Did The Tardis Miss The Boat? Looking At The Latest Doctor
by Special Correspondent Arturo Garcia
A message-board buddy of mine summed up my reaction perfectly: “And just who the hell is Matt Smith?”
Turns out the 26-year-old has been cast as the newest lead in Doctor Who, as confirmed Saturday. But, on one level, Matt Smith will represent, to me, a wasted opportunity.
Not that I think Smith will make a bad Doctor, necessarily; despite what some old-school Whovians may tell you, the series is hardly ever bad. But at a time when both the oddsmakers and popular opinion were backing the idea of the first Doctor of color, or the first female Doctor, this was the perfect chance for incoming executive producer Stephen Moffat to finally make good on the idea that “The Doctor could be anyone.”
For most of the nine weeks speculation ran amok about the Eleventh Doctor’s identity, the name on seemingly everybody’s lips was Patterson Joseph. Joseph had amassed a sizable resume on BBC television, most recently in Jekyll, also produced by Moffat; animated series Chop Socky Chooks (yeah, it sounds pretty bad); and the post-apocalyptic drama Survivors. One could say that the support toward casting Joseph, a known commodity, showed parallels to Peter Davison’s taking over the role after the last pre-eminent Doctor, Tom Baker. Davison had already become popular in his own right before taking on the role, taking some of the pressure off himself before embarking on his run aboard the TARDIS.
On another front, a group of female scientists began a public campaign urging Moffat and company to pick a woman for the role, arguing that a female Doctor would “bring the issue of the important contribution women can and should make to science in the public domain.” Indeed, names like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Helen Mirren began to pop up in consideration, though the bookies apparently had former Companion Billie Piper getting “promoted.” And really, how cool would it have been to have The Doctor, arguably the most brilliant person in the universe, be a woman for a few years? Imagine the slashfic gender-expectation-bending possibilities!
It’s tough to find an American equivalent to the character of The Doctor. Even if many people have played, say, Batman, the character has always been defined as the secret identity of Bruce Wayne. By contrast, not only has the mantle of The Doctor been worn by 10 different actors, but the role itself has changed with each re-generation. The character is still an arch do-gooder, of course, but David Tennant’s interpretation was different than Christopher Eccleston’s, which was different than Paul McGann’s, and so on.
And, as regards Tennant’s run, The Doctor is money — the centerpiece of a multimedia franchise covering books-on-tape, toys, fan magazines, conventions, memorabilia and three(!) spinoff series. “Journey’s End,” the fourth-season finale, was the No. 1 rated show in the whole U.K., the first Doctor Who episode to reach that level of viewership, capping off a week in which seemingly everyone in the country was wondering whether Tennant’s time had run out early. Put it this way: without Christian Bale and David Goyer, would anybody who didn’t read comics take Batman seriously anymore?
Charged with continuing all that success, the show’s creative team played it safe. Smith gives them not just another (white) bloke, but an actor they can mold into their Doctor. One could also argue that Smith also gives them an actor who would work more cheaply than Joseph, or Chiwetel Ejiofor, or many other contenders. BBC Wales Drama head Piers Wenger is quoted as saying, “It was abundantly clear that [Smith] had that ‘Doctor-ness’ about him. You are either the Doctor or you are not.” While that may or may not be true, this time around, Wenger and Moffat had the opportunity to make the statement “You are the Doctor” mean just a bit more, and chose not to take it.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Tj wrote:
I was really hoping this was going to be posted.
A part of me feels they bowed to fan pressure which is why they plucked Matt Smith out of the air and cast him. I have been keeping track of the discussions going on about the possibility of a black doctor and some of the comments are downright scary.
A couple of quotes from a popular forum:
I wouldn’t say “switch off” I’d say not bother to tune in. Whether you like it or not there isn’t one big mainstream show on TV that has black actors as the hero lead. They are not identifiable with 90% of the public.
Another poster:
Not being a racist (my cousin is half black) but a black doctor would be a disaster. It would ruin it because it would be too distracting visually just like having a woman would be. He’d have to pull off one hell of a performance to overcome the obstacles and from what I’ve seen of him in Hustle, its beyond him. I hope Russell doesn’t give into pc pressure and takes such a risk!
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 6:16 am ¶
kakodaimon wrote:
Wait, Chiwetel Ejiofor was in the running? And they DIDN’T pick him? That’s crazy – he projects such a good combination of otherworldliness and humanity. Meanwhile, Twilightesque Matt Stone is such a disappointment.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 8:46 am ¶
Lea wrote:
The Doctor could be anyone? Really? I’ve always seen him as such a projection of British supremacy and elitism. Then again, I suppose a lot of superintelligent, super-powerful science fiction species become this, eventually if not initially.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 9:18 am ¶
Rchoudh wrote:
This sounds similar to all that talk earlier of finding a black Bond. It’s all mainly just talk with producers. Ultimately they feel they’re playing it safe with what they assume to be the predominantly white audience. While they don’t cast POC to star as traditionally white characters, they cast whites to star as POC characters by citing the “talent/fame over ethnicity” nonsense. Two recent examples of this being their consideration of having an all white cast for the “Airbender” Nick series and having Jake Gyllenhal star in the Prince of Persia movie.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 9:21 am ¶
Nora wrote:
It’s comment’s like the one that TJ posted that truly upset me. We can all handle someone being simply racist. Because it shows an ignorance. But seeing someone who accurately articulates the reason he/she has a problem with it hurts. Because it’s not something that can be changed overnight. Years and years of socialization have made their impact. And the only way to fix things like this is to put people of color in these roles. It is not being “too pc” to put someone in a role because he has more qualifications than a white actor, but will have to work that much harder to make WHITE viewers forget he is black.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 9:27 am ¶
jen* wrote:
For some reason, perhaps after having gotten into the Doctor as Eccleston, I just couldn’t get into him as David Tennant. He was really annoying to me. Could’ve been my own personal thing, but I *definitely* would’ve loved to see a DOC or woman Doctor. I don’t see how that would’ve been distracting at all.
