New books take academic look at Doctor Who's impact for 60th anniversary
The past, present and future of the world’s favourite time traveller are under the spotlight in new studies of Doctor Who that will coincide with the 60th anniversary of the legendary TV show’s first broadcast.
Professor Matt Hills, from the University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Participatory Culture, has contributed to the Children’s Media Yearbook 2023 with a thought-provoking piece about the programme’s place as either children’s entertainment, or as a brand with a wide appeal similar to Star Trek or Star Wars.
Around the time of the 60th anniversary itself in November, Professor Hills will be one of the co-editors of a new collection of writing assessing issues around the wider ‘Whoniverse’, Adventures Across Space and Time: A Doctor Who Reader.
Originally produced by the BBC as children’s entertainment with an educational aspect – many early stories saw the Doctor travel to periods of history including the Romans and the French Revolution – Doctor Who has seen its audience and appeal grow with successive generations.
Doctor Who - not just a 'kids programme'?
Its passionate fanbase, spanning all age groups, has debated whether Doctor Who is ‘just’ a children’s programme for decades. It is this aspect that Professor Hills says is more of an issue than ever.
“The piece for the Yearbook focuses on whether we can think of Doctor Who as children’s media, and what can we draw from it thinking about that positively?” says Professor Hills.
“Fans have reacted against the idea that it is a kids show, equating children’s TV with the unserious or the childish. But it has always been family TV since its inception which is why, unlike TV that is aimed at children, you are not under a badge of cultural pressure. No-one tells you that you should grow out of Doctor Who.”
Professor Matt Hills
Previous anniversaries have seen former Doctor Whos return to play the character once more, and 2023 will be no different with David Tennant back to play the character for three specials before Ncuti Gatwa becomes the next occupant of the TARDIS.
“The piece considers the show in a positive way, it is neither adult, children’s or family TV, but it has a fascinating mixed identity,” adds Professor Hills. “That is a reason why it has had the life it has had. If people had not marked their own lives with where the show was at that time, then the show would not have carried on.
Spanning the generations for 60 years
“Doctor Who is, to use an academic term, liminal - it is between categories. That means that lifelong fans can share it with their kids or different generations, they can age with the show. It also makes the anniversaries so interesting, it makes people remember what they were doing after 10, 20 years of the show.”
One of the BBC’s most famous programmes, Doctor Who is now involved in an international deal with Disney but it is a move that Dr Hills feels has interesting implications for its future.
“The brand is now linked to Disney outside of the UK, which is part of a creeping commercialisation of public service TV. Public service TV is being weakened because there is less money than ever before, and that is dangerous for kids TV.
Jodrell Bank“Current (and former) Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has recently reflected on the show’s spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which was produced by BBC Children’s from 2007 to 2011, arguing that a similar spin-off is now no longer viable for the broadcaster.”
An intriguing future for the Time Lord
Professor Hills also recently appeared in a discussion about 60 years of Dr Who at the Bluedot Festival at Jodrell Bank, alongside Dick Mills and Mark Ayres from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. He feels that the anniversary, the return of Tennant plus the return of Russell T Davies as showrunner shows that 60 years of Gallifrey’s most famous export is not just an exercise in nostalgia.
“Bringing David Tennant back was an unusual move and ties in with the idea of proven intellectual property and a franchise that wants to revisit older versions of themselves, with instant audience recognition. Catherine Tate is also returning, so there will be instant buy-in from the audience.
“It looks like a commercial move for the anniversary but Russell T Davies is doing something fresh and new. How an ‘old’ Doctor has reappeared will be a new puzzle to solve by watching it. Clearly, Davies has something up his sleeve, he may even be subverting nostalgia and saying we cannot go back to the past, that we have to develop and change. There will be the rush of nostalgia, but my guess is that it will question what we see.”
TARDIS photo by Charlie Seaman on Unsplash
Jodrell Bank photo by Mark mc neill on Unsplash