Just released to the Doctor Who youtube channel, with the announcement (excerpted):
Are you ready for this? 😉 Watch Doctor Who from the 11th May on BBC iPlayer in the UK and stream on Disney+ where available. Find out more here: https://bbc.in/4a5c1vA
I guess this is what RTD was teasing the other day on Instagram…
Happy we’re finally getting a black Doctor, but what’s everyone’s bets on how they handle pre-1970 time travel? I see three options:
They bravely display the massive discrimination and racism the average black man faced during those times, as well as explore the often unrecognized impact black culture had during those times.
They completely ignore history and pretend that the world has just always been super cool with diversity. Everyone they meet treats the Doctor just like they do everyone else. (My money is on this considering how they’ve previously dealt with things like women’s rights)
They just never go to pre-1970.
“Just walk around like you own the place” - Tenth Doctor to Martha
Or they go to a lot of other planets where it’s not an issue they have to deal with. Remember he has all of time and space
Ryan and Yaz weren’t exactly treated well by white people when they went back and met Rosa Parks, so…
I know …and how exactly did they handwave women’s rights away in Witchfinders? Or Byron trying to get it on with the Doctor in Villa Deodati? Just because it isn’t forefronted all the time doesn’t mean the writers are blind to the implications of casting.
You can scratch option 3 since at least one episode of the upcoming season features The Beatles. Probably the one that has the Doctor in an afro and snappy suit.
We will have to wait until May to see if your other bets check out. I have some trust that RTD might deliver, especially after his work in the last 10 years.
Or he uses a perception filter so they don’t notice his skin color, like The Master did when he was posing as a Nazi commander.