In a recent interview with GQ, returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies touched on diversity in a manner which while true we suspected might be unwise given the broader sci-fi landscape.

By itself possibly not worth commenting on except that this morning we saw numerous sites reporting Davies expressing a very different and also uncharacteristic view about diversity - "lambasting" it.

To GQ he said:

I watch the Star Trek empire with vast envy: the way that's turned itself from an old archive show into something fantastic. The cast is so progressive, so good, so beautiful. And very cleverly I think Star Trek is reaching out to making something like fifty-two episodes a year. So that's your yearly show, genius.

Sure they're making a tonne of content, but how many people are watching it?

Not many.

He may genuinely envy their bevy of spinoffs and applaud their diversity, but like Star Wars, new Star Trek offerings have tended to be poor quality entertainment and not in the spirit of previous works.

With viewers both collectively and individually on social media attacked as bigots for not loving them.

The BBC didn't make the same mistake when they decided it was time for a female Doctor Who (Jodie Whittaker).

Quality didn't dip - apart from a small number of episodes - and Doctor Who was still Doctor Who.

At least until the end of her second season with the major Timeless Child retcon and the final Flux season when both she and companions became racists.

We've always maintained that Star Wars and Star Trek salted the earth for the transition to a female doctor.

Producing garbage content and weaponizing diversity in an attempt to bully viewers into submission.

In our view, Davies referring to Star Wars in an aspirational manner like this is a gift to actual opponents of improving diversity.

We were certain that we'd see them swiftly capitalise on it.

Instead we're seeing headlines like this referring to a Sunday Times interview with himself and Mark Gatiss:

Russell T Davies lambasts diversity fixation of ‘rubbish’ new TV writers

True?

No.

And what about finding a new generation of TV writers? Davies thinks too many recent recruits are just too angry. “I do a lot of mentoring, and there are voices wanting to be heard — of any gender or ethnicity — who consider themselves invisible. They hate the media that ignores them, and they’re trapped into wanting a job in that medium purely to increase representation. I read their scripts and they’re rubbish. They don’t actually love television, so they don’t know how to write for it.”

It's not a diversity "fixation".

It's a sense of obligation, and he explicitly suggests a causal link between their having been under-represented in TV in the past and their current hatred for that medium which makes them poor writers.

If lambasting anything it is that historical lack of diversity.

Maybe they'll also get around to making something out of his appreciation for Star Wars eventually.

This is the price we all pay for the Star Wars / Star Trek diversity debacle.

Doctor Who is scheduled to return in November on Disney+.

Thirteen previous seasons are available on Stan and Binge, six on Prime Video and one on ABC iview.

[ Main Image: Doctor Who - Journey's End. Credit: BBC via IMDb.com. ]

References

Armstrong, Stephen (January 29, 2023). Russell T Davies and Mark Gatiss: How to save TV. The Sunday Times.

King, Jack (January 27, 2023). Russell T. Davies wants Edgar Wright to direct Doctor Who. GQ.