As for this new guy being “Twilight-esque”, that is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw his pic. Everybody’s gonna start having wacky, asymmetric hair now, huh? I’m over the DOctor, and focus all my BBCAmerica energies on Torchwood. I heart John Barrowman.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 9:35 am ¶
Mammith wrote:
This whole thing has been really quite rubbish, here in Britain it’s really annoying as every time any POC is considered for near enough anything it’s ‘PC’ apparently.
What I find interesting (and really says something about perceptions of minorities in this country) is that everyone talks about the possibility of a black doctor, when the idea of an ASIAN doctor seems to be unthinkable. The fact there are more South Asians then black people here seems to be ignored by everyone.
But I knew they’d never actually pick a POC (also I love how it was divided into Man of Colour or Woman, a Woman of Colour? More PC nonsense!). The BBC is pretty crap when making anything that isn’t aimed at Straight White Men (I saw this episode of ‘Not Going Out’ once that was so full of homophobic stereotypes, I was actually shocked it was allowed to broadcast… and who can forget The Crouches? *shudders*).
This new guy looks creepy, he looks old and young at the same time. Chiwetel Ejiofor would have been an much better choice.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 11:06 am ¶
Persia wrote:
I liked Dennant better than Eccleson but I’m a casual Who fan at best. I was disappointed they ‘teased’ about a non-white actor and then chose just another white guy– seemed an odd process.
A part of me feels they bowed to fan pressure which is why they plucked Matt Smith out of the air and cast him.
I dunno, the fans aren’t very happy about this guy either.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 11:31 am ¶
Luisa wrote:
As I read this post I found it hard to even consider the racial politics of the new Doctor Who–I’m just excited that any other POC are as in to Dr. Who as I have been since I watched reruns on PBS as a teenager in the late 80s. I’ll have to process the fact that its not just me and the white boys in my school who wouldn’t let me play D & D with them before I can consider a non-white Doctor.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 12:05 pm ¶
Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! wrote:
@ number 2: yeah, I love Chiwetel Ejiofor, too. Such an amazing actor but so, so underrated. Maybe it’s because he’s black… yep that’s it.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 12:45 pm ¶
Roxie wrote:
Twilighte-esque, yes. close but no cigar. Only Robert Pattinson can pull the dirty hair with the jaw line.
That guys hair is WAY too clean.
Also, TJ: Too visually distracting? You have got to be kidding.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 12:54 pm ¶
Tj wrote:
@Roxie: I wish I was. I am not sure if I can mention the name of the site here, but it is pretty popular in the UK.People in the Tv industry over here visit it, so they might have read people’s opinion and decided that casting someone black wasn’t worth the risk.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 3:00 pm ¶
uu wrote:
I still don’t understand the separation of person of color (read:male) and woman when referenced in the same sentence. Being black, when I was younger, I always thought, from that kind of thinking, that when people thought of “black people” or the “black community,” they thought of a community that only consisted of black males (which is impossible since males can’t breed with themselves) or when people said “women,” they really mean white women.
Am I missing something here? can someone please explain?
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 3:01 pm ¶
Erica wrote:
Y’know, I could understand how the Doctor acquiring Dalek bumps* could distract some fans. The obvious candidate is the teenage male viewership, but even I’d find it odd as a woman — it’s a whole different dynamic, especially since the newer series is exploring the potential for romance between occupants of the TARDIS. But claiming that skin color would be distracting — that’s just baffling to me. (Not like anything that starts off “my friend/relative is PoC so I’m totally not racist” is going to be particularly non-racist!)
Having taken a pass on this opportunity, perhaps they’ll be more daring when casting the next companions. I’m intrigued to see where Moffat takes the show.
* If you like Rowan Atkinson and Doctor Who, you MUST watch The Curse of Evil Death.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 3:26 pm ¶
SayNay wrote:
@jen* I heart John Barrowman too.
I’m not entirely shocked by the choice of Smith as the new Doctor. I guess I AM suprised that they didn’t go for someone a little older like in Tennant range and up. Secretly I was hoping they would explore the storyline from Alex Kingston’s guest bit this past series.
