Mrs Doctor Who
A letter from the past concerning cross-gender regeneration.
Way back in 2017 I was not a happy Doctor Who fan. In fact, it was around then that I rejected the term “fan.”
With hindsight, it was indicative of a larger problem at the BBC, namely what to do with a show that is losing its audience. Kids who grew up with Tennant and Smith were turned off by the grumpy old Scot, casting that appealed mainly to older fans.
Casting Jodie Whittaker, as excellent as she seems to be at conventions, still feels like a nice choice, rather than the right choice. And don’t get me started on the writing, Orphan 55.
On the Kasterborous podcast (which is still going, and I urge you to check it out), I had expressed ridicule at the notion of a female Doctor long before it happened. I’m not sure how I feel about it now, although if it was a toss up between Jodie and Jo Martin, I’d choose Jodie every time.
The thing is, neither of them feels like the Doctor to me. There’s a cosplay element that I find distracting… and as for the sexuality of the once asexual Time Lord whose peers look on humans as pets… well, that’s for another time.
Anyhow, my annoyance over the unveiling of a slight young woman as a character that had always been played by a man manifested itself in an article that remained unpublished.
Until now.
What did kids think about the gender swap?
Before we get to that, however, I want to introduce Bruce. He’s my eldest child, and approaching 14. He’s a strapping lad, he dances competitively, and has represented England at successive Dance World Cups in 2023 and 2024.
When he was a little lad, he loved Doctor Who. So, in an attempt to find out if the idea of gender swapping was just too outre for my seasoned head, and if it was something that young kids would cope with, I asked him.
I think it’s an interesting reaction. And, to be fair, he did get to grips with the Jodie era, and found the Flux run enjoyable. (Although he has no interest in the show now, something that occurred around the time of the 60th. That number has some baggage.)
So, onto “Mrs Doctor Who,” and article I wrote on July 17th, 2017…
Thoughts on a female Doctor, straight from 2017
In an age of fracturing families, deteriorating numbers of male teachers, and countless TV shows with strong female leads, why does Doctor Who need to follow suit?
In the adult world, we have Happy Valley, Line of Duty, Murder in Suburbia, countless soap operas, The Fall, Vera, and many others, all lead by women, or dominated by strong female characters. Or weak female characters with character development to show them overcoming adversity.
In the children’s world of TV, we have Tracy Beaker, Jamilla and Alladin, Maddie Moate’s Do You Know, The Worst Witch, Michaela Strachan and a handful of other, younger, identikit presenters.
And for the men and boys? Some TV presenters. Anyone else? Andy Day? James Bolam? Bernard Cribbins? Good men all, but hardly strong, positive role models for boys and girls, are they? Bolam and Cribbins’ grandfatherly characters occupy a world of fantasy… Andy Day’s blokey Time Lord wannabe with his time travelling grandfather clock is fun, but shallow. Dick and Dom… seriously? And the jokey nonsense of the increasingly fact-lite Horrible Histories. Steve Backshall is a fun adventurer, but after that you’ve just got cartoons.
Danger Mouse is not a role model.
The time travelling role model
Doctor Who is lots of things. He might be a renegade or a rogue, the last of the Time Lords, or a cosmic hobo. But there is one thing he has always been.
The Doctor has consistently been a role model for children. He doesn’t carry a gun, he uses a screwdriver. He’s a fixer of problems; a righter of wrongs. There is no reason why a woman cannot be these things… but name me a child who does not have a strong woman as a positive role model. Go on.
In 2016, 106,959 straight marriages ended in divorce. Let’s say as a conservative estimate, 70,000 of them had children. 35,000 dads are now struggling to maintain a relationship with their children from a single year of divorces.
Daughters don’t learn from their dads (aside, perhaps, from disappointment). Sons don’t pick up important skills. Everything is on the mother, or if she’s fortunate, grandparents, which might include a granddad who is too tired for this nonsense, frankly.
In an age where men are reluctant to become teachers – 28% of 2014’s intake of qualifies teachers were male – and boys are doing so poorly academically, it is crystal clear that we need more strong and positive role models for boys, not fewer.
