Pearl Mackie, who played companion Bill in series 10, has expressed her opinion about the Doctor's next regeneration in an interview with The Telegraph:

I would like to see both a female and a non-white doctor. That’s the thing about Doctor Who, isn’t it? There’s so much room for change. The Doctor’s regenerations allow the show to move with the times. In fact, I think it would be great to have someone non-binary playing the part. The Doctor doesn’t really identify with human constraints at all. So I feel that could be a logical next step, wouldn’t it?

Doesn't identify with human constraints? Time Lords always regenerate in Galifreyan form, which happens to look human, so she may have that wrong.

But otherwise yes, the character of the Doctor is one which courtesy of regeneration is ripe for diversification.

Arguably also long overdue.

Diversity in Science Fiction

Once upon a time, the entertainment industry and sci-fi in particular, were far ahead of the curve in terms of inclusiveness and diversity.

Star Trek's original series was a major risk taker and ground breaker. Nichelle Nichol's account of the time she resigned and was convinced to rescind her resignation by Martin Luther King beautifully illustrates the power and importance of representation in entertainment:

This is the future. He [Gene Roddenberry] has established us as we should be seen. Three hundred years from now, we are here. We are marching. And this is the first step. When we see you, we see ourselves, and we see ourselves as intelligent and beautiful and proud.

Star Trek of the 80s and 90s also pushed some boundaries with a few interesting episodes.

Other sci-fi like Stargate was great entertainment and did include occasional commentary on social issues but didn't really push diversity boundaries. Stargate's Amanda Tapping did later though with her same-sex kiss in Sanctuary. After Defying Gravity's cancellation show creator James Parriott confirmed fan theories that one of its characters was a hermaphodite, but only running for one season that element of the story was barely hinted at on screen.

Sanctuary and Defying Gravity were excellent and worthy of credit on this issue, but neither was hugely popular and as influential as other properties. Many would be completely unaware of them.

For mainstream audienes, Doctor Who's Jack Harness probably represented the pinnacle of progression.

Meanwhile outside of sci-fi, tv and film continued to improve and so has the real world. Over the past 12 years RuPaul's Drag Race has gone from a minor, novelty player in the huge reality TV market, to a global, award winning phenomenon.

Sci-fi was no longer leading the way. It had to catch up.

The Big Three

Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who are three of the biggest science-fiction properties, producing ongoing content of some variety over a span of decades. Each with substantial and passionate fanbases.

Recently Star Wars and Star Trek were both separated from their creators. George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney and Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry died.

Under new leadership, both franchises were subject to a range of significant changes, including improving diversity. Unfortunately not all changes were wise or improvements. Nor were they necessarily great entertainment.

Critics by and large showered new productions in both franchises with undeserved praise. Not undeserved for diversity, but everything else.

Simulatneously in social media any criticism of these new works, no matter how valid, was routinely dismissed as bigotry.

Result - audiences now associate critic praise of a work with good diversity credentials as untrustworthy. And if they bother watching it and end up not loving it, they can never say so without fear of being maligned en masse.

This is the turbulent social landscape which Doctor Who and its first female Doctor entered.

As detailed in another recent post, we think the BBC, Chibnall and Whittaker have generally done a great job with this. Not flawless but genuinely praiseworthy.

Who Should the Next Doctor Be?

From the viewpoint of advancing Doctor Who as its own property and science-fiction as a genre, Pearl is right.

Rock on. Lead the way.

But we don't envy the BBC. Having lost a significant number of viewers in recent years and Doctor Who being one of its most valuable properties, this will not be an easy decision.

[ Main Image: Pearl Mackie pictured for The Telegraph at Mondrian Shoreditch Credit: Andrew Crowley. ]

References

Curtis, Nick (October 18, 2021). Doctor Who star Pearl Mackie: ‘The next Doctor should be non-binary’. The Telegraph.

McDuffee, Keith (October 29, 2009) How Defying Gravity would have progressed, straight from the creator. Clique Clack.

StarTrek.com (March 7, 2019). Nichelle Nichols Remembers Dr. King.

Wagner, Curt (December 22, 2011). Amanda Tapping of 'Sanctuary' kisses and tells. Chicago Tribune.

Wikipedia. RuPaul's Drag Race. (viewed October 19, 2021)