Blog Reflection

After completing the blog rationale, I began thinking about the topics I wanted to cover in the blog and how they relate to something happening in the context of the show now. With my four blog posts decided on I began researching information for my first (and subsequently second) posts. This is the method I used when writing every article. I would spend a day researching it, gathering all the information I could. I would then spend a day writing my first draft and another two to three days editing the article and finding relevant images and data to support the article. 

For my first blog post I chose to cover the topic of women both in the making and narrative of the series. I chose this because it is relevant to the current series which saw a major increase in female cast and crew and I thought it would be interesting to see how this differed to when Doctor Who began back in 1963. Ultimately I chose to split this topic into two separate articles; one looking at the classic series from ‘63 to ‘89 and the other looking at the revived series from 2005 to the present day. I decided to do this because there was a lot of information to include and there was no way of including everything in one 500 word article. Also, the two eras of the show differ dramatically in how represented so it allowed me to compare both in a fleshed out way. 

My third blog post was centered around viewing figures. I decided to cover this in my third piece because at the time the series finale had aired the previous week and the overnight viewing figures had been released. I thought it would be interesting to look at the average viewership for the most recent series and compare it to the previous eleven series. This, in turn, allowed me to question why as many people aren’t watching anymore and why that might be. It also allowed me to evaluate if viewing figures are still needed given on-demand services we use now. 

For my fourth blog post I looked at ethnicity in Doctor Who. I chose this quite sensitive subject because I could compare how ethnically diverse the show is now to how predominantly undiverse it was back in the 60s, and how that led to cases of racism. This is relevant to today because one of the most famous cases of this in a story was recently shown at a BFI screening and is set to be released on blu-ray in the coming months. 

Regarding the infographics I based them on the first three blog posts. I decided on this because I felt these were the two topics with the most data that could be plotted in a visual way - leading to how I presented the infographics in a factual way for the Women In Doctor Who infographic and in a statistical way for the Viewing Figures infographic. 

Overall I am happy with the result of my blog. I believe I covered three relevant subjects and accumulated enough information and data to back up my points in a way that makes the reader learn something that they might otherwise have not.

Ethnicity In Who

Nowadays Doctor Who strives to be an inclusive show. Employing people of all ethnicities and race both in front and behind the camera. But the show didn’t always have the stigma it does now. In fact, it’s been quite an uphill climb for the Doctor… 

As we’ve already established, back in 1963, Sydney Newman made history on Who by employing Verity Lambert to be the first female producer at the BBC. But he also made another milestone decision which was similarly ridiculed - He hired Waris Hussein to direct the pilot serial ‘An Unearthly Child’. This was significant because Hussein was the first Indian drama director to work at the BBC. Hussein recalled staff staring at him and laughing at how he got the job. Nowadays this would be known as industrial racism, but he, coupled with Lambert ignored the naysayers and realised their vision for the series. Hussein directed two serials between 1963 and 1964. 

Waris Hussein visiting the Doctor Who set during the filming of 'Hell Bent' in August 2015

With the exception of this milestone, Doctor Who remained a predominantly Caucasian managed show for many years, even being criticised in the 1960s and 70s for racism. The most famous incident of this is in the 1977 story ‘The Talons Of Weng-Chiang’ in which white, Caucasian actor John Bennett portrayed magician Li H’Sen Chang in make up and using an accent to make him appear Chinese. In the years since the story first aired it has been heavily criticised for this decision and while it is hard to conceive why the BBC didn’t hire a Chinese actor, it is something they had to try and justify since by marking it as ‘a sign of the time’. There were other cases, mainly in historically set stories from the 60s in which white actors would be 'blacked up'.

The character of Li H'Sen Chang in 'The Talons Of Weng-Chiang', portrayed by John Bennett 

Doctor Who didn’t become known as an ethnic diverse show until it came back in 2005. When there was a dramatic increase of more ethnic and race representation both in front and behind the camera. For example, the first black character to travel with the Doctor, Mickey Smith was introduced in 2005, a whole 42 years after the show began. 

Over the past three years Doctor Who has strived to become more ethnically diverse than ever. Having the TARDIS team consist of a young Pakistani woman and young black man, hiring a black composer and having a mix of ethnicity on the writing and behind the scenes teams. These are all steps that the show has recently taken to be more suitable for all audiences, tying into Series 12’s tagline - ‘Space. For All.’ 

Space. For All.

In the context of the show and its production history was made on January 26th 2020 when Jo Martin was revealed not only as a mysterious incarnation of the Doctor, but also as the first black actor to play the part in the shows 57 years. The reveal got an overwhelming response from fans who quickly wanted to see more of this incarnation of the Doctor

As you can see Doctor Who has always tried to break milestones and defy the expectations of the many. Something that it managed back in 1963 and it is something it is still managing to do 57 years later in 2020.