But honestly though, I think the most progressive Who is ever going to get was having Freema Agyeman (Martha) as a companion and John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) as an openly bi character…and now they’re both on Torchwood.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 3:38 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
Ok, I got scared when I saw this b/c I am going to reveal my retro-grade non progressive side but as a nearly 23 year fan of Doctor Who, not only did I think this would not happen but that it was a bad idea. First off, I will have to check my Doctor Who Magazine for last month (and yes , I’m that much of a geek and have it sent via Amazon from the UK for an obscene subscription fee), but I’m pretty sure that Patterson Joseph and all of the other names that were floated since David Tennant announced he was leaving, were the names that the BOOKMAKERS (i.e, legal Brit Bookies) put out in the running and were taking bets on not the names the producers put out. I don’t even think they ever do that. Secondly, Doctor Who is so hot in the UK now, has fans of decades there and here in the US, Canada, Australia and lots of other former colonies and non-former colonies, who delight in nothing better than spinning crazy webs about what might happen with this and that who might do this etc, etc, and more often than not it is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. So I took the Mr. Joseph and his fellow “contenders” names with a grain of salt. Three, Doctor Who is such a treasured British icon that I really think Brits might go nuts if they made him anything but white and British and Finally from a super Doctor Who geek point of view (stop reading now if that sort of stuff makes your eyes glaze), the majority of the times that the Doctor has regenerated it has put a MASSIVE stress on his system and usually he spends an entire episode (and in Colin Baker’s almost a whole season or series as the Brits call it) in some sort of coma, state of shock, pain, confusion, etc as a result of the difficulty of regeneration, i.e. changing his face hair color, height weight etc. Now imagine that on top of his entire body having to change its melanin count, his hair follicles having to change entirely, not a shift from straight to curly, which he’s done, but from straight hair to wooly “nappy” hair. Think of it, it took humans tens of thousands of years to evolve those differences in skin types and hair types and for one time lord to do that in one regeneration??? PHew, that would be a hugely massive strain. Then again, he regrew a hand last time so anything can happen. As for being a woman, there are Time Ladies (or were before the Time Lord killed off all the other Time Lords, the Doctor’s species or race) and it would seem to me if Time Lords and Ladies swapped genders that would be a whole other kettle of fish and would require some serious retconning or at least some big explanations. YOu may think this sounds crazy but THOUSANDS of fans would write things 10 times more geeky about why and how hard it would be fore the Doc to be anything but white and male. Personally, since the character has always been that, I don’t have a problem with that. Personally I was THRILLED when the first recurring black character in the shows 40 plus years, Mickey Smith, turned up when the show came back on the air in 2004 (especially once they made him embrace his inner bad ass studleyness) , and then the character of Dr. Martha Jones, as a regular companion and even the one-off semi-companion (whose name escapes me) from the Christmas special that just aired, all had me in a tizzy. I even had to tell my Mom who has been rolling her eyes at me and Doctor Who for decades that Doctor Who had black people on it now! There had been a few in the past but until the 80’s, except for a few peripheral characters who were often silent strong men, there were very few blacks or other people of color on the show and even then it was just a handful. You would shudder to see the ph0ney Chinese people they had on the show several times. All of that is to say that Doctor Who has come a LONG WAY, but to expect a long standing character who is supposed to be genetically the same person, to suddenly become another race or sex is kind of kooky (to me). Then again, per our Avatar mini-discussion the other day, they have done that with characters of color and made them white, which is wrong too. I mean James Bond, you could always aruge (and I’m not a big fan so I could be wrong) could just be a pseudonym that goes along with the designation of 007, so yes it could be any guy (or a woman named James–isn’t that Clay Aiken’s baby-mama’ s name) but when it is essentially the same person, it seems kind of far fetched, but you can do anything with sci-fi.
Sorry for the long ramble, I’ve been a fan for so long and this show is so close to my heart that I am very opinionated on the topic.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 4:27 pm ¶
Tony wrote:
Sorry to hear Patterson didn’t get the part.
I only occassionally watch Dr Who (I watched religiously when Eccleson was the Doc, but after that I haven’t bothered)
I was planning tostart watching again if Patterson got the part…not because he’s a fellow “person of color” but because he did such an amazing job in the only thing I saw him in “Neverwhere”.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 5:12 pm ¶
Mammith wrote:
@Lisa J – I just had a discussion with someone and considering the mythology of Doctor Who and him having to be white doesn’t really make sense.
He’s an alien. When he regenerates he takes on a new appearance and even changes his persona. It’s not like James Bond where he’d definatly have to be a man for example (though a non-white Bond could make sense).
I get the British thing, it’s a British show and all. But hey, I’m British and guess what? I’m not white!
To be honest I don’t think Doctor Who being a woman or a POC would really lose it too many viewers, a few people would grumble but by episode two most people probably wouldn’t even care anymore.
It just feels like cynical producers thinking they can’t take any risks (it being perceived a risk is depressing enough). This is even more annoying considering it’s the BBC, who receive money from the taxpayer/government so don’t have to worry about crap like advertising revenue.
God I hate the BBC, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 5:44 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@ Mammith, on the literaly mythology no there isn’t a reason the Doctor couldn’t be black or a PoC b/c it has never come up and they’ve never showed a Time Lord of Color before, though they’ve showed Time Ladies and when the one who we saw regenerate did it, she stayed a lady. But as I said before, the regenerations are difficult enough without having to add the additional change of skin pigmentation, gender, reporductive organs, etc. What about that doesn’t make sense? Also as far as we know, people are different “races” (in real life) as a result of evolutionary changes that occured to allow their ancestors to adapt to their environment , so I guess the Time Lords will have to be explained to have evolved to periodically change colors and genders but why? I know it is sci-fi but there needs to be some rationale other than, “we thought it would be cool.” I guess it is possible but to me it doesn’t make sense. And to me it is actually cynical to prove how progressive you are by taking a character who never has been anything but white and to make them a person of color or a male character a female just for the sake of it. Just like with BSG changing Starbuck into a woman. That is cynical IMHO. Add more characters of color, have the Doctor meet more aliens of color, have him find another survivor of the Time Wars who is also a Time Lord or Lady of color , have him have more earth people of color as companians, etc, etc. But what is the point of changing his gender and his race too? None. Is there something wrong or problematic with a character who has always been white staying white?
Oh and take the ire of people over Daniel Craig having blonde hair, ramp that up by 10 and that is what will result with a black Doctor Who. Trust me, I’ve heard people say the nastiest things and get into online wars over simple things about the show so if you add changing the race of the Doctor in that would be combustible. I’d still watch of course b/c I’ve been watching for 22 years though I’d still think it was lame and cynical though I guess I’d be a little excited too. I mean, people have been saying for years there could/should be an American Doctor and though I’m American, I think that is a bad idea too, though he has changed accents before and an accent is a lot easier to change than your race. I’m a very pro-people of color black woman and generally I’m pretty progressive and if they had established this in the show from jump (unlikely in 1963 England), if it was a new show and a new character and they made it clear that every physical characteristic the character had was mutable, I’d dig it but on this one, I don’t get the bru-ha-ha and the only thing I don’t like about the choice, from the little I know, is his youth, but I’ll get over it I’m sure. I don’t know, maybe it is some subconscious internal racism or self-hatred in me but I don’t think it is a problem.
Again, sorry for the rambling rant but this is my favorite show bar none of all time EVER and I get a little ga-ga about it.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 6:58 pm ¶
Peter Pixie wrote:
you know what I don’t get? why everyone thinks the producers didn’t chose a POC or woman because they were playing it safe.
