After the suspense of last weekâs Boom, the new Doctor Who season cranked up to full-on horror in 73 Yards, with an episode destined to be remembered as one of the all-time great companion performances.
Once the Doctor vanishes, it is left to Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday to unravel the mystery that then stretches through the whole of her life, morphing from creeping dread in rural Wales to a political thriller split between London and Cardiff. Aneurin Barnard cut an impressive figure as the paranoid and controlling populist politician Roger ap Gwilliam, somewhat in the mould of Emma Thompsonâs Vivienne Rook in Russell T Daviesâ Years and Years.
Michelle Greenidge as Rubyâs mum, Carla, was a delight, wittering on about how men go off to âpotter in their shedsâ and dismissively saying it was only âWelsh peopleâ who were scared of the mysterious woman. But her delivery to a locked-out Ruby of: âEven your real mother didnât want youâ was conveyed with conviction, and abandoned or orphaned children remain a persistent theme of this run of Ncuti Gatwa episodes.
Daviesâs knack of writing side characters who manage to convey a lot with very little dialogue was on display with Sophie Ablett, who gave Marti the air of someone haunted like Ruby â though in her case by the attentions of ap Gwilliam.
The highlight of the episode was without doubt the oppressive Welsh pub night-time sequence, which veered wildly between the hysterical laughter of local people enjoying pulling the leg of the gullible English tourist and the genuinely unnerving undercurrent of menace as they talked up tales of Mad Jack stalking the night.
All of this was absolutely brilliant ⦠until the ending. There didnât seem to be any logic or explanation of how the older Ruby had been able to appear that way to herself for decades, or spring back in time at the crucial moment to prevent the timeline being created, beyond some vague hand-waving at âthe supernaturalâ mentioned along the way. A shame, as it was shaping up to be a stone-cold classic until older Ruby appeared and the final act faltered.
Sum it up in one sentence?
Ruby Sunday saves the world from a Welsh nuclear megalomaniac after a lifetime of running away from herself.
Life onboard the Tardis
This was a âDoctor liteâ episode, a format introduced in 2006 to lessen the production schedule for the leads, first with the mostly unloved Love and Monsters, and more successfully a year later with Carey Mulligan leading Blink. In 2008, the leads each got a showcase â David Tennant helming Midnight, and Catherine Tateâs Donna the focus of Turn Left. During that Davies-penned episode, Donna lives through an alternative timeline without the Doctor and ends up saving the day to reset events. Sound familiar?
Fear factor
73 Yards went for an instantly recognisable folk-horror atmosphere with the woman first pursuing Ruby over the clifftops, though the sequence where Ruby saw her every time she looked out the train window took it to a new level. But the scariest thing was the gradual hardening of Jemma Redgraveâs face as, after an initially reassuring sudden arrival in the story to assist Ruby, Kate Lethbridge-Stewartâs heart was hardened when she and her Unit troops heard what the old lady told them.
Mysteries and questions
The obligatory appearance by Susan Twist as the hiker, her sixth different character in the last seven episodes, did finally spark some recognition. But since we were in an alternate timeline, who knows if Ruby will remember her face the next time she crops up?
Deeper into the vortex
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The theme of being cursed and your family and friends turning against you was also explored in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode The Curse of Clyde Langer.
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The music playing when Ruby discovered her purpose was Watch Me by Labi Siffre, a hit in 1972. It includes the lines: âWatch me when Iâm on my own / See me falling like the snow.â Snow has been a recurring motif this season, and Old Ruby told her carer she used to be able to make it snow.
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Ruby telling the mysterious figure: âWeâve got work to doâ echoed Sylvester McCoyâs closing monologue in the last episode of the 1963-89 run of Doctor Who, which ended with him saying: âCome on, Ace, weâve got work to do.â
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The episode did not have an opening title sequence for the first time since Sleep No More in 2015, which itself was the first time it had happened during the regular series. It also did not appear to feature anything extraterrestrial or alien except for the Doctor or the Tardis. Well, perhaps, until we find out more about Susan Twist or Anita Dobsonâs Mrs Flood character, who had a cameo.
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Roger ap Gwilliam became the fourth UK prime minister whose career came to a Doctor Who-induced end, although at least he escaped with his life. Harriet Jones and Jo Patterson both got exterminated by Daleks, while the Master was shot by his wife and refused to regenerate while posing as PM Harold Saxon.
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The pubâs name in Welsh â Y Pren Marw â translates as âthe dead woodâ, and the scenes were filmed at the White Cross Inn in Groeswen, which was previously used as a location for Torchwood.
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Gatwaâs clifftop costume has come in for some criticism as being the least Doctor-ish costume the lead role has had for some time, but old habits die hard and the Doctor has a history of beanies-by-the-sea.
Next time: Dot and Bubble
The trailer suggests we might be about to get a hyperreal morality tale about the dangers of social media and cancel culture â¦