Doctor Who: Victim of a Series of Malicious Attacks

We can’t say the party’s been spoiled, but still… The Doctor Who series returns on November 25 with the first of three special episodes produced over sixty years of the iconic programme. In this case, David Tennant returned as the Doctor.

One of the BBC’s most iconic series, Doctor Who follows the adventures of an alien who travels through time and space in his spaceship: the TARDIS. In general, along with a companion, he possesses the power of regeneration, a trick that allows him to change his appearance and thus his interpreter and thereby escape death.

The role of the doctor has been played by fourteen people since 1963. Among all the actors who play this character, David Tennant is among the most popular. Appearing for three seasons and then a special 50th anniversary episode in 2013, the Scottish actor made a surprise return last year to replace Jodie Whittaker, the Thirteenth Doctor.

Times change, not mentality

At the time when the latter was announced as the new incarnation of the Time Lord, the English actor suffered a nasty sexist campaign against him. Despite this difficult context, the first female interpreter of the Doctor forever went on to mark the history of the British series.

Sixty years of Doctor Who also marks the big return of showrunner Russell T Davies. Already in 2005 at the time of the emergence of a new series (the original Doctor Who series stopped broadcasting in 1989), the Welsh screenwriter is also known to the public for his series Queer as Folk, Years and Years and It’s a Sin.

Russell T. Davis, himself openly gay and LGBTQIA+ rights activist, places great importance on diversity and minority representation in his series.

His first decision as the new showrunner of Doctor Who was to cast Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) as the Fifteenth Doctor (the one who would succeed David Tennant). The announcement of the first performer of color for the character sparked violent racist and homophobic attacks on social media.

RIP Dr. Who, really?

The attacks also targeted the first special episode of Sixties, which featured transgender actress Yasmin Finn and described the Doctor as a non-binary character (“Masculine and feminine. And neither. And both at the same time. “). In the second episode, a line of dialogue also suggests that the Doctor is now bisexual.

Hashtag #RIPDDoctorWho It appeared in social network X and was captured by hundreds of users. Internet users also chose Review of the bombing from the series. Praised by the press Rotten tomatoes (94% positive reviews), the first special episode shows an audience rating of barely 42%.

A hate campaign that didn’t stop the series from becoming a success, as evidenced by its audience on the BBC (5.08 million viewers, the best launch of the year for a series) and a place in the top 5 series on Disney+. The vast majority of countries (including France).

The first two special episodes of Doctor Who series sixty are now available exclusively on Disney+.

Discover the list of series currently available on the platform!