Doctor Who boss Russell T Davies has hit back at criticisms that the show is too “woke”, saying he has no time for complaints from “online warriors”.
The long-running BBC sci-fi show returned last week with Ncuti Gatwa reprising his role as the Doctor alongside newcomer Varada Sethu as the latest companion, marking first time the Tardis team has been comprised of non-white actors.
Davies told BBC Radio 2: “Someone always brings up matters of diversity. And there are online warriors accusing us of diversity and wokeness and involving messages and issues.
“And I have no time for this. I don’t have a second to bear [it]. Because what you might call diversity, I just call an open door.”
Asked on Radio 2’s Doctor Who: 20 Secrets from 20 Years if he writes such themes into the show consciously, the Welshman replied: “I don’t even know if it’s conscious. That’s life, and I think it’s the only way to write.”
Davies, who also wrote acclaimed TV dramas Queer As Folk and It’s A Sin, added that he felt it was harder to write using “a narrow window” of references.
“Why limit yourself? Why breathe in the exhaust fumes? Why be toxic? Come over here where the life and light and air and sound is.”
Sethu, who made her debut last week as Gatwa’s character’s new companion, Belinda Chandra, also recently addressed claims around the show’s perceived “wokeness”, suggesting that meant it was on the right track.
“There’s been a couple of ‘Doctor Woke’ [comments] or whatever,” she told the Radio Times. “But I just think we’re doing the right thing if we’re getting comments like that.”
She continued: “Woke just means inclusive, progressive, and that you care about people. And, as far as I know, the core of Doctor Who is kindness, love and doing the right thing.”
Addressing the same subject, Gatwa told the Radio Times that their collaboration represented “progress, in terms of how we reflect the societies that we live in”.
“That’s something incredible that media can do, and that’s what it’s doing,” he added.
“But it’s also exciting to look forward to a day when [having non-white leads] isn’t something huge.”
Doctor Who was first broadcast on the BBC in 1963, portrayed by William Hartnell, and the show has undergone many changes in recent years.
Previous head writer Chris Chibnall introduced Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor in 2017, before Davies chose Gatwa to appear as the first black Time Lord from 2023.
There have been unconfirmed reports in recent weeks that Gatwa is set to leave and that the show may be facing the axe. The BBC has said any decision on a new series would be made after the current series ends.