They had many people audtion. Matt Smith was the 3rd person to audtion, they found they kept coming back to him.
“The Doctor” is really only about 40% the actor who plays him and 60% of the Main Producer.
If someone really wanted to see a difference, why wasnt ANYONE asking for a POC or WOMAN to be where Steven Moffat is today? (And yes, being the geek I am aware that Variety Lambert -RIP- was a first woman producer for BBC and Doctor Who’s first producer)
Or, do we just care if the main actor is someone other than a white guy?
And as was stated before, the BBC or the producers of DOCTOR WHO never made statements as to whom they were looking at for the part.
If you feel cheated because these names were bandied about, it is your expectation which causes that pain, not anyone affiliated with Doctor Who.
Some day, I, too, hope to see -and in fact EXPECT to see- a POC or woman in the lead of Doctor Who. But its not my show, I dont make it.
I can choose to watch it. I can choose not to watch.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 7:29 pm ¶
brownstocking wrote:
@SayNay: me too! I really wanted to knowmor about wifey! Now, not so much.
But Chiwetel is far superior to what amounts to a great kids’ show. I like Doctor Who, and a Doctor of Color would have been nice. But, eh, I really was in the “who the hell is Matt Smith” group, just because of his Twilightly-novice look.
Also, if there ever was a regeneration, I I think it would be an Asian first, and yay for it!
As I said on another board, onto Torchwood!
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 8:35 pm ¶
oliemoon wrote:
@Lisa J
Oh and take the ire of people over Daniel Craig having blonde hair, ramp that up by 10 and that is what will result with a black Doctor Who.
That might make for a valid argument from a financial point of view, except that both Craig/Bond movies have been successful, and the fans who were upset about the casting of Craig have either changed their minds or largely shut up and gone away. The opposition to Craig as Bond lasted right up until Casino Royale was released and then it dissipated. It would probably just be the same if a non-white male Doctor was cast.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 8:40 pm ¶
Jay wrote:
But what is the point of changing his gender and his race too? None. Is there something wrong or problematic with a character who has always been white staying white?
Yes. Unfortunately the majority of Western TV/film’s characters are white people (and tend to be male as well), and on top of that it was worse in a lot of the inspirations that the TV/films draw from (think about how many remakes of old TV/films/novels you see each year – they practically outnumber new material). In fact, they’re often white until you try to shove the fact into other people’s faces, especially in media such as novels.
This creates a systemic problem, in which minorities have less chances to get the resume building skills they need and/or exposure. Thus perpetuating the cycle. The supporting actor “stealing the show” so to speak is not actually that common, though it is a sign of very good acting.
Moreover, whites replacing non-whites in adaptations are still relatively common, often due to laziness from executives/casting crews. While you complain about this, it still happens and isn’t likely to change soon because of a lack of resistance in the other direction. BSG is actually a relatively rare example, at least in terms of leads/stars, and I actually can’t think of any more examples like this, at least for the protagonist of a TV/film adaptation.
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 10:14 pm ¶
kakodaimon wrote:
@ Lisa J… damn I’m ashamed to know this, but once the Doctor in some sort of “technically in continuity” piece DID regenerate as a woman. It was treated terribly and from what I hear was dumb and sexist, but it shows it could happen. But honestly, who cares if it’s been possible before? Continuity is not Dr Who’s strong point, and it might as well break it in favour of something refreshing and needed.
@ Deaf Feminist Punk, I know this is off topic, but congrats on the Hajj! I think you must have posted it in a comment here or feministing or something…
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 12:07 am ¶
bluemorpho wrote:
I know, I know. I was heartbroken too. I was all about Patterson Joseph. I have a thing for this archetype of the deceptively foppish hero of the English variety. (Lord Peter Wimsey, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Doctor, etc) And Patterson Joseph did an amazing job with a character along those lines in Neverwhere.
It’s not that I think Matt Smith won’t do well. But I don’t for a minute think that choosing a young, conventionally attractive white male had nothing to do with ageism, looksism, racism, or sexism. Or more likely, with the assumption that Doctor Who’s audience would be so ageist, looksist, racist, and sexist that we couldn’t handle it.
I loved that when Christopher Eccleston talked about the enduring quality of Doctor Who, he talked about the storytelling. I mean, the premise is so goofy and cobbled together, that its brilliance is simply that Doctor Who is a stage on which any kind of story can be told: all of time and space, a hero with many faces, his box that’s bigger on the inside, a tool that doesn’t wound or kill, but opens doors. Why would Stephen Moffat, writer of some of the most original and brilliant stories of the series, give up the opportunity to broaden that stage? Why limit those stories?
Wish I had a TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver. I’d go back and plead with Moffat to open a door – any door – but the same old one. With a whole universe of universes to choose from, that’s what the Doctor would do.
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 12:28 am ¶
Phrone wrote:
I really wanted a female, Asian doctor (the show has had a few negative Asian stereotypes — hello, Turn Left? — whenever Asians were represented at all, and I feel that the whole Doctor/companion was very gendered throughout New Who, particularly because males who traveled with the Doctor — like Mickey or Jack — were not considered to be companions, but that’s another story entirely.) So yeah, I knew I was going to be disappointed. ):
I definitely felt like the show missed the boat, there. I just hope that they don’t try to replace David Tennant with someone who acts like him — reminds me of what happened in Coupling, with Jeff and the sci-fi nerd. (I forgot his name.)
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 1:10 am ¶
Tj wrote:
Some of the pro-black doctor side have said that there is a black timelord. It is an episode that I haven’t seen, but apparently during a flash back montage of some sort, there was a black timelord in the bunch. So it is very possbile for this doctor to become black.
@Peter Pixie:If someone really wanted to see a difference, why wasnt ANYONE asking for a POC or WOMAN to be where Steven Moffat is today?
