I wrote “Ncuti to the Moon” in 2023 before Doctor Who fans had clear information on plot lines or other details on the season. There was so much hope and excitement, especially among Black Whovians who never expected to see someone like them as the Doctor. Now that the 2024 Christmas Special “Joy to the Worlds” has aired, this is the perfect time to reflect on what Season 14 has accomplished and what is left for Doctor Who to work on regarding racial representation on the series.
Ncuti Gatwa has indeed brought many new viewers into the fold and also has convinced some viewers to pick up the series again. Disney’s marketing campaign for Season 14 was the largest US campaign for the series in over a decade. Fandom fears about editorial interference and “Americanization” so far have not come to pass. The Fifteenth Doctor is a Black queer man traveling through space and time but has also faced the same emotional and physical peril other Doctors have. However, there are still some elements fans have hoped for that have not come to pass yet that would represent more significant structural changes toward the way Doctor Who handles race and racism.
While the Fifteenth Doctor is visibly Black and queer, the majority of Season 14 does not highlight these intersecting identities in dialogue or episode plots. The main conflicts for the Fifteenth Doctor in Season 14 are his relationship with Ruby, the buildup to the showdown with Sutekh, and the mysteries around Ruby’s origins. Black viewers should not be subjected to unrelenting trauma but at the same time are looking for authenticity and relatability in the Doctor’s personality. None of the Season 14 episodes has a Black screenwriter credited. Ncuti Gatwa said in an interview for Attitude magazine in response to a question about improvisation on set last year that scripts “don’t tend to change” and that “each line has been written for good reason.” Based on this information, the time for issues about representation and how race is handled in scripts has to be during the scriptwriting process before all aspects are finalized and scenes are shot.
This was most evident with “Dot and Bubble” as this episode was written to spotlight racism in society. Lindy was clearly an effective villain; however, many white Whovians, especially British Whovians, believed that her bias was based on either class or a general distrust of all outsiders to Finetime in the beginning and not clearly based on racism. Black Whovians spotted the obvious microaggressive tone and body language in the dialogue immediately but believed the episode failed to truly portray how the average Black person would deal with the Lindys of the real world. The final scenes of “Dot and Bubble” are where it was the most obvious that the episode’s message would have been much more successful if a Black screenwriter took the lead or Russell T Davies sought feedback from Black creatives pre-production. Fifteen’s tears for the fact Lindy didn’t want to be saved were not only out of character from previous episodes but also out of touch with previous moments other Doctors had with characters who refused to repent or take the assistance provided.
Granted, there are differences in personality between regenerations; however, Fifteen’s reaction towards Finetime’s racist residents didn’t match his attitude towards the Meep in “The Star Beast” let alone other Doctors’ reactions in similar rage-inducing situations. The Tenth Doctor gave a much more forceful “no second chances” ultimatum in “The Christmas Invasion.” The Eleventh Doctor was quick to strike down the villains from “A Town Called Mercy.”
The Twelfth Doctor, who punched a racist man in the face in “Thin Ice,” completely disappeared. A rash of anger or some other form of adverse reaction would have been way more in tune with both the experiences of the Black diaspora and also previous Doctors’ personalities. It appears that Fifteen’s reaction was more about either affirming to the audience that they’re not like Lindy or overly simplifying the situation for younger viewers. In fact, many Black and POC kids have already experienced micro or macro racist aggressions, so would not need to have the situation simplified.
While Season 14’s historical episodes swerved away from mentioning historical racism, “The Devil’s Chord” was a missed opportunity this season to introduce positive Black history. The music scene in 1963 London was not only heavily influenced by American rock, blues, and soul artists but also the Windrush Generation bringing reggae and other Black diaspora musical genres to the UK. Fifteen’s costume in this episode is a visual representation of this context but is one that many viewers missed. This is the kind of background information and context other historical episodes would have incorporated into the plot in between showing the villain of the week.
Some may argue that “Rogue” should have brought up race and gender/sexuality more; however, this would have defeated the premise that the Chuldur were messing with the actual history of the Regency by roleplaying Bridgerton and taking over people’s bodies without consent. Doctor Who has always been a space to explore the what ifs of history and has a strong tradition of highlighting hidden histories. It is notable that “Rogue” was one of only three episodes this season not written by Russell T Davies. Steven Moffat wrote “Boom” and “Joy to the Worlds.” In addition, there were no Black directors working on Season 14. Fifteen’s characterization throughout the season is consistently curious, often more flirtatious than friendly, and open to showing negative emotions to others. The blocking and cinematography highlights Fifteen’s unwillingness to tie himself down to any one location for too long. While many of these traits can belong to anyone of any ethnicity, we don’t see Fifteen reveal different sides to his personality when speaking to other Black characters.
The conclusion to Season 14 and the recent Christmas special “Joy to the Worlds” once again featured unfortunate implications for more inclusive casting. Black guest actors Genesis Lynea and Joel Fry had characters who met unceremonious deaths. While Doctor Who fans are well used to characters of the week being targeted by the Doctor’s foes, killing off Black or other characters of color will always rub Whovians the wrong way. I was also more ready to react negatively because earlier this year I binged the ITV period comedy series Plebs where Fry’s character on the show also met a sudden violent end. The ability for audiences to rationalize these decisions solely due to the realities of production gets more difficult when there’s a repeated pattern of white screenwriters not realizing the potential for negative optics in audiences who are not the same as them. This Christmas episode was written by Steven Moffat, who was already criticized for this specific issue due to the way Bill Potts, Danny Pink, and other minor characters exited the story.
The hope that future Fifteenth Doctor episodes can change course has shifted significantly towards reality in light of recent BBC announcements. First of all, Season 15 has announced two Black screenwriters joining the Doctor Who writers room: Inua Ellams and Sharma Angel-Walfall. Ellams brings extensive playwriting and poetry experience to the series, and Angel-Walfall has worked in the writers rooms of several recent Science Fiction and Fantasy series such as Noughts + Crosses, Renegade Nell, and Supacell.
Another sign of progress is that it was recently announced that Varada Sethu is playing a new companion named Belinda Chandra. Millie Gibson is also scheduled to return as Ruby Sunday, but there will likely be episodes where Fifteen and Belinda are fighting aliens by themselves, which would be the first time in 61 years no one in the TARDIS is white.
Season 15/Season 2 has more potential with these new announcements to change direction and improve on the critiques discussed above. There’s an opportunity to add more cultural authenticity to Fifteen alongside the usual struggle of another Dalek invasion. Could Fifteen visit precolonial Africa or a planet based on Afrofuturism? There’s only one way to find out and that’s by watching.
© 2025 Amanda-Rae Prescott
