Russell T Davies Says ‘Doctor Who’ Provides Alternative To “Very Straight, Very Masculine, Very Testosterone-y” Mainstream Sci-Fi Franchises
According to the showrunner Russell T Davies, one of his main goals with his recent return to Doctor Who was to embrace the BBC series’ identity as an alternative to the more ‘male-centric’ sci-fi franchises enjoyed by mainstream audiences.
Davies, who revived the series and helmed its production from 2005-2010 before returning in 2021 to write its thus far pair of Disney-produced seasons, spoke to his creative intent for The 15th Doctor’s adventures during a recent interview given to the host of UK-based media outlet Your Manchester, drag queen Belinda Scandal.
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Amidst a larger conversation regarding the LGBT bent of his body of work, Davies was met by the observation from his host that his recent Doctor Who seasons “tapped into the the proper LGBT side of everything”, to which he claimed he was only bring out something that “was always there.”
“I think it was just like nudging by 1% in that direction,” he told Scandal. “But again, it’s 2025. You also have to look at what the others are doing. I find a lot of the other science-fiction franchises are very straight, very masculine, very testosterone-y, and so that’s our space. I do think that’s where Doctor Who can fill a space.”
On this topic, Davies was later asked by Scandal as to why he was “still so supportive of the LGBT community”, a question he answered by admitting “Because I am. And I actually think it’s getting worse. I think it’s getting tougher.”
“Do you remember just a few years ago we had the arrogance to sort of say, “Oh, why do all these big companies support Pride? They’re not our allies. We were arrogant. Now, they’re dropping out. It’s like, ‘You idiots.'”
“At the time I used to say, ‘Any bank or business that supports the Pride March, someone sat in a boardroom and defended us, and our rights, and someone in that boardroom said, ‘No, let’s not do it,” and someone won the argument, and they’re supporting us. Don’t ever criticize an ally. Don’t ever criticize someone who’s giving money to sponsor doing something’. Look at them pulling out now. We’re going, ‘Where are they? Where are they?’ because they’re getting scared. They’re getting scared of the whole trans argument.”
“I am seeing in my own lifetime a backlash like I never thought – well, actually, that’s not true. I always thought our rights were paper thin to be absolutely honest, and if you look at my writing for the past 30 years it’s always been there the belief that these paper thin rights can be taken away with one vote, with one [English] Prime Minister, certainly with one [US] President. That’s happening now. It’s literally happening to us. Taking Harvey Milk’s name off a ship in the American Navy, you cannot be more petty, or more nasty, or more hateful towards us. So the fight is on. I think it’s disguised as a trans fight that actually is after all of us, and you literally see it heating up day, by day, by day, by day.”
At present, it’s unknown whether Doctor Who will receive another series order – and in doing so answering the question of just what the Doctor’s regeneration into Rose Tyler actually means.
