After delightfully reading about and reporting on all the delicious teasers in the lead up to Doctor Who's season 13's release, it was very sad to discover this Independent article and short video clip.

October 18-22 will be National Inclusion Week in the UK and speaking at Ofcom's Diversity in Broadcasting event, Freema Agyeman reminisced fondly about her time on Doctor Who and how proud she felt and still feels to have been the first black companion.

But she was completely unprepared for racist abuse from what she describes as "certain sectors of the fan base".

She air quotes "fan".

Is she nonverbally questioning the legitimacy of actual Doctor Who fans who hold beliefs and behave in a manner completely and fundamentally at odds with the values of Doctor Who?

It's not an unfair question, albeit a complicated issue.

As difficult as it it is to imagine, it is possible some people with values nothing like the Doctor's nevertheless manage to find entertainment value in the show, and regard themselves as fans.

From a personal freedom viewpoint, they have the right to apply that label to themselves.

On the other hand, language is a fundamentally shared medium and when any term's descriptive power is diminished, language suffers.

Many other fans and possibly also people involved in producing content could identify strongly with the Doctor's values.

Not only is their potential confusion applying the term "fan" of the franchise to these disparate groups but morality fans having to share a label / group with racists could be deeply offensive to them.

She may also be casting doubt on the true identity of those spewing racist abuse.

Among the many perils of online anonymity is the scourge of political and commercial entities posing as members of other groups to further their interests.

Our sympathies and thanks go out to Freema.

References

Lewis, Isobel (October 9, 2021). Doctor Who star Freema Agyeman says she ‘didn’t anticipate’ racist abuse for playing first black companion. Independent UK.