an opportunity to throw a wrench in all this. She steps on the pitch, something Roger’s handlers expressly forbade them from doing. Ruby gets to a certain point on the pitch before walking backward while her phone counts how many yards she is from Roger. Roger’s security team trains their weapons on her. When she reaches 73 yards, the mysterious older woman appears beside Roger. He runs away after she tells him something.
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Thankfully, Roger resigns from the office. When the press asks him why, he says, “Ask her.” He’s referring to Ruby’s pal, of course. So, Roger is “Mad Jack.”
40 Years
Flash forward 40 years later. Ruby and her trusted caretaker arrive on the coastline in Wales. She sits in her wheelchair in front of the TARDIS, now covered in moss and cobwebs and still locked. Despite living out the rest of her years in solitude — no family, no Doctor, no children — Ruby feels hopeful. That’s the essence of the Doctor … hope. She also reveals that it hasn’t snowed since she stopped looking for her birth mother.
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Later, while in the hospital, Ruby sees the enigmatic older woman standing in her room. Yes, she’s much closer than 73 yards this time around. She moves closer and closer to Ruby, her back to the audience. Ruby looks terrified. However, she finally discovers the woman’s identity. She is this woman. Ruby appears in Wales under that creepy tree, all dressed in black. She observes as her younger self and the Doctor emerge from the TARDIS. Ruby stretches her arms and whispers, “Don’t step,” hoping young Ruby will hear her.
A Message From Ruby to Ruby
Sure enough, young Ruby spots her older self, no longer an eldritch figure, under the tree. But when Ruby points her out to the Doctor, older Ruby vanishes. Then, Ruby urges the Doctor not to break the string of the fairy circle (No time loops, please!). Thankfully, he stops himself in time. The Doctor asks Ruby about how many times she’s been to Wales. Ruby mentions three but can’t recall the third time. That’s when she realizes this little excursion is her third trip.
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