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Is Dr Who on a mission to tick every single box?

93 replies

Bestseller · 28/10/2018 19:08

It great to see more diversity and I quite like the female Doctor, but it's starting to feel like they're actually taking the mickey out of themselves (or us?) and playing some sort of game to see how many boxes they can tick.

One of the opening lines tonight "I'm your niece's wife" although it appears not to be relevant to the story.

OP posts:
Nenic · 28/10/2018 19:09

I was just saying this to DH. It’s what the BBC do though. Everything has to be ultra pc

ShangriLaLaLa · 28/10/2018 19:12

I’m missing its sense of fun 🙁

LucilleBluth · 28/10/2018 20:04

Nothing wrong with diversity of course but I agree. It's a bit distracting imo. It's also very cack handed. Bradley Walsh is also an appalling choice as I only know him from cheesy TV.

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mateysmum · 28/10/2018 20:18

This week was a bit better,but yes, they are ticking every box and some of them several times over. No doubt a transgender character will be along any minute. Oh wait... that's the
Doctor.
Rosa Parks was an amazing person and everyone should know about her, but last week just felt like a heavy handed lecture. Every white character was a hideous caricature. The villain was previous week it was like a crap video game.
I actually think Jodie Whitaker is Ok, but there are too many companions at once. They don't all seem necessary or have a clearly defined role.
Apparently a future episode is set in the British Raj. I don't hold out any hope for a balanced portrayal there.
Dr Who has always had a lose "moral" role, but now it feels like it's being rammed down our throats.

Bring back the glory days of Mr Tennant. I really believed in the doctor then.

SilverHairedCat · 28/10/2018 20:18

I'm sure I read this same headline on the Daily Mail online earlier. Classy.

mateysmum · 28/10/2018 20:19

That should read "the villain was rubbish. The previous week was like a crap video game.

GirlsBlouse17 · 28/10/2018 20:40

Am I wrong in saying Dr Who sounds like Peggy from Hi De Hi ?

I noticed the "I'm your nieces wife" comment. I think they have covered lesbianism many times in Dr Who now. And last week they covered racism. This week the environment.

Can anyone tell me what happened to the spiders that got sent to the panic room?

abbsisspartacus · 28/10/2018 20:43

They died

SouthWestmom · 28/10/2018 20:45

Yeah watched with the boys and they mentioned the nieces wife thing, the Donald trump thing and the intro looking like a vagina. (Ages 10 to 17)

GirlsBlouse17 · 28/10/2018 20:46

So they were left in the panic room to die? That doesn't sound very humane

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 28/10/2018 20:55

Hmmm, just watched with the DDs. After the niece’s wife line one DD said ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’. Then at the end the other DD said ‘The problem is I just don’t care about any of these people’, have to say I agree.

ThereIsNoSuchThingAsRoadTax · 28/10/2018 20:59

It great to see more diversity...

One of the opening lines tonight "I'm your niece's wife" although it appears not to be relevant to the story.

The point about representing diversity is that it shouldn't need to be relevant to the story. There are lots of gay couples (and people of various minorities) out there that are just as normal, and leave just as mundane lives, as you. If the line had been 'I'm your nephew's wife', would you have been bothered that it wasn't relevant to the story?

Chapellass · 28/10/2018 21:03

Intrigued by the idea that fiction can only introduce a reference to a gay person if it's part of the storyline (an issue to be addressed). Do people in your lives not make throw away comments about their partners, friends, cousins, etc etc? Or are they only allowed to make references to straight people? 

mateysmum · 28/10/2018 21:29

I think the comments about my niece's wife are just an example of the whole identity politics tick boxing.

Currently there has I think been just 1 straight, white male in the series who isn't a villain or who lasts more than 5mins. That is not reflective of society.

However we do have... transgender, disabled, gay, indian, black, cancer survivor, asian. Nothing wrong with any of these being included in the normal course of events, but there feels to be a lack of balance.

Userplusnumbers · 28/10/2018 21:39

Currently there has I think been just 1 straight, white male in the series who isn't a villain or who lasts more than 5mins. That is not reflective of society

So the problem is that its too inclusive/representative? The show about a time travelling alien, who regenerates into different bodies, and flies a blue police box is unrealistic because there's not enough straight white men in it? Just so I'm totally clear. TIA.

Oswin · 28/10/2018 21:42

The doctor is not trans ffs.

SneakyGremlins · 28/10/2018 21:44

Surely the doctor is genderfluid? Wink

BroomstickOfLove · 28/10/2018 21:48

In my real life, I rarely go a day without talking to people who are from an ethnic minority, or LGBTQ, or disabled, or from a minirity religion. That's just normal life, which is so badly reflected on TV that it seems contrived when things are a bit closer to reality.

PenguinSaidEverything · 28/10/2018 21:51

One of the things Doctor Who has always done so beautifully is to include same-sex relationships without it being a big thing (remember the elderly lesbian couple in the one with the cats and the flying cars?! Loved them!!). In this series the few relationships we’ve seen so far are all straight. Do you seriously think one minor character being in a same-sex relationship is too much?! Confused

tattychicken · 28/10/2018 21:53

Why is it "ultra PC" to have a gay character? It's just normal, surely?

mateysmum · 28/10/2018 22:26

userplusnumbers you are misrepresenting my point.

I have no issue whatsoever with any of the individual characters or their relationships and straight white males have no more right to representation than any other group. It's the tick boxing of identity groups that seems really obvious.
Dr Who has often had gay characters, characters of different ethnicity and alien characters that shed light on humanity and it's failings. But it did it in a much more subtle way where the message was absorbed as part of the story. This series I think while being more in your face diversity is actually proving less effective at getting over the message of inclusion and tolerance.

Just my personal view of course.

mateysmum · 28/10/2018 22:34

I actually think a female Doctor is a great idea and yes I know the whole point of regeneration is the Doctor becomes a completely different person. So to say she is trans is me just being cynical.

Userplusnumbers · 28/10/2018 23:22

you are misrepresenting my point

I think we'll have to agree to disagree. Like a PP said, these are the sort of people I see and speak to daily. The fact that when you see it on one (!!) TV programme you think there's a lack of balance, says more about the rest of the programme schedule, and perhaps your own attitudes.

RoboJesus · 28/10/2018 23:29

It definitely seems over politicised and it's disturbing the plot. The female doctor has been expected for years but it seems like they are trying to cram every single minority point they can in