By Danny Nicol,
University of Westminster
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| Class's happy twosome? Charlie and Matteusz |
In a recent issue of the BBC’s Radio Times, Peter Capaldi observed that
love of Doctor Who is a proxy
affection for Britishness. The same surely
applies to Doctor Who’s spin-offs,
the latest of which is Class. In Class,
the Doctor saves an alien prince, Charlie Smith (Greg Austin), together with
his arch-enemy Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly), and transports them to Earth in
the TARDIS. Landing at Coal Hill School in Stepney, London ,
he charges Charlie and Miss Quill, along with several school students, with the
task of defending the planet against the creatures which will emerge from a
rift in time and space within the school.
(The fact that the rift seems to have been caused by the TARDIS’s
frequent visits to Coal Hill seems to be glossed over.)
In the first episode, Charlie
invites Polish fellow student Matteusz Andrezejewski (Jordan Renzo) to be his
partner for the School Prom, prompting the new show’s first gay kiss as well as
the comment “Oh yes my deeply religious parents are very happy I’m going to
dance with a boy”.
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| A united kingdom: Matteusz and Charlie snuggle up |
Class was broadcast in the wake of Britain ’s 2016 referendum on
membership of the European Union, where the country decided by 52% to 48% to leave
the organisation. One reason was public dissatisfaction with the free movement of
persons, a central pillar of the Union . In particular the accession of Eastern
European countries to the Union in 2004 gave rise to an influx of Eastern
European nationals into Britain ,
represented in Class by Matteusz.
There are several points of
interest here. The first is that Doctor Who and its spin-offs had up until Class almost ignored the Eastern European immigration, despite the show’s obsession
with charting British national identity.
This is probably because the show has had another story to tell: Britain ’s
transformation from Empire to multi-racial society.
Secondly, now that Brexit – British
exit from the EU – is happening, the Whoniverse
seems more relaxed about making Eastern Europeans part of its national story. This is timely, as Poles have recently
replaced Indians as Britain ’s
most numerous ethnic minority. Moreover the referendum result was followed by a deplorable upsurge in racist attacks against Eastern Europeans. In this light the thoroughly sympathetic image of Matteusz points the way forward for popular culture.
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| Thoroughly British couple: Madam Vastra and Jenny |
The third point of interest, however, is
the “Britishisation” of Matteusz. In a fine act of stereotyping his
parents are represented as “the Other”.
First they disapprove of Matteusz’s relationship with Charlie, then they
ground him, then they throw him out. It
is not fanciful to see Charlie as a character who serves to make Matteusz more
British. Despite being an alien, Charlie represents Britishness. This is unsurprising
in Doctor Who where aliens often
represent the British: the Doctor himself is a very British alien. Other non-humans which may be perceived in the same light include Madam Vastra (see e.g.
“The Crimson Horror” (2013)), the Star Whale (see “The Beast Below” (2010)) and
even arch-enemy Missy (see e.g. “Death in Heaven” (2014)). As with the Doctor, Charlie’s eccentricity marks
him out as representing Britishness. By inviting Matteusz to the Prom, he prompts
the gay relationship which detaches Matteusz from his Polish family and ushers
him into the British family of the Class team - which in post-2005 Doctor Who fashion is typically multiracial. (Lesbian and gay
relationships too have arguably been used as something of a signifier of
Britishness in Doctor Who and its
spin-offs.)
But not all aspects of British
identity are attractive. In terms of
species Charlie is a Rhodian, a name strongly reminiscent of the British colony
of Southern Rhodesia which spawned the apartheid-state of Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe . The Rhodesia metaphor chimes with the Rhodians’ oppression of their rival species the Quill. It also confirms that the Whoniverse remains centrally animated by Britain's imperial story. Charlie’s ruthlessness makes Matteusz realise
that the couple are not as similar as he thought, and prompts a short-lived
split between the couple. It is fairly common for Doctor Who to portray the British as unduly callous - see for example. "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (1970), "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) and "The Beast Below" (2010).
With Brexit in the offing, Matteusz’s
Britishisation is on all fours with the trend towards Eastern Europeans living in Britain
applying for British nationality. This
is not to say that Matteusz lacks pride in being Polish – “never turn
your back on an angry Pole” he quips on one occasion – but it shows once again how the Whoniverse projects as an attractive quality of Britishness its capacity to absorb into its fold ethnicities and nationalities which constantly enrich its very character.