We are asking, but no one really cares, infact things are getting worse. Around 2001, former BBC controller Greg Dyke described the BBC as “hideously white”, he said the few ethnic minorities they attract leave. More recently (2008), I visited the BBC and it was pretty much the same, loads of white middle class people, from similar universities. It is like a members only club. In january 2008, a follow up article was written about the BBC’s whiteness and it revealed that the BBC was worse than ever before!
There are few/no POC in Steven Moffat’s position because they don’t really get the chance. Tv is a difficult industry and being a POC makes it harder. If BBC had 6 positions to fill, and 5 white and 5 POC are interviewed for the position. They would pick the 5 white people and 1 POC. It is not just the BBC, it happens in TV companies up and down the UK. You would be lucky to see one POC working for a TV company. If you see 2 POC then you know they are taking the diveristy thing seriously!
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 6:04 am ¶
Tim Footman wrote:
Maybe there was an opportunity missed. But the notion that no British series has a POC in a lead or co-lead role is preposterous. Survivors (with Paterson Joseph and Nikki Amuka-Bird); Hustle (with the excellent Adrian Lester); Bonekickers (which was crap, but 50% of the main cast was black).
Moreover, recent historical costume dramas (the genre in which Brit TV leads the world) have had the balls to put black actors in non-racially specific roles, in pre-20th-century England (perceived by most viewers to be a whites-only zone). Examples include Merlin, City of Vice, adaptations of Dickens’s Oliver Twist and Little Dorrit, and the most recent Dr Who Christmas special (set in Victorian England). And David Harewood’s playing Friar Tuck in the next Robin Hood series.
NB: Spooks also makes an effort, but rather blows it – always seems to have a non-white actor in a prominent supporting role, who inevitably gets himself killed…
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 6:18 am ¶
pololly wrote:
I know this is gonna sound terrible but as a Black British woman I just COULDN’T get on board with a doctor of color, or a woman. I know this sounds pretty bad but I actually breathed a sigh of relief when they just picked a white man.
For a POC: it would have been reacted to so badly that it would have been difficult for the actor to ever truly be accepted and I think that’s an unfair burden for them.
For a woman, I’m going to be honest. I don’t think you HAVE to have a woman just to make the point that a woman could be the Doctor, if you know what I mean.
The problem is this: the country is quite diverse, not necessarily racially (92.1% white) but regionally. For a small country it has a lot of regions with very strong regional cultures and biases. Those regions all have different accents, different appearances and differences in culture. British press is national however and it manages to relate to everyone through two strategies. One, it is very London centric, and, two, it reflects the one thing Britain shares and understands – a strong and deep seated class system.
Examples.
Midsomer Murders is about the ‘middle class’. But it is based in the South of England and everyone speaks with quite posh accents in an idealized quaint British town. But no one sees it as ‘Southern’ because those accents are just a proxy for the ‘middle class’
Eastenders is about the working class. It is set in London but is no one thinks of it as ‘London centric’ because class in Britain is universal.
I could go on forever. Most British culture fit very neatly into class categories. Look at the last two Doctor Whos. Christopher Ecclesstone was ‘working class’. David Tennant was ‘middle class’. All the other Doctors before them were pretty ‘upper middle/upper class’ with BBC accents and fluffy hair and looked like they were schooled at Eton/Oxford etc.
The problem is that those ‘class stereotypes’ are all white. If I say to you or to any British person; an upper class British person, middle class British person, working class British person, underclass British person, the people you imagine will be white. Even the working class/underclass will be white. If I walk into a room as a black person, people will only react to what I give them. – accent, education, dress, expressions. They just react to the class cues. This isn’t like America where when people think of poverty, they think of black people. POC don’t really have a significant cultural presence in the eternal class war that characterizes British society. That means that, at least in the North where I’m from, there is no recognition, there is no shared affinity with a southerner with a slightly posh accent unless he looks like he went to Oxford and he’s got fluffy hair like Brideshead Revisited. Then they know to hate him unless he’s got a bit of a heart of gold under the fact he’s a ‘posho’ or whatever. Or they love him cos they secretly love the upper class and the Royal family and all of that, but either way they are reacting to a class stereotype first. They just will not react to a person of color because they don’t feel like they can say that they openly hate him because he’s from the South and lives in an apartment and drinks cappuccinos without being called racists. Oh, they’re definitely racist but it’s much more complicated than that.
I’m not denying that it hurts POC but I just had to put it out there that class in Britain can sometimes complicate race. I mean it was seen as a huge thing that Christopher Ecclestone was a ‘working class’ doctor. And remember, a hit show in America has to get between 10 and 20 million viewers in a country of 300 million. A show like Doctor Who gets up to 10 million viewers in a country of 60 million. That is a huge difference in popularity. What kind of show would get 50 million viewers in America? What kind of show could appeal to Southerners, the Coasts, the Midwest, people of all ages and classes?
It’s tough. I’m not saying it’s not but I sympathize with everyone involved.
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 7:38 am ¶
pololly wrote:
Gotta add – loved David Tennant and I know this new guy will be great. I reckon a return to a much posher Doctor so as to play up the laughs with him as a young inexperienced poshboy/vs an older (my guess) working/middle class companion
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 7:43 am ¶
Erica wrote:
There was a black Time Lord in a flashback scene in The Sound of Drums last year, and apparently one was in a crowd scene once when Tom Baker Doctor visited Gallifrey (ref. wikipedia.
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 1:17 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@kakodaimon do you know what source of this “techincal continuity” this regeneration into a woman was ? It doesn’t sound familiar and I’ve seen ALL the televised ones (except the lost ones from the 60’s which were before we learned about the Time Lords ) . Was it in a new adventure book, or a new adventures Big Finish Audio CD/MP3 or in one of Dr. Who Magazine’s comic strips, which I am not as familiar with? Or was it that Rowan Atkinson one where he regenerated into a bunch of people all in a row? As for it being continuity, I haven’t seen any female’s names on the cannonical lists of who was the Doctor I’ve seen, including the BBC’s list on their website, but people fight about what is and isn’t cannon all the time. Officially there have been 10 to date -all men- 11 if you count the new dude.
