In the latest series of Doctor Who Unleashed, the writer Russell T Davies noted that Doctor Who fans don’t always like it when ‘new things’ are introduced to the show. But is this always true? Are the Time Lord’s biggest supporters really nervous about ‘newness’?
As somebody once said, “Life depends on change and renewal.” Actually, it was the Second Doctor Patrick Troughton who uttered these words, just after his regeneration in ‘The Power of the Daleks.’ Arguably, this was one of the biggest changes that Doctor Who fans had ever experienced – the replacement of the show’s lead actor, and the only Doctor viewers had ever known, William Hartnell. So how did fandom respond?
Well, given the absence of social media in the swinging 60s, we’ll have to defer to the BBC’s own programme guide. Apparently, Doctor Who fans were divided on the Time Lord’s new face. “What have you done to BBC1’s Doctor Who?” said one viewer. “Of all the stupid nonsense! Why turn a wonderful series into what looked like Coco the Clown? I think you will find thousands of children will not now be watching Doctor Who, which up to now has been the tops.”
Another Doctor Who fan wrote, somewhat prophetically: “Patrick Troughton and the superb character he has created have dragged the programme out of the unfortunate mess it had degenerated into. Given sensible scripts the programme could possibly emerge as one of the real successes of television science fiction.”
Of course, one of the best gauges of the series’ success is the viewing figures, and we all know how much we like talking about those. The opening episodes of William Hartnell’s final series saw viewing figures floating around the 4 million mark, which was a significant drop from the 12 million it had enjoyed at its peak. These figures crept up for his final story ‘The Tenth Planet,’ finishing on a high of 7.5 million. And this high was sustained when Troughton took over the reins, despite the split reaction from Doctor Who fans, and the series’ audience doubled to around 8 million by the time ‘The Moonbase’ was transmitted.
These days, Doctor Who regenerations are almost certain to pull in extra viewers – out of curiosity, if nothing else. Similarly, audiences will stick around with a new Doctor in the early stages to see how they fare. It’s only when they reach the end of their first season that we get a true understanding of how well they’ve landed with the public.
And whilst change isn’t always easy for Doctor Who fans, nobody can deny that ‘change’ is integral to the show’s longevity. It has the ability to continually re-invent itself and pull in fresh viewers, even if some of those re-inventions can be a tad bumpy to begin with. For example, John Nathan-Turner might be one of the series’ most controversial producers, but there’s no denying the impact he had on the series when he cast Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor; viewing figures rose from a low of 3.7 million in Tom Baker’s final season to a high of 10.4 in the series that followed. If Davison had legions of angry detractors, they were still watching his stories.
In modern times, though, Doctor Who fans have had more than simple regenerations to get used to. The producers have employed more creative techniques to thrill, entertain, grab headlines and trend on social media, and some of these have made Doctor Who fans’ heads spin. “Be afraid, Doctor,” says the Master in the closing moments of 2020’s ‘Ascension of the Cybermen.’ “Because everything is about to change… forever.”
And he wasn’t joking. This ‘promise’ from the Master echoed across the webosphere in the days that followed, with the official social channels urging Doctor Who fans to tune into the series’ game-changing finale the following Sunday.
Most Doctor Who fans know how this went down, so we went dwell too heavily on the details here – you can read our full write-up for the summary. But suffice it to say, the response was vocal, and the BBC weighed into the discussion with an official statement. “Doctor Who is a beloved long-running series and we understand that some people will feel attached to a particular idea they have of the Doctor, or that they enjoy certain aspects of the programme more than others,” it said. “Opinions are strong and this is indicative of the imaginative hold that Doctor Who has – that so many people engage with it on so many different levels.
“We wholeheartedly support the creative freedom of the writers and we feel that creating an origin story is a staple of science fiction writing.”
As the BBC highlights, opinions were indeed strong, and some people did indeed feel attached to a particular idea of the Doctor – although, in this case, the idea was one that had underpinned the series since 1963, and was integral to show’s lore: William Hartnell is the first Doctor, he is a Time Lord from Gallifrey, he stole a TARDIS and fled from his own people, nobody knows his true name… In fact, the mystery of the Doctor’s identity is the series’ cornerstone (nay, title) and the revelation of ‘The Timeless Children’ went some way to answering the question of “Doctor who?” which, one could argue, chiselled away at the show’s fundamentals.
So, did Doctor Who fans vote with their remotes? Well, ‘The Timeless Children’ was seen by 4.69 million viewers. The figures remained around this level in the special and mini series that followed – although one episode, ‘Survivors of the Flux,’ addressed the plot points of ‘The Timeless Children’ and expanded the lore-changing revelations further, and after this the figures struggled to recover, hovering around the 3 million mark through to the end of the Jodie Whittaker era. Of course, this trend cannot be pinned exclusively on ‘The Timeless Children,’ but it’s clear that the revised backstory hadn’t brought many new viewers to the fold.
So was Russell T Davies right? Do Doctor Who fans struggle to accept ‘new things’? Perhaps the BBC put it best: “Some people will feel attached to a particular idea they have of the Doctor…” These would be the fans who feel a particular era or Time Lord defines the show for them, like Tom Baker and his jelly babies, or Matt Smith and his bow tie. But if the “particular idea they have of the Doctor” challenges the show’s core identity, it’s going to be a tough sell even for the most stalwart of viewers.
So the only answer to the question about Doctor Who fans is: maybe. It depends on what the new things are, and what they do to the canon (and yes, there is a canon – albeit a wibbly wobbly, timey wimey canon.)
So over to you, reader: do you think Doctor Who fans object to new things? And what are your favourite new things of recent times? Let us know in the comments below.
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