Doctor Who Actor Insults Fans While Showrunner Pushes Social Messaging

Television

The newest Doctor Who doesn’t care if you watch his show. In a Variety article on the long-running British sci-fi series, the latest actor to play the iconic character, Ncuti Gatwa, talks about being cast in the role, while his co-star, Millie Gibson, and showrunner Russell T. Davies, also give their thoughts on the new iteration of the series. It’s mostly about representation and LGBT stuff because that’s how you get people to tune in to a (theoretically) fun show about a magical guy in a phone booth fighting aliens (or whatever Doctor Who is about). But when Variety brings up the Doctor Who fans who weren’t thrilled with his casting, Gatwa responds the way seemingly everyone in the entertainment industry responds to their fans now:

“Don’t watch. Turn off the TV. Go and touch grass, please, for God’s sake.”

It’s getting old hat, but it never fails to amaze me when another longstanding franchise tells its fans to get lost. How hard is it to say something like, “I understand your trepidation, but I hope you’ll give me and the new season a chance and see what we do with it”? It’s just basic public relations; you don’t even have to mean it. This is what I mean when I say they’re activists first and artists/entertainers/businessmen second; they don’t care about keeping anything financially solvent or attracting an audience, or even maintaining the one they already have – or, in this case, were handed. Why should viewers flock to Doctor Who when this is how they treat fans who’ve loved it for decades? And do you think maybe this attitude is why people are so worried about Gatwa, as opposed to his race or sexuality? In that article, they talk about representation and social issues much more than the stories of the upcoming season. It doesn’t sound like much fun watching their Doctor Who; it sounds like a school assignment.

And by “school,” I don’t mean college, because Russel T. Davies says he wants the issues of sexuality to speak to children:

“I think if you’re 6 years old, you don’t care — not at all… But nonetheless, as the world darkens — and I do think the world is darkening around queer rights — there is a joy and a celebration, and there’s a community. Whether you’re 12 years old and just beginning to work out who you are, 62 years old and you’ve never been who you are, or 61 years old like I am and beginning to worry about where we are in society — there is a hero out there cutting his way through the universe, looking damn good in his suits and doing it with a laugh and a smile.”

Now, I don’t think this quite the same as the truly depraved stuff aimed at kids, like Drag Queen Story Hour and the like – although I don’t watch Doctor Who, so I don’t know how far they go with it (and you can never be too careful when Disney is involved). I think this is aimed more at conditioning a generation on what to think about sexuality, since he whines about a “darkening around queer rights.” He doesn’t give specifics because it’s probably hard to come up with any when we’re just thirty-five days away from Pride Month, and he’s spearheading the transformation of one of the UK’s premier pop culture institutions into an LGBT advocacy program, but I’m sure that doesn’t matter. Again, people like him are activists before they’re artists, and that means the lecture will always come first. But even getting past the kids, I’d bet this will turn even more people away from Doctor Who, and while it’s never been my thing, I know the feeling of watching something you used to love be co-opted for purposes other than entertainment. Sorry, Whovians.