There has been a seismic shift in the world of Doctor Who. There are a lot of unhappy people in the world of social media who are more than happy to vlog and post about it. The viewing figures for the current series have fallen off a cliff and there seems to be a panic over what to do next. This is evident with the return of Russell T Davies, who did so much to reboot the show in it’s modern era and the rumored set of specials with David Tennent coming back into the role. The blame has been laid at the feet of Chris Chibnall. He has brought in the first female Doctor in Jodie Whittaker, who has faced derisions and criticism, plus focused on LGBTQ and equality stories. Whilst this is fine they have been called too preachy and agenda based, all at the expense of story. There is a strong suggestion that the usually platonic Doctor (who has only been kissed twice on screen by Rose Tyler and Amy Pond,) might just be about to have a same sex relationship with her assitant Yaz. It does mean he’s never been kissed by a man, apart from a quick peck from Captain Jack.
However, the show has always been this way to more or less the same degree. When it was first broadcast in 1962 it was something of a revelation. If the signal was poor it’s unlikely that you’d see anything at all so the services of a TV aerial repair Gloucester like http://steveunettaerials were, as they are now, very important. To start with it was envisioned as a way of getting more history into people’s lives. Cave people, the Aztecs, the outcome of the Battle of Hasting being changed and the Romans were all early subjects. However, it was the addition of the Daleks that changed the focus of the show. It became immersed in Science fiction and fantasy. The changing face of the Doctor was established early on when an aging William Hartnell finally gave up the role he had come to love and be loved in. Rather than can the show the producers selected the younger “puckish” Patrick Troughton for the role, a character far removed from the grumpy and paternal Hartnell. The change to colour Television as standard saw more emphasis on the fantastical. The change to the Victorian dandy of John Pertwee was perfect. This was a grounded Doctor, stuck on the earth with a broken Tardis and working for UNIT.
Cue a series of younger and more energetic Doctors throughout the 70’s and 80’s starting with one of the best, Tom Baker, but the show was starting to appear cheap and nasty, especially in the face of the Star Wars and Star Trek movies or even Battlestar Galactica. As it aged the show changed focus dramatically. It is hard to believe some of the scenes that went out in the tea time slot in the Colin Baker area. A character is injected with industrial cleaner, the outfits of his assistant Peri were questioned.
However, Chibnall’s introduction of the Timeless Child story, where the Doctor is not actually William Hartnell to begin with, has been seen as an unbelievable step too far.