I have seen the a spoof one-off episode with Lenny Henry (who is black) playing the Doctor, for Children in Need I think, which was hysterical though it had a stereotypical depiction of black men’s sexuality at the end.
@ TJ was the flashback with the Black Timelord in the Utopia/Sound of the Drums episodes from series 3 of the new series that flashbacked to Gallifrey and the Master’s childhood? I don’t recall that in the classic series. I’ll have to check my season 3 DVDs for those episodes again to spot it. But just b/c there is evidence that their are black time lords (which is very awesome by the way) and possibly even other time lords of different races that doesn’t neccesarily mean the Doctor could be black too b/c that still doesn’t mean that they all switch colors regularly. They might just all stay pretty much stay one skin color /”racial” group throughout their lives. Though maybe they will switch it up one day. I’m not wild about it but if it happens, so be it.
@Polloly lots of good points about the UK class system and how race plays into that, very interesting. I’ve been fascintated by the UK since I got into Doctor Who at 13, though an ill-fated semester in college there dimished that a lot, I have gradually come back to that interest and the racial politics have become of more interest to me since then (was only peripherally aware of racial issues at that point in college).
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 2:14 pm ¶
Pheagan wrote:
Lisa J-
Just in response to:
“the regenerations are difficult enough without having to add the additional change of skin pigmentation, gender, reporductive organs, etc. What about that doesn’t make sense?”
to take you on in the sci-fi turf, I personally think it would make a more difficult regeneration if there was a difference in size than a difference in pigmentation. And as he’s changed from thin to fat to tall to short, not to mention the apparent aging, I don’t think it would be terribly difficult to change a little think like melanin count– I mean, he’s become HUMAN before. As in only one heart! So I’d say that’s analogous to changing his reproductive organs. Although it makes sense that if there are male and female time lords that have been shown to regenerate within their genders, to stick to that. They could always have the Doctor’s daughter back in a new form.
And as for:
‘his hair follicles having to change entirely, not a shift from straight to curly, which he’s done, but from straight hair to wooly “nappy” hair.’
Such slippery ground here. I think your argument defeats itself within itself. If it can change to straight to curly, what’s so impossible about it changing to “nappy”? I also immediately thought about that episode where they clone Martha Jones, and she comes up through the green goo with… straightened hair and make-up. Dr. Who has never been hard science fiction, I think defending the decision to keep him white on hard science fiction ground is mistaken.
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 6:27 pm ¶
Peter Pixie wrote:
@LisaJ: I think they are referring to ‘The Curse of the Fatal Death’ which starred Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor. He regenerates in to Joanna Lumley. Its very funny and has Jonathan Price playing the Master. Do see it if you get a chance. However, it is NOT cannon.
I am one of those people who know far more about the show than a person show. 
Posted 07 Jan 2009 at 6:39 pm ¶
eli wrote:
Also, Lisa J?
Not every single black person has hair that can be described as “nappy”.
Much like skin colour, hair texture is something that can have a lot of variance.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 7:52 am ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@ Phaegan, why would growing taller, shorter, fatter skinnier be harder than skin color changing? We start out small and our bones grow as we age and we get bigger, people can go from being thin to being fat and back and do it all the time, and some people as they age lose height, not in as radical a way as in Doctor Who but those are all things that change naturally within humans. And though I know some people who seem to have gotten darker or lighter with age, that isn’t the norm. Maybe the Doctor could be like Michael Jackson and have had vitiligo for hundreds of years and now it is reversed
As for the hair changing, you might argue that but I’ve read somethings recently about hair and how it grows and it is the follicle shape that changes the type of hair you have and the follicle shape is somewhat different for very curly hair or curly/straight hair than for straighter hair but the follicle shape for coarse “nappier” hair is very very different from both. Also I have known people who said they had hair that was curlier at one age than at a differnt stage in life, I don’t know if their follicles changed in some way or the hair changed after coming out of the root.
As for Martha, well they do that on tv all the time don’t they? Women waking up all made up, getting out of the shower made up, not breaking a heal after running on rocks, etc, etc and they showed her getting sopping wet several times and her hair staying straight, though the actual actress has a mother who I think is Persian, or somewhere fromt he middle east and an African father so she may have hair that is straighter.
@Eli, yes I am black and I have slightly different textures of hair on different sides of my head and I have relatives of all hair textures and shapes and I know people from Africa with straighter hair, however in this case BOTH Ango-African actors who they mentioned for Doctor Who as possible candidates in the press had the more typical coarse nappy African hair commonly thought of as “black” hair.
@ Peter Pixie, I did see curse of teh Fatal Death but totally forgot about the ending (it has been awhile) crazy stuff. I think you and I are in the same boat about knowing an insane amount about Doctor Who but there are people who are super-duper-duper-who knowledgeable. I was really upset for awhile when I had time and the opportunity to keep taking the Doctor Who on going quiz on the facebook Dr. Who app and I couldn’t get into the top 100 out of 35,000 test takers I was like 120 or 135 or something. I am way too into this show.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 12:16 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
OH and Erica, thanks for the info on the black extra dressed as a Time Lord in the Gallifrey scenes from Deadly Assasin. I’ve seen that episode several times and never spotted him and I’m usually all about noticing that stuff. I’ll have to buy the DVD or rent it from Netflix and watch it again more carefully. I wish I’d noticed that before, especially the first time I saw it as a teen, b/c it would have made me very happy.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 12:21 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
Meant to say “As for the hair changing, … it is the follicle shape that determines the type of hair you have” not follicle shape that changes the type.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 1:29 pm ¶
Erica wrote:
@Lisa — I only very vaguely remembered it myself, I had to be reminded of it by Wikipedia
Again from Wikipedia, if you look at the list of People who have Played the Doctor, there are two women — Joanna Lumley from Fatal Death, and Arabella Weir as an “alternative Doctor” in what looks like a BBC radio play. Obviously Fatal Death is non-canon, but I don’t know just how canon books or other (BBC produced) media are considered.
