Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, disney, doctor who, Millie Gibson, Ncut Gatwa, russell t davies

Doctor Who Ep. 4 "73 Yards": Once Again, Humans Are The Worst Monsters

In "73 Yards," Russell T. Davies once again shows that even in Doctor Who, the worst, scariest monsters are the human ones - as in real life.

Doctor Who might be a fun family series that kids can watch with their parents, and adults can watch it because the series is usually written with enough ideas to draw in more than just children. Russell T. Davies continues to introduce overtly political themes into the series, never mind that it's on Disney+. He's thinking about what's happening in the world, especially the UK, and he's going to write about that. the series has always been topical for more than sixty years. "73 Yards" is no different, as pointed out before. If you haven't seen the episode yet, consider this your "MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!" warning…

In "73 Yards", the biggest villain is human, a Welsh populist political candidate named Roger ap Gwilliam (Aneurin Barnard), who runs on a fascistic "Britain-first" platform full of platitudes of being a man of the people. The Doctor mentions that he was the worst prime minister the UK ever had, who took the country to the brink of nuclear war. When he shows up in the public eye as a political candidate, Ruby remembers the Doctor's words and finally finds a purpose in her life: to stop Roger ap Gwilliam. He wants to take the UK out of NATO and launch a nuclear warhead on the day he takes office as prime minister as a show of strength, completely heedless that to do so would trigger hostile nations to launch their nukes in retaliation. He doesn't even say where he wants to launch the nuke, so he's either targeted a country, but the script has diplomatically declined to, or he's genuinely stupid and just thinks he can launch a nuke willy-nilly. While Davies is happy to celebrate Welsh culture and history, he's also pointing out that anyone can be a dangerous fascist, including a Welshman.

Davies writes in subtle indications ap Gwilliam is a monster. We never see him in private moments, but Barnard plays him with an unblinking certainty and arrogance to show his narcissism and sociopathy. He singles out a female assistant because she caught his eye. She's initially starstruck and eager, but months later, when he wins the election, she's cowed and fearful and privately tells Ruby he's a monster, suggesting he's an abuser and predator. For Doctor Who, that makes him a worse monster than men in rubber suits or CGI gubbins. He's reminiscent of Emma Thompson's populist Thatcher-like PM in Davies' series Years and Years, whose theme was the urgent need to fight fascism. He also carries Saxon vibes, the identity The Master (John Simm at the time) used in Season Three of the early 2000s series. I was so relieved that ap Gwilliam did not turn out to be The Master.

Doctor Who is now streaming on Disney+.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!