Is the New 'Doctor Who' Political Correctness Gone Mad?

Some fans of the long-running British show thought that a female Doctor was more than they could handle (ignoring that the Doctor is an alien with two hearts who frequently regenerates). But showrunners Matt Strevens and Chris Chibnall may have taken it even further than that for the new season of Doctor Who.

Jodie Whitaker has debuted as the Doctor to overwhelmingly positive responses (mine among them). But now that we’re five episodes in, halfway through the new season, I wanted to address the new criticism that has emerged. Has Doctor Who become too ‘PC’?

The problem with this question is that it really leaves me asking another: Exactly what show have these guys been watching? Doctor Who has always been progressive (both on screen and behind the scenes). It’s a show that takes a long hard look at the nature of what it means to be human, and it always has been. So what’s changed?

People have pointed to the diversity in the new companions and called it ‘unnecessary.’ This season we’ve been introduced to Yaz, Ryan, and Graham as the Doctor’s three companions. They’re portrayed by Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, and Bradley Walsh, and yes they represent a diverse cross-section of humanity. The Doctor’s companions are supposed to represent humanity! That’s the whole point!

Humanity doesn’t look like one face (and definitely not a while, cis, straight one) but generally that’s what the Doctor’s companions have looked like. In the age of New Who (since Christopher Ecclestone’s debut in 205), Martha and Bill have been the only exceptions to this (Mickey wasn’t a full-time companion, but because I love him he gets an honourable mention). It definitely hasn’t been fully representative of what humanity really looks like, and I can’t help but praise and be glad for the change.

Most of Doctor Who’s previous diversity has come in the form of background or part-time characters, although it has to be noted that the pansexual wonder that is Captain Jack Harkness did get his own spin-off show in the form of Torchwood, but that’s a different conversation. So it might be understandable that some people are a little shocked at the ‘sudden’ change. But was it really so sudden?

After season 10 gave us Bill Potts, I’m not sure it’s fair to say this came out of the blue. Bill was probably in my top three favourite companions and I loved her, despite only getting one season to get to know her. Now Bill was a complex character with a background and personal motivations, but she was also the double whammy of being both black and gay. *gasp* Bill marked a definite deviation from what we’d been seeing up until this point (and she did her job of giving life back into the mixed bag that was Peter Capaldi’s run as the Doctor). She also paved the way for everything that has been season 11 so far.

In episode one we were introduced to the interracial couple Graham and Grace O’Brien, and Grace’s grandson Ryan Sinclair, who has dyspraxia. We also meet junior police officer Yazmin Khan who is a practising Muslim, currently, her sexuality is unclear but episode 4 hinted at the possibility of her being bisexual (if this was just a tease I may, in fact, cry). There have also been casual references by background characters to being Not Straight, with no focus on this as a plot point, which is awesome. Plus an entire episode dedicated to Rosa Parks!

The problem is this seems to have been too much, too soon for some fans. Leading to comments on Doctor Who’s so-called political correctness, and saying that it feels ‘shoehorned in’ (a direct quote from my dad) and forced. I personally think that the problem isn’t the new season of Doctor Who, it’s the previous seasons and it’s nearly every show that’s on TV. Because season 11 is doing nothing more or less than showing an accurate depiction of humanity, it’s just that we aren’t used to seeing reality expressed this way on television and it’s given some people a bit of a shock.

So all I can say is this: TV showrunners, follow this example, give us more humanity.