(Moderately off-topic, this is the plot of Exile — “The Doctor commits suicide and regenerates into a female form. She then departs for Earth and begins a mundane life of working in a supermarket all day and spending all night in the pub. Her previous form haunts her, trying to remind her who she is and not to give up. Meanwhile two other Time Lords have been sent to find and arrest the Doctor.” Sounds un-promising… not so much because of a transgender regeneration, but can you really see the Doctor bagging your groceries?)
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 2:02 pm ¶
emjaybee wrote:
Honestly, it makes me laugh when people say “oh noes continuity” as an excuse for not making an alien being capable of regenerating in a female and/or POC’s body. (I vote for both, personally; why hold back?) Blah blah continuity, every sci fi series shreds its continuity eventually, because it’s written in episodes and there’s only so far you can take one plot-track without having to ignore or subvert it.
Lisa J, whatever your own feelings, it’s a pretty flimsy argument that regenerating as black and/or female would be “more painful” than as a white dude. The comments about nappy hair..ouch. The Dr. has gone from curly to straight haired before. None of what you’ve said are good reasons from a TV-writing viewpoint, and all boil down to “it would make me uncomfortable”. Which is really, not a good reason.
Dr. Who fans would gripe, possibly, some might drop the show, but others who never thought to watch it would, and the show itself would have new writing possibilities it never had before. But never mind all that, let’s put in a random white dude again. Whatever.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 4:47 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@emjaybee I have to disagree, I’ve said what I have to say, I don’t think my rationales are flimsy at all but from your tv writing point of view, give me good non-flimsy reason to change the character? What is the point? If it had been a black character and been changed to a white charcter (which has often been railed against sensibly on this site) I think it would disagree just as much. They have plenty of ways to expand the story and deal with racial issues by having other regular characters on the show. And they’ve done it in a way but not as much as they could so far.
And what did I say that was bad or ouch worthy about “nappy hair” ? What is a better phrase, coarse, which also used, I guess wooly? I don’t know. And all I said is that the hair follicles would have to change significantly. Give me a better phrase and I’ll use it. Though I’m black and have used the term nappy for years.
Like I said before I think it would be a cynical move for the producers to to say” oh, let’s show how progressive we are by changing the white character to black. Look at us, aren’t we liberal”
I don’t like it when they change black or other POC characters to white people from books to movies and I don’t think it is a good idea to change Doctor Who all of the sudden to black.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 6:17 pm ¶
Jay wrote:
I don’t like it when they change black or other POC characters to white people from books to movies and I don’t think it is a good idea to change Doctor Who all of the sudden to black.
Well, then what about ethnicity changes? Like remakes of Coupling and the Office (for two examples of British->American changes) or people from one country pretending to be from another (Hugh Laurie in House, Memoirs of a Geisha). I think you did mention the American/British thing up there but there’s actually a lot of country switching around in Western media.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 9:04 pm ¶
pololly wrote:
>Honestly, it makes me laugh when people say “oh noes continuity” as an excuse for not making an alien being capable of regenerating in a female and/or POC’s body. (I vote for both, personally; why hold back?) Blah blah continuity, every sci fi series shreds its continuity eventually, because it’s written in episodes and there’s only so far you can take one plot-track without having to ignore or subvert it.<
Lord, you are probably not the audience for this show! emjaybee, as someone who refused to watch Enterprise because it violated cannon, and in fact had problems with Voyager because I though it’s encounters with various races were inconsistent with previous encounters on other Star Trek series (e.g. the Borg, Q etc), I think you underestimate how much people care about cannon. Remember Doctor Who has been going since 1963 and is a bit special to the people of Britain. Like I said – the equivalent of 50 million viewers and they care about every one.
Posted 08 Jan 2009 at 9:21 pm ¶
al oof wrote:
the idea of the arrogance of the doctor, which can be charming, in a 26 year old body really worries me.
i know who patterson joseph is and i dno’t know this young guy. i know i would have liked joseph, he’s got a dynamic acting style, and then add to that the positive socio-political impact having a black doctor would have, and i am really really disappointed.
does anyone know if martha and mickey are joining torchwood? because that is what i was expecting and i don’t really want to be disappointed again.
Posted 09 Jan 2009 at 3:21 am ¶
Tj wrote:
There was a black timelord in Sound of drums, but I could have sworn another one was spotted, but I can’t remember where I saw/read it.
According to a UK gossip site, Chiwetel Ejiofor was offered the part, but turned it down. Not surprising seeing that he is trying to build a hollywood career.
Posted 09 Jan 2009 at 6:19 am ¶
veebot wrote:
a doctor should be able to regenerate into any nationality. after all its scifi. he flies around in a tardis through space and time and we wanna get realistic when it comes to race. its a shame either way that so many people are focused on colour. For me its quite irrelevant
also in the UK, POC are like background noise. they exsist but are almost inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. its more about regions. being a black girl myself i can see why the’d play it safe. if you are a person of color in the UK its hard. If you are a woman of color, oh boy!
Posted 10 Jan 2009 at 9:58 am ¶
Natalie wrote:
@pololly: Lots of planets have a north. =)
I’m pretty nervous about the new doctor, simply because I wonder how much I can really love a show that is losing both its doctor, its companion, and its writer. I only started watching new Who, so I wonder if it will even seem like the same show I fell in love with.
