The short answer is “no”.
In “The War Games” (1969) the Doctor, obliged to regenerate, turns down
several new bodies offered to him by the Time Lords including - seemingly - that of a black man; “The
Doctor’s Wife” (2011) confirms that Time Lords can change gender when
they regenerate. Yet, come the new Doctor Who season, the new Doctor will
be another in the solid phalanx of (admittedly talented) white males who have
ruled the roost in the console room since 1963.
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| Potential Doctor: Sophie Okonedo, one of the country's most magnificent actors. Deserves to be a Dame, or better still, the Doctor! |
Yet the excuse that a white male actor is “so talented” is
wearing a bit thin. It ignores the fact
that this tiny, damp little island is awash with outstanding female and ethnic
minority actors who could pilot the Tardis with quite as much acting prowess as
their white male counterparts. Three of
this blogger’s favourites for stints as the Doctor would be Sophie Okonedo,
Suranne Jones and Sacha Dhawan, and here they are looking marvellous in old-fashioned, Doctor-style get-up.
And they are far from being the only British non-white and women
thespians who could wield the sonic screwdriver with panache.
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| Potential Doctor: Sacha Dhawan looks dashing in wing collar and bow tie - so shouldn't he be dashing down a corridor, on a spaceship? |
So why another white man?
If we see the Doctor as a
political leader, as he surely is, then the conservatism of the show runner and
production team in casting the new incumbent reflects the cultural politics of British society. Thus women form the majority of the population
yet only one in five legislators in the United Kingdom Parliament is a woman. Some 18% of British subjects are non-white
but only 4% of MPs. The Cabinet is 18
men and 3 women: only one is ethnic-minority.
And the discrimination in British politics is mirrored in British
society as a whole. White men run the country so white men run the Tardis.
Yet in the population at large, white men are decidedly in
the minority. Thus the unwritten rule
banning women and ethnic minorities from playing the Doctor is increasingly undermining
the show’s aim of representing Britishness. It may be too late this time around, but
breaking the white-male monopoly on portraying the Doctor would serve as a splendid demonstration
of the inclusivity of British national identity.
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| Potential Doctor: Suranne Jones has already played the TARDIS - so why not the Doctor? |
