73 Yards (TV story)

73 Yards

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73 Yards
Novelised as:	73 Yards
Doctor:	Fifteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Ruby
Key crew
Writer:	Russell T Davies
Director:	Dylan Holmes Williams
Release details
Genre:	Science fiction
Story number:	308
Number of parts:	1
Premiere broadcast:	25 May 2024
Premiere networks:	BBC iPlayer, Disney+
Official trailer
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73 Yards is the fourth episode of Season One of Doctor Who.

Synopsis

Landing on the Welsh coast, the Doctor and Ruby embark on the strangest journey of their lives. In a rain-lashed pub, the locals sit in fear of ancient legends coming to life.

Plot

Stand well clear, Jo!

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The Doctor and Ruby land in Wales on a coastline, stepping out of the TARDIS, and wandering around as they talk about the times Ruby has been to Wales, and Roger ap Gwilliam, who the Doctor considers a bad example of the Welsh. The Doctor inadvertently steps on a circle made of string, woven together with bird skulls and toys, breaking it. Ruby reaches down and finds a scroll woven into it which she reads out - “Rest in Peace Mad Jack”. She looks up to find the Doctor missing. She glances around for him, finding nothing, and comes to find that the TARDIS is locked, but notices a female figure off in the distance, watching Ruby, gesturing with her hands. Ruby calls to her, asks what’s going on, and gets no response. Ruby walks away, but no matter how far she walks the spectre just keeps following her, the same distance, over and over. Eventually Ruby comes across a hiker, asking where she is, and whether the menacing figure is real or just a figure of her imagination . The hiker tells her that they’re above Glyngatwg, and confirms that she can see the figure as well. Since the hiker is headed towards the figure, they’re willing to try to talk to the figure on Ruby’s behalf, ask it to stop following Ruby, as well as ask if the figure knows the Doctor. But as the hiker approaches and starts to talk to the figure, the hiker screams, and turns to run away from the spectre.

Ruby ventures down into the town, into the pub, and asks them if they've got a room for the night. They do, but the owner and others in the pub take great delight in teasing her. She asks the patrons if they can see the figure outside and they can as well, one of them being willing to go out and ask why she's following Ruby. The man talks to the figure, screams, and runs away. Ruby expresses concern and mentions the circle of string and cotton she saw up on the cliff, how the Doctor broke it, how she read out one of the scrolls in it. The patrons reference the blood seeped into all of Wales, how the boundary of land and sea is a liminal space. Referencing horror stories about Mad Jack. A knocking comes at the door. Ruby insists that it's not Mad Jack and answers the door. It's just a man carrying a box of pasties. The entire pub bursts out laughing, they dismiss the entire idea as ridiculous, a joke. But Ruby looks outside - the spectre is still standing there in the pouring rain.

Cast

• The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
• Ruby Sunday - Millie Gibson
• The Woman - Hilary Hobson
• Hiker - Susan Twist
• Lowri Palin - Maxine Evans
• Enid Meadows - Siân Phillips
• Joshua Steele - Sion Pritchard
• Ifor Jones - Gwïon Morris Jones
• Thin Lucy - Elan Davies
• Eddie Jones - Glyn Pritchard
• Carla Sunday - Michelle Greenidge
• Cherry Sunday - Angela Wynter
• Mrs Flood - Anita Dobson
• Kate Lethbridge-Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
• Frank Hinchey - Graham Butler
• Sanjay Miah - Ali Ariaie
• Rufus Bray - Albey Brookes
• Roger ap Gwilliam - Aneurin Barnard
• Craig Deloach - Miles Yekinni
• Amol Rajan - Himself
• Marti Bridges - Sophie Ablett
• Akhim Patil - Shane David-Joseph
• Groundsman - Jason May
• Security Officer
• Armed Policeman - David Constant
• Newsreader - Deeivya Meir
• Old Ruby - Amanda Walker
• Elizabeth Campbell - Rhyanna Alexander-Davis
• Nurse - Vee Vimolmal

Crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter with Joel Collins and Phil Collinson

Written by Russell T Davies	Produced by Vicki Delow	Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams	Director of Photography Sam Care	Production Designer Phil Sims	Visual Effects Automatik VFX
Make-up Designer Claire Williams	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Pam Downe	Edited by Chris Roebuck BFE	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  Title sequence by Painting Practice & Realtime Visualisation  Music conducted by Alastair King  •  Music performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

