Is Doctor Who unionist?

The forthcoming Scottish independence referendum raises the question of Doctor Who’s stance on the union between the four nations making up the United Kingdom.  One should bear in mind that the “new show” has been broadcast entirely during the era of devolution whereby Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland take more of their own decisions themselves through their own assemblies and administrations.  This system, now well established, contrasts with the unitary constitution which prevailed in the days of the “old show” when the entire United Kingdom was governed by Whitehall and Westminster.  Devolution arguably prompted the BBC to project a more varied conception of Britishness.  It also means that Scotland’s choice will be between devolution and separation.

Against this backdrop it has been a remarkable coincidence that new Doctor Who’s two showrunners, Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, have been Welsh and Scottish respectively.  The new show is made by BBC Wales and the 2005 revival saw Wales relatively frequently used as a locus for stories (e.g. “The Unquiet Dead” (2005), “Boom Town” (2005), "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" (2010)) in contrast to the old show’s almost exclusive assumption that stories set in Britain were set in South East England. 

Amy and Rory being, to coin a phrase, Better Together

The new show’s Scottish and Welsh characters have occasionally expressed somewhat nationalistic attitudes.  Most notably companion Amy Pond as a child expresses the view that England is “rubbish” compared to Scotland (“The Eleventh Hour (2010)), and voices approval in “The Beast Below” (2010) at learning that, in the distant future when humans are obliged to leave Earth, the Scots insisted on a starship of their own rather than embarking on Starship UK.  The Doctor himself comments on the Otherness caused by Amy’s Scottish identity: she’s a Scottish girl in an English village and he knows how that feels.   Gwen and Rhys in the spin-off Torchwood joke about needing injections as they cross the Severn Bridge from Wales into England.

In fact these mild comments are outweighed by a stronger current of unionism in the show.  Take Amy Pond.  Amy is indeed a Scottish girl in an English village: she chooses to remain there and she chooses to marry an Englishman, ultimately favouring him over the Doctor (“The Angels Take Manhatten” (2012)).    The Scots’ decision to go off in a starship of their own in “The Beast Below” can likewise be turned on its head; it presupposes that the UK remains united for thousands of years until humans are forced to desert the planet.   As for Gwen Cooper, she opts to work for that most British of organisations, Torchwood, created in Scotland by a British Queen in order to protect the whole of Great Britain (“Tooth and Claw” (2006)).

 

Gwen poised to enhance Anglo-Welsh relations with colleague Owen

Images of the Union Jack also abound under both showrunners far more than in the old show.  More significantly, since the issue of the union relates to governance, the programme’s unionism can also be seen in the new show’s portrayal of civil servants.   These were a breed portrayed in early 1970s Doctor Who as exclusively English, upper class, greedy, nationalistic buffoons (see for instance, Mr Chinn in “The Claws of Axos” (1971) and Mr Walker in “The Sea Devils” (1972)). In their place in the new show we have the Welsh Mr Llewellyn in “The Christmas Invasion” (2007) and the Scottish Professor Bracewell in “Victory of the Daleks” (2010) both of whom are cast in a heroic light as British civil servants. 

 

Courageous Mr Llewellyn (second from the left) with Prime Minister Harriet Jones

Of course Doctor Who always has to deploy a certain subtlety: as Professor Matt Hills has observed, the show cannot be too obviously about real-world, contemporary politics: it isn’t a political thriller (Triumph of a Time Lord, London: IB Tauris, 2010. p.138).  The bottom line, however, is that Doctor Who is the product of the British Broadcasting Corporation and cannot seriously have a separatist agenda.  Thus, despite relishing national differences and deploying them for tension and humour, BBC Wales’ Doctor Who remains quietly but firmly unionist.