I’d have liked to see a female doctor because some of the romance stuff gets on my nerves, and tv standards being as they are, I doubt a female doctor would have been quite the space-slut doctors Nine and Ten have been. I guess at my core I just like buddy relationships, which is part of why I liked Ten and Donna together so much.
A black Doctor would have been great, except that nothing about the portrayal of black people on Doctor Who suggests it would have been handled with aplomb. I loved Mickey, but I didn’t understand why he was constantly portrayed as so second-rate. I could see how to Rose he couldn’t compare to the Doctor, but I’m not sure why he wasn’t considered a full companion. Meaning that there seemed no obvious reason he should have been less worthwhile than Rose in the eyes of the Doctor.
Meanwhile I didn’t like Martha at all, but a large part of that was that she seemed so desperate for the Doctor’s attention. And it may not have been intended this way, but it made me wonder why the object of the Doctor’s intense attraction was little blonde Rose, while the one who just couldn’t measure up was black.
Posted 11 Jan 2009 at 12:42 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@Jay, haven’t seen either version of The Office, only saw the UK version of Coupling after the US version, which I hear was on for a hot second. Generally I’m not a fan of US remakes b/c they usually mess it up and often don’t last one. I have watched the US Life on Mars and expected it to be horrible, but once I got over the inital shock and decided to just think of it as a totally different show with a similar concept and similar names and that was it. Had to the same thing with Old and New Battlestar. I didn’t even think it was good to change Christopher Robin from English to American either. ANd as stated early, I would “go MENTAL” if they made the Doctor American even though I am American.
All of what I’ve said, aside, I would adjust to a black Doctor and still watch the show and love it, I’d find it odd and sort of a cop-out but if they made that decision I’d live with it. To me it seem pretty unlikely though given the racial politics of the UK. Here in the US where we are about 13% of the population and have been here for centuries we have a hard time being adequately represented on tv so in the UK where I believe blacks are less than 4% of the population and though I hear there have been handfuls of blacks there for centuries, real representation has only been there for less than a hundred years, it seems very unlikely for a black person or another person of color to take over the role of a beloved British character, possible but doesn’t seem likely. Also having briefly lived in the UK about 15 years ago, it didn’t seem like black people were the flavor of the day, not hated, but not beloved (I was refered to as being a Negro and colo(u)red several times) and had several hostile racially based incidents while there.
As for being a woman, also unlikely. In the most recent issue of Dr. Who magazine Russell T. Davies, the outgoing exec producer and show runner, said that Stephen Moffat, the incoming show runner, said “he, or she” when discussing the possible incoming Doctor, as a joke, and that the “joke” had been going around for 26 years and began when Tom Baker, 4th Dr, suggested to then show runner John-Nathan Turner, that as a joke they talk about the incoming Doctor as he or she and it has gone on ever since. So at least for now, it doesn’t seem like it is or has been an idea taken seriously by people in power on the show. Not saying it is a good thing, just saying what is.
Posted 12 Jan 2009 at 12:51 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
I meant to say remakes don’t last long, and that I only saw the UK version of Coupling long after the US version went off the air so I never got to see that version. I also heard it sucked. I need to edit before I send
Posted 12 Jan 2009 at 1:07 pm ¶
Peter Pixie wrote:
@Erica:
Per cannon/noncannon. According to the BBC anything that has to be purchased is not considered Cannon. Audio adventures are in limbo as to whether they are cannon or not.
However, as to Arabella Weir’s audio performance, it was done in a ‘What If’ alternative universe story as part of the Doctor Who Unbound series and would not be considered cannon of the ‘concurrent’ story line.
Posted 12 Jan 2009 at 2:12 pm ¶
doloresUK wrote:
As a woman of colour born and bread in the UK, I found some of the comments surrounding the possibility of a black Dr Who disturbing but not surprising. The majority population in the UK are still in denial about racism and equality. If posters can say ‘I won’t watch Dr Who if they pick a black actor’ then we have a big problem. The media industry is like a lot of public/private institutions in UK which have a shockingly low level of ethnic minorities in decision making positions and when this problem is discuss the issue is dismiss as ‘PC politics gone mad’.
This is very disappointing that black actors in the UK have to go to America to get work because they’re not being offered roles like their white counterparts and ethnic minorities working in the film/TV is very low as well. Therefore, we are not just looking at the attitudes of the white population who won’t watch a big mainstream show with a person of colour in it but also the thinking and attitudes of the people who write, produce and commission TV/film in the UK. As a side note, I’m not a fan of the show but I was very excited about a black Dr Who but when Matt Smith has announced I was very disappointed and I thought a great opportunity had lost by not picking Patterson Joseph. It shows that the UK has a long way to go in terms of race.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 8:28 am ¶
Jeffrey USA Fan wrote:
I support the ideal of keeping the Doctor as a man and a white man. It is just too radical! I don’t think people will take a female or non white man as seriously as the previous incarnation of the Doctor. Doctor was always a white man.
Would you change Martha Jones into a white man? No, you would not. It does not matter if she is a time lord (lady) or human. You don’t change a character just because you think he or she has the ability to do so. You will turn of too many fans. You have to be real even in a sci-fi universe. After all Doctor Wo will get a lot of gender and racist jokes. Do you want that to happen to the series?
This is what I think it could work to have a female Doctor or a non-white man.
A spin off series with a new time lord or time lady.
Re-imagined series like Battlestar Galactica, where they decided to change Starbuck into a woman instead of a man. It would not affect the original TV Series. Great Show by the way!
Or they would have to prepare us for the change like learn about other time lords or ladies gender bending or race change when they regenerate. That is too iffy any way.
Posted 22 Jan 2009 at 6:04 pm ¶
Nick wrote:
I honestly can’t understand why anyone would have a problem with The Doctor being black or asian, male or female.
As mentioned before, he’s an alien with the ability to regenerate, presumably into any form you can imagine.
I’m not a fan of the show so I may be speaking out of turn, but why the issue over ethnicity?
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 2:07 pm ¶