73 Yards was a novelisation based on the 2024 television episode 73 Yards. It was written by Scott Handcock and released by Target Books on 8 August 2024.
Publisher's summary[]
How long is 73 yards?
Haunted by a sinister presence, Ruby must cope with losing the Doctor and the life she once knew. With her new life without her best friend becoming bleaker by the day, something terrifying is unleashed, and it’s up to Ruby to stop it.
This eerie episode from Russell T Davies is novelised by series script editor Scott Handcock. featuring the Fifteenth Doctor played by Ncuti Gatwa and Ruby Sunday played by Millie Gibson.
Chapter titles[]
- The Land and the Sea
- The Hiker
- Y Pren Marw
- Mad Jack
- Glyngatwyg
- Carla
- Kata
- Ruby
- Roger
- Marti
- Cardiff
- The Aftermath
- The TARDIS
- The Woman
- The End
Deviations from televised story[]
- The exact date for when the start of the story takes place is given, November 9th 2024.
- Events following the Doctor's disappearance plays out very differently from the televised story, including Ruby asking the TARDIS if it had died, attempting to take a picture of The Woman, staying at the clifftop for hours and kicking the Tardis just before she leaves for Glyngatwyg.
- The Woman is described as having a scar. This reflects the actress' make-up but it is not fully visible on-screen.
- An old man walking his dog points Ruby towards Y Pren Marw
- All the characters in Y Pren Marw are given backstories, Lowri inherited the pub when she was 38, Josh and Lowri are childhood friends and liked each other romantically, neither admitted it but shared a kiss at his wedding. Enid has a hobby of translating poetry, Lucy and Ifor are friends, but Lucy is secretly in love with him and jealous of other girls.
- Lucy chants "Mad Jack, Jack's back!" when Eddie is banging on the door.
- There is an additional scene detailing how Ruby got the camping chair she uses when waiting for the Doctor, she goes round to Ifor's house to discuss what's going on and his mother gives it to her.
- It is mentioned that Josh never returned to the pub, even after Ruby's departure.
- There are extra scenes of Ruby calling Carla to explain the situation and later telling her about the Woman.
- Just before Carla calls Ruby telling her to go away, she posts an envelope under the door containing photos of her with Carla and Cherry on top of photos of Ruby ripped out from other photos.
- There is an additional scene where Ruby goes to UNIT tower to discuss what is happening to her and speaks to Ace.
- There is additional scenes of Ruby attending therapy due to what is happening to her, the therapist abandons her due to him interacting with the woman and another scene featuring a Steward being scared by the Woman when Ruby attends a concert at the O2 arena for Trudy's birthday.
- It is explained that Cherry passed away two years after being kicked out of Carla's flat and never updated her will so Ruby was still listed in it, leading to a legal dispute launched by Carla, Ruby wins the legal battle and uses the money Cherry left for her to put down a deposit for her own flat, there is also an additional scene of Ruby visiting Cherry's grave at night.
- It is hinted that Roger has an extremely misogynistic view on women.
- Due to the timeline being suspended along this event, the threat of extraterrestial and paranormal threats to Earth ceased, causing UNIT to be shut down when Kate retired early, leaving the UNIT tower abandoned. The tower was redeveloped with restaurants, shopping centre and appartments and was renamed as The Unit. Osgood became the Concierge of the building.
- Some years after ap Gwilliam's fall, he wrote a book claiming he resigned because of unspecified threats against him. He died just before turning 50, haunted by his failure.
- The dying Ruby says she hasn't been alone for 67 years rather than 65, with the date of her death being given as 2091.
Worldbuilding[]
- The UNIT Tower is nicknamed "the Big Penguin" by the general public.
- Ace works on and off for UNIT as a freelancer when she isn't busy running her charity.
- Kate decided that UNIT should be a more public facing entity due to the amount of increasingly difficult to cover up alien incursions in the 21st century.
- Ruby remembers metal monsters flooding the sky over Tameside and Carla taking her and other adoptive kids down into the basement as the Daleks invaded.
- The flat Ruby lives in by herself is part of the Powell estate.
- The set Roger is interviewed by Sir Amol Rajan is one of the last remaining physical sets in broadcasting.
- Journalism for political content became heavily scrutinised following the Deep Fake scandals of 2037.
Audiobook[]
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 22 August 2024 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Susan Twist.
Audiobook cover
External links[]
- Official 73 Yards page at Penguin Books