General production staff Executive Producer for the BBC - Rebecca Ferguson Production Executive - Steffan Morris Co-producer - Ellen Marsh Line Producer - Mark Devlin Production Manager - Delmi Thomas Supervising Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Location Managers - Baljinder Sidhu, Jason Keatley Assistant Location Manager - Alex Moore Location Assistant - Robyn Selby Unit Manager - Kyle Yates Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Liam Hobbs Production Secretaries - Florence Trott, Chris Harkus Production Office Runners - Danilo Van-Der Nguyen, Lisa Elena Williams 1st Assistant Accountant - Greg Robinson Script department Script Editor - Scott Handcock Assistant Script Editor - Rasheed Bello Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Geraint Havard Jones 2nd Assistant Director - Lauren Pate 3rd Assistant Director - Jennifer Day Floor Runners - Jac Lewis, Devante Fleming, Emmy Williams Script Supervisor - Richard Pask Camera Operator - James Chesterton ACO Camera Trainees - Farah Rose, Chai Lee Tan Focus Pullers - Jonathan Vidgen, Steve Rees Key Grip - Bobby Williams Grip - Ken Hodgson Clapper Loaders - Sarah Macleod, Evangeline Davies Gaffer - Pete Chester Rigging Gaffer - Chris Kiley Best Boy - Sion Davies Electricians - Andy Green, Joe Jennings, Jon Down	Art department Supervising Art Director - Robyn Paiba Art Directors - Hattie Gent, Kartik Kundan Nagar Assistant Art Director - Eleri Lloyd Art Department Assistant - Sam Hanson Art Department Co-ordinator - Jason Davies-Redgrave Production Buyer - Helen O'Leary Assistant Buyer - Taymar Lee Petty Cash Buyer - Charlie Shelley Set Decorator - Adrian Anscombe Action Props Buyer - Tara Lily Johnston Storyboard Artist - Rupert Smissen Graphic Designer - Stephen Fielding Standby Props - Phill Bull, Jonathan Barclay Standby Carpenter - Sam Crowley Prop Hands - Declan Petryna, Atiff Tahir, John Thomas, Ingo Hans, Joseph Craig, Jason White, Matt Shrimpton Standby Art Director - Brad Perry Rigging - Shadow Rigging Standby Rigger - Nigel Owen Standby Painter - Jessie Thomas Painters - Justin Abraham, Drew Abraham Storeman - Charlie Malik Prop Master - Nick Thomas Props Chargehand - Stuart Rankmore Construction Manager - Rhys Griffiths Construction Coordinator - Ffion Roberts Practical Electrician - Phillip Jones Scenic Artists - Inga Jastrumskaite, Mike Carter Draughtsperson - David Merryweather Chargehand Carpenter - Martyn Russell Carpenters - Mark Borde, Sam Burridge, Dave Martynski, Christopher Hawksworth, Patrick Watts, Gareth Jones, Huw Morgan, Jonathan Tylke, Sam Riddiford Costume department Costume Supervisor - Laura Baker Assistant Costume Designer - Raïssa Hans	Make-up and prosthetics Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Derek Lea, Andy Godbold Movement Coach - Paul Kasey Stunt Performers - Paul Bailey, Chris Morrison, Mike Denton, Leo Woodruff Casting Casting Associate - Ri McDaid-Wren Casting Assistant - Kristian Wall General post-production staff Post-production Producer - Ceres Doyle Post-production Supervisor - Liv Duffin Post-production Co-ordinator - Lauren Pate On-line Editor - Christine Kelly Special and visual effects Additional VFX - Egg VFX, BBC Wales Graphics VFX Producer - Will Cohen VFX Editor - Matt Nathan VFX Co-ordinators - Siân Reynish, Livvy Edwards VFX Assistant - Sarah-Hoor Aboubakar Colourist - Gareth Spensley Sound Sound Recordist - Alex Thompson Re-recording Mixer - Paul McFadden Audio Post-production - Bang Post Production

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
This episode was produced with the support of incentives for the Irish film industry provided by the Government of Ireland.

Worldbuilding

to be added

Notes

• In March 2023, Russell T Davies stated during an appearance on BBC Radio 2 that he thought the episode was "one of the greatest things I've ever made in my life".
• The title of the episode was revealed on the official Doctor Who Twitter account on 31 March 2024.
• A line that went "I once went to the top of the Shard" was cut from the episode during its third edit.
• Davies stated on The Official Doctor Who Podcast that he had spent a long time thinking about the title, and had had to stand on a pier to determine exactly what 73 yards was.

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Ratings

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

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Home media releases

to be added

Gallery

Main article: 73 Yards (TV story)/Gallery

External links

• Official 73 Yards page on doctorwho.tv