Doctor Who: 73 Yards Review - 6 Ups & 4 Downs

It's time to talk about the central premise of the episode, and I'd like to start by saying that the figure who stays at 73 yards, (or semper distans) is one of the best original concepts RTD has put to screen.

A villain with a built-in restraining order shouldn't be scary at all, and yet, there's an unknowable, uncanny aspect to the Woman that makes her absolutely terrifying. Russell describes in a behind-the-scenes clip that he essentially stood on a pier until he worked out at what distance features became indistinguishable, and then the crew made sure to replicate this precise distance every time the mystery woman was on screen – a production nightmare, but remarkably well done, and all the more effective for it.

Oh, and that scene where old Ruby wakes up in the middle of the night and sees the Woman standing at the end of her bed, coming closer in the dark? Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. It might be portrayed in a positive light, but regardless: absolutely no thank you.

As I briefly touched on earlier, I'm a big fan of leaning into the folklore and witchcraft vibes as this feels like a relatively untapped area for the show, and if anything, I wish it had been explored a little more.

I'm a little sad that the repeated hand gestures didn't seem to hold any relevance to the story either, as they were revealed to be the sign language equivalent of nonsense in behind-the-scenes footage. I thought for sure those gestures would be the key to everything.