A Few Thoughts on Doctor Who “Role Models”

Feature article by guest contributor Casey Riggins.

I’m a fan who has been watching Doctor Who since the revival in 2005. I was aware of the show before then and in the years that followed I caught up with the classic era as much as possible. In my mind the Doctor therefore has always been a male. So the news of Jodie Whittaker’s appointment took me by surprise. A female Doctor has been talked about a lot in recent years during the regeneration season, but it’s usually one of these things that remained that: talk.

Now it’s actually happened and I’m still working out how to feel about it. I believed Doctor Who already had an ideal balance in terms of representing both men and women (which I’ll go into more later), and this change I think is unnecessary. I know the response of some today when they hear you aren’t automatically on board with a female Doctor is to casually throw around terms like “Bigot!”, and “Sexist!” etc. And this can be even for simply stating you’re questioning this change and might have some reservations about it.

While there are indeed some fans that actually hate the news because they might actually be sexist and maybe other ‘-ists’ you can think of, you are singling out the extremes of fandom and applying to all. Most rational fans are capable of more reasoned responses. It’s just in these current times the internet seems to be more about encouraging the “it’s us or them” mentality, often killing any rational, nuanced discourse on any subject.

Even former Doctor Peter Davison has been in trouble for his “controversial” comments, which at first merely suggested that people might want to be “encouraging, and not simply scornful, of fans who are uncertain about change”. He then was hyperbolically reported as having a “clash” with Colin Baker, where Davison dared to say he was saddened that boys might have lost a role model, to which Baker rubbished him. The reaction he received from some quarters eventually made him quit Twitter, which wasn’t a great reflection on certain Whovians it has to be said.

I must admit the thought of positive role models had crossed my mind too. Indeed, I can see the point where Davison was coming from, as Doctor Who was brilliant at subverting traditional male heroes by having one who didn’t just fight his foes through violence, instead using his brain the majority of the time. It’s an extremely rare breed on British TV, and TV in general actually these days where most male heroes are punching their way to victory, or worse.

While I get what Colin Baker was trying to say in his follow up to Davison in that “You don’t have to be of a gender of someone to be a role model. Can’t you be a role model as people?” This is a contradiction in itself. By that logic the Doctor as a male should still be a great role model for females too.

I also have to bring up something else that has been bugging me in all this. Did some suddenly forget all the wonderful companions, who have by-and-large been females? And hugely positive role models for them too. This is why I thought Doctor Who already struck the ideal balance before this change. The title of “companion” has not limited their role. While in the early classic era, the female companions were occasionally relegated to ‘screaming sidekicks’, that was rectified over the years and, now in the modern era their status is that of an absolute equal to the Doctor. In fact the female companions have been strong, independent women who are often shown to be an even stronger character than the Doctor. Is this still not enough? Or are we now devaluing their contributions over the years to make this change seem more necessary than it is?

I have some concerns about the companion role now too, and how the dynamic with a female Doctor is going to work. There is no reason why we can’t have a male companion now as the mainstay, especially as one could serve as positive role model in place of a male Doctor. The important thing is, he shouldn’t really be written any differently to a female one in terms of their power in the Doctor/companion dynamic. But I have doubts this will be the case, as instances of the male showing the same strength or greater could be perceived as “problematic” by some.

Indeed, back in 2015 Davison stated that he felt that if you reverse the roles of an “unsure and uncertain” male Doctor and “very strong” female companion you could end up with “an uncertain, fallible female Doctor with a really strong male companion,” which is “more of a stereotype than anything else.” It’s going to be very interesting to see how Chris Chibnall tackles this.

I think though to conclude, the greater question in this entire furore is, why aren’t the BBC creating bold new sci-fi TV shows featuring strong female leads? Iconic characters with their own, unique identity, like Wonder Women, Buffy, Ripley from Aliens, Sarah Connor from Terminator etc. Those have all been huge successes with both male and female audiences too. Shouldn’t that be what we are striving for today? The celebration of this current gender-swapping trend in the media seems to encourage the ugly notion that the only way for women to achieve success is to co-opt old male roles, not create brave new ones. And that is the most disempowering thought of it all.