Doctor Who is like a nice car, originally advanced and ahead of its time, then it became a cool and desirable classic, more fun than useful, but now its a rusting pile of unserviceable junk just waiting to be scrapped because its owners didn’t look after it.

This is a sad situation for perhaps the most iconic British show of all time. Something drastic must be done and it’s clear small changes such as a new Doctor or show runner will not be enough. Currently each new era of Who is worse than the last. More is lost from what made the show so beloved and more of the audience has departed.

1. Start From The Beginning

Let’s face it, “Nu Who” is a mess. Introducing “The Timeless Children” was akin to unleashing a bull in the china shop of Who canon. Doubling down on that under RTD’s second run means they can’t even side step the issue. The thing is though, even before the gender swap, there were a lot of creative decisions made for short term gain that did long term damaged and drove the series into a number of creative traps (Many of which I’ll touch on here). Right from the start, escalating the Daleks to near god-like monsters and eliminating the whole of Gallifrey severely limited storytelling options. Having The Doctor get romantically involved with his very first reboot companion was a cheap way to generate interest that never really fit with the character as we knew him from the original series.

Now you could simply do what many movie franchises have done and side step the entire reboot era. If you do that there’s no reason to even acknowledge the Doctor Who movie, you just pick up from the 8th incarnation. However, it can’t be denied that Nu Who does have a lot of fans (Most of which have also walked away now) and it’s not like the continuity was perfect before that. The best solution then is to abandon all that continuity and reboot from the 1st Doctor. Then the existing fans can decide what parts of the previous versions they want to consider canon and what they want to ignore. For me, it’ll just be classic Who, but if people want to consider all of it canon that’s fine. But Who will be restart from scratch.

What’s in a name?

It’s a common trend for people to make the argument that mystery is better than explanation. I disagree. In the context of a movie, yes that can work extremely well, but with a TV series that may run for decades pushing a mystery and never answering it is basically just going all in with the JJ Abrams mystery box style of storytelling. Eventually you can no longer provide any answer that will satisfy and yet if you provide none the story feels empty. For such a show, it’s a bad idea to get too carried away with unrevealed mysteries. With Doctor Who people make a big thing about the name of the show, yet the original show didn’t force the mystery and by the era of the third Doctor, we were presented with a fair amount of information about the characters childhood without any issue.

In my view, it was often suggest that Time Lords would take their own name and there are many examples of title-like names among Galifreyans. I had always assumed it was just a cultural thing and there didn’t need to be a big fuss over the mystery. Humans meeting him often remark “Doctor Who?”, but that doesn’t necessarily imply a big mystery as to his original name, instead for me the mystery was why he chose “The Doctor”. There is no reason the show can’t reveal elements of the characters childhood, but it doesn’t need to reveal his birth name, indeed that should be unimportant. It’s fine however to imply that there was a reason he took the name “The Doctor”. The obvious reason would be that he wanted to heal something. Mysteries about the Doctors past should be generated and solved at a relatively steady pace without letting anything dwell too long or stagnate.

Character Progression.

By the end of our first story we should have a Doctor very much like William Hartnell on Earth in the 60’s with his granddaughter. In the original story it was said The Doctor and Susan couldn’t return to Gallifrey but wanted to one day, there is no reason not to look into this a bit more. It’s also worth noting The Doctor has lived a fairly long life before he starts adventuring, that life doesn’t have to all be on Gallifrey. This isn’t the original series anymore and providing something new out of the door would certainly be refreshing, so why not look into some of this? In my view the reason the Doctor left gallifrey, the reason he took the name “The Doctor” and the reason he has his grandaughter with him should be linked and could be a very compelling story.

The full journey of the first doctor should be one where he eventually embraces the role of the name he chose. To begin with he wants nothing to do with the rest of the universe, but after travelling with Susan, Barbara and Ian for a while he learns the burden of power and responsibility. One element I did like introduced by the reboot series is the idea that a regeneration is somewhat guided by need, almost like a form of evolution. So the second Doctor would regenerate into this role and from then on each Doctors journey can help define the personality of the next regeneration and in turn bring on new things for him to learn. That should keep things interesting, fresh and consistent. Oh and only twelve regenerations!

2. Return to 4-8 Part Stories.

I understand why the Who reboot opted for single part stories initially. The TV landscape had changed and getting a new generation to invest in a weekly 25 minute episode to tell a 4-8 part story was going to be a big ask. Most shows of the time were based on 45 minute episodes, mostly self contained but with some overall linking story between all episodes in a season. This was effectively applied directly to Doctor Who. The linking storylines were somewhat weak, but the set up worked to bring in new fans.

But things have changed since then. Now streaming is king and with it the binge model. Most streaming shows have short seasons of no more than about 10 episodes, many substantially less. This is a set up almost perfectly designed for the classic Doctor Who. With the binge model you could drop a 4 or 6 episode story and let people binge it. Do that 2-3 times a year as a “Season” and you have the perfect set up for modern audiences.

Time And The Binge Model.