Out in the Open Air
Chris Chibnall has big shoes to fill, and a massive role to fulfil. Getting started by undoing everything thought they fans knew about the Doctor is contentious to say the least. Lest we forget, this is the man who took John-Nathan Turner to task live on BBC TV in the late 1980s. With his first decision of headline-grabbing stunt casting, he’s putting himself directly in the firing line if Jodie Whittaker doesn’t prove popular with the viewing public.
Those clips from Open Air will suddenly gain a lot of views on YouTube.
(I feel sorry for Pip and Jane Baker.)
Many of us are here because of the classic show. This was a 26 year run of episodes that usually wasn’t a vehicle for an agenda. And even when it was (such as Barry Letts’ fondness for ecological tales), the agenda was a starting point, rather than a piece of re-education to be delivered like a sledgehammer.
I can’t speak for everyone of my generation, but in our house we didn’t particularly care about colour, or sexuality, or gender. What was important was the stories: overthrowing alien oppressors, monsters from outer space, here on earth, and in the past. Chock full of interesting characters and motivations. If Doctor Who in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s was low on non-white people, then that’s because it was reflective of the available acting talent, and should not be a stick to beat it with.
Since 2005, and more so since 2010, these ideas have been overlooked in deference to delivering a lesson. Take Bill: she’s gay. Great, let’s see how she does in space and time, though. That’s what’s important in Doctor Who. Also, she’s gay, did she mention it? Yes, more than once, but it doesn’t matter.
But when will we get beyond defining characters by their sexuality? Isn’t that just lazy writing?
Make the monsters the focus
With such a wealth of writing talent that – we’re told – grew up watching Doctor Who… it could be argued that they’ve forgotten what the show was doing well, what they could repeat. Compelling bad guys, interesting villains, inventive new alien threats. Shows reflecting our fear of evil and corruption, not about Rose’s mum or Clara’s boyfriend.
Harrison Chase; Tobias Vaughn; Mehendri Solon; the Master; the Pirate Captain; Ice Warriors; Cybermen; Daleks… Davros.
When Doctor Who is at its best, the monsters get equal billing, or better, they dominate. That was always true in the original series, and holds firm today. The only problem is that these days, it only applies to the revived classic villains. The narrative is structured so that we see little — if anything — that the Doctor and his friends don’t.
What is the problem?
So, perhaps a female Doctor Who isn’t really the problem. Perhaps the problem is actually more complex:
Adhering to already tired narrative conventions (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
The BBC’s endless, drip-drip-drip of celebrating its own diversity (but ignoring diversity of thought)
And that’s without worrying about Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Without the BBC’s over self-congratulation, Doctor Who would be celebrated for enjoying in Bill the shows third black, and second gay companion, instead of the PR department’s resetting of both counts to grab headlines.
If that’s not cynical, I don’t know what is. If I fit into any of those demographics, I would not be happy with the BBC’s tone on those announcements.
Will the Doctor ever be male again?
A TV show’s success is predominantly in its casting. Not only to the players tell the story, they also make the show attractive to new and existing viewers. I have no particular dislike for Jodie Whittaker; she’s an interesting actress, compelling perhaps, and clearly attractive. But she represents a show that doesn’t want me on board.
After 38 years, I’m not invited. Doctor Who isn’t for me anymore. We’ve clearly outgrown each other. I hope you all have fun with it, though.
Has anything really changed, 8 years later?
Now, to be fair, I was probably quite cross. I’m a lot mellower these days. Obviously the Doctor would be male again — twice (3 times if we count the Master) — but the show that recently ended feels a million miles away from the one that I hadn’t even seen yet.
It’s very easy to point at viewing figures and say “I was right!” But the challenges with streaming have not only expanded, and prompted the BBC and other broadcasters to get on board, it now seems as though that is a bubble that looks set to burst.
Look, I don’t know if the current show is better or worse than the Capaldi era. I cannot “get into” it, not in the same way I could a few years ago. I do know this, however: in the middle of Doctor Who Series 15, I found myself watching the Claws of Axos on U, and enjoyed it far more than The Robot Revolution, which I hadn’t hated.
As for Mrs Doctor Who… It’s easy to say that casting Jodie Whittaker was the point that things started going wrong for the show. In truth, it had probably been back too long at that point, and needed a rest.
Based on what we’ve seen in the past few weeks, it definitely needs one now.
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