73 Yards. Now we’re talking.

This is Siân Phillips’ debut in Doctor Who. Now why exactly is that? Why is it that it’s taken over sixty years to find a role for her within the franchise? When you think of her deliciously beautiful and terrifying voice, her penetrating stare, her poise and her presence – why are we only seeing her in the Whoniverse now?

I can only hope that this very very belated appearance is the first of many.

She’s also hilarious. This episode – 73 yards – (whatever happened to the metric system?) manages to balance a deal of comedy in its opening third with some authentic trauma in the second two thirds. The pub she appears in and dominates is like a League of Gentlemen/Inside No. 9 parody of a village pub in a horror movie. Think “The Slaughtered Lamb” at the beginning of American Werewolf in London.

This is a Doctor-Lite story in the tradition of “Turn Left” and “Blink”. I think it’s at least as good as either of these stories which places it high indeed in the 21st century canon.

The essential horror concept of a woman, always 73 yards away, whose features cannot be discerned, who will tell someone something if approached that causes them to run away terrified – is a very good one. Gradually, Ruby (Millie Gibson – whose episode this is) has to deal with this woman driving everybody in her life away – including most significantly, her own stepmother. Just when it seems that this story is becoming unbearable, UNIT and Lethbridge-Stewart show up and offer what looks like proper support, along with smiles and coffee. Interestingly, Lethbridge-Stewart points out that UNIT seems to be dealing more and more with the supernatural these days. She’s clearly been watching interviews with RTD. When Ruby is abandoned by UNIT we get a sense of how totally alone she is.

The episode reminds many of us of the Cronenberg film The Dead Zone. The depressing thing about being reminded of this film is that we know that unlike the Martin Sheen presidential candidate, Donald Trump really could use a small child as a human shield and still get elected.

We do not get to hear what the mysterious woman said. Is the mysterious woman simply elderly Ruby? Has she been haunting herself for 85 years as part of her semi-conscious scheme to thwart the nukey prime minister?

But there’s no need to explain really. Not at this point. We know that the whole of this season is about the mystery of Ruby Sunday – the mystery of her birth and her origins. Is she even human? Who and what is she? At the same time, she is just Ruby and no biological essentialism can erase the experiential legacy of being loved and parented.

Given that Ncuti Gatwa has been so good as The Doctor, it feels strange that the best episode of the season so far has been the one that he’s not really in. Above all, 73 Yards is the vindication of the supernatural turn the series has taken. This is not the first time the series has taken this turn. Indeed, many of the greatest Holmes-Hinchcliffe era shows have more in common with horror than with sci fi.

Horror of course can be done on a much lower budget than sci fi. All you need is music, decent lighting, and acting. Bloody good acting.