Feature

'Doctor Who' Has Always Been Queer, But That Doesn’t Make This Season Any Less Revolutionary

Emma O'Neill-Dietel

20 Jun 2024 — 4 min read

Doctor Who’s new reboot era has garnered buzz in cultural circles for many “firsts” in LGBTQ+ representation. So far, there’s been the first gay Doctor, the first gay kiss in Doctor Who, the first transgender actor, the first transgender character, and so on. All of these have happened, in a way, but none of them have been firsts. Depending on your interpretation of canon (and understanding of Time Lord sexuality), the Doctor has always been queer. (If you need extra proof, see the Thirteenth Doctor, who had feelings for her companion Yaz and acknowledged her literal wife on screen.) The first kiss between two men on the show happened in 2005 and has been followed by many same-sex kisses between main and side characters. The nod for the first transgender actor and character belongs to Bethany Black and her (unfortunately dreadfully written) character 474 in Season 9’s “Sleep No More.”

There’s a reason the current season has been given credit for so many firsts, though, and it’s not clickbait or lack of research. The show’s new era, with its big swings, musical numbers, and larger-than-life characters, has felt like a party. This season not only has casual queer representation, but it also celebrates queerness.

Perhaps the number one person LGBTQ+ fans have to thank for this celebration is the series showrunner, Russell T. Davies. Doctor Who has attracted a devoted LGBTQ+ fanbase since the show began in 1963, among them Davies himself. He grew up feeling a link between being gay and being a Doctor Who fan. As he told the BBC in a recent interview, “Being gay was ‘the love that dare not speak its name’ and Doctor Who shared that feature as well by that time... It was a cheap, old, mad science fiction show. You couldn’t say you fancied anyone, and who couldn’t say that you loved Doctor Who.” Davies brought that gay lens to the show when he was first showrunner from 2005 to 2010, and now he’s back to make the show bigger, bolder, and gayer than ever.