‘73 Yards’ just hit major Doctor Who Season 14 landmark

The fourth episode of Season 14 has just outdone the rest of Ncuti Gatwa’s adventures by one metric, making it one of the most successful episodes of the bunch.

’73 Yards’ marks a very special episode for Doctor Who Season 14 — not just because it sees Ruby Sunday venture out on her own after the Doctor disappears entirely, but because it’s now beaten every other episode in the season as the most-watched.

According to data from DoctorWhoTV, ’73 Yards’ has the highest overnight viewership of any Doctor Who episode from Season 14 so far. At 2.62 million viewers, it’s easily surpassed Episodes 2 and 3, which had an overnight viewership of 2.40 and 2.04 million viewers, respectively.

Even the series premiere brought in 2.60 million viewers for its overnight viewership, meaning ’73 Yards’ is the most-viewed episode overall, at least when it comes to live and first-night ratings.

The overnight TV ratings include viewers who watched the episode live, as well as later that same night. It’s worth noting that previous Doctor Who Season 14 episodes grew in viewership over the next seven days, so it remains to be seen whether ’73 Yards’ is the most-viewed episode overall, or whether those numbers will dip.

It’s not surprising that ’73 Yards’ attracted a large first wave of viewers. From the offset, it’s been the one episode that teased the most mystery and speculation.

Since the episode aired, it’s received mostly very high praise, with some claiming that it’s one of the best episodes in the sci-fi show’s history. (To see what we thought, check out our ’73 Yards’ review.)

For more Who, check out our guide to when the new episode of Doctor Who Season 14 is out. You can also get to know all the Doctor Who Season 14 villains, and take a look at all the biggest Season 14 theories.