This is the trouble with the current show makers, they refuse to change the format. They don’t mind changing the Doctor, messing with the lore and the entire tone of the show but they don’t even consider that it may be time to revert to the old format. Times have changed more dramatically for TV shows between the launch of the reboot series and now then they did between the classic shows debut and the reboot series. Many modern viewers prefer the binge model and streaming services have been experimenting with formats that allow an amount of binge while also allowing for water cooler discussions. It couldn’t be better set up for a classic Who format.

Six part stories at 30 minutes each or four parts at 45 minutes each would fit the current market perfectly. With 3 hour stories (Less actually, once credits and recaps are removed), they could provide 3-4 of these every year. Pretty comparable to a classic season, but with the difference that you drop an entire story at once which will satisfy those fans used to seeing a complete story in one sitting and people that just like to binge watch. Returning to these longer stories also means they no longer need those vague season long arks that have frankly always been quite disappointing.

3. Bring Back The Science Fiction

There is a lot of misunderstanding with Doctor Who. People that don’t regularly go back and watch the old black and white episodes (Most likely have never watched them) tend to just believe it started out as a children’s show. This isn’t true. Conceptually it started out as an educational show for children. This isn’t the same as just a children’s show, since the whole point of an educational show is to provide education! That means accurate history and science. That leaned the show into genuine science fiction. It’s also obviously untrue to suggest that only Children were the audience for the show, even in those early days. That was not the case. Children did watch it, but it appealed to adults too and it especially appealed to adult science fiction fans.

However it may have been initially conceived, the show quickly left those tracks. Initially “The Daleks”, the shows second serial, was considered not appropriate for the show. Despite being solid science fiction, it wasn’t suitable for an educational children’s show. However after Verity Lambert went to bat for Terry Nation’s story and it became a huge success the entire shape of the show changed. Obviously there was a drive for “More of that” and that meant more science fiction. It was built into the shows initial success and formed a key element for the whole of the black and white era.

Science Fiction In Decline.

When the Second Doctor came along an element of comedy was introduced, but the sci-fi remained firmly front and center. When the show moved into colour with the Third Doctor injected a bit more action to the franchise with a bit of a James Bond influence, however many episodes also took on a Quatermass sort of vibe, again firmly science fiction with a touch of horror to boot. The Fourth Doctor stepped away from the action and brought back a bit of the comedy but didn’t lack for Science Fiction. This is the era where Douglas Adams was writing the occasional episode a man that blended comedy and solid science fiction concepts together with unmatched brilliance and it’s no surprise that Tom Baker’s era hit that sweet spot of “This is what Doctor Who should be”.

Things remained fairly consistent until the notable drop in budget and quality during the Seventh Doctor’s run. But even here, while things did get a too campy for my tastes, there was still a decent amount of science fiction. By the time we got to the reboot era however, this key element of the show had become heavily diminished. Russel T Davis is not a science fiction writer and that was clear from pretty early on (Indeed, it seems he only liked the campier stuff). Steven Moffat at least was capable and did introduce some of those elements whenever he was writing (He was a much better writer than show runner). Overall though the show took a huge step away from science fiction and towards fantasy, drama, campy theatrics and soap opera.

Too Much Feeling, Too Little Thinking.

The first thing the reboot era did was start pushing a romance between the Doctor and his companion. This was the most obvious, cheapest route the show could take and it was the first place Davis wanted to go with it. All too often the stakes were artificially inflated, and the Doctor would just pull out a Deus Ex Machina to solve it quickly at the end. Part of that was down to the length of the stories and the increased focus in the relationship between the Doctor and the Companion. The stories themselves became notably secondary to the characters. Their concepts became shallower and more about what would look cool than what was an interesting thing to think about.

All storytelling should make you feel something, but Science Fiction is meant to make you think as well. Nu Who however, was only interested in those feelings. If it found space between The Doctor and companions emotional journey to fit in something conceptually interesting, that was a bonus, but all to often this was totally lacking. But these days it’s not just Doctor Who that is like this. Even Star Trek has largely turned it’s back on Science Fiction, which to me is bizarre. Blade Runner watered it down for it’s disappointing sequel and Star Wars, which was always closer to fantasy somehow found a way to step even further from Sci-Fi concepts and more towards…. well, “Shipping” apparently. Don’t even get me started on that one.

The Importance of Nuance and Complexity.

These days it is more important than ever to encourage people to think on complex topics. Topics like the nature of humanity, finding balance in a world of differing perspectives and cultures, what our place is in the universe in the long term and the nature of life itself. We need to examine these and we need to do it with nuance and depth. People should be encouraged to think more deeply and not be controlled by knee jerk emotional reactions. In short, we really need proper science fiction back and yet all the science fiction franchises seem to have moved far away from these elements. With the current incarnation of Doctor Who, Davis has outright announced that the show is moving from science fiction to fantasy. He’s also clearly more interested in telling people what to think instead of letting them think for themselves.

There is clearly a big gap in the market for solid science fiction at the moment. The show should move towards it, instead of away and towards soap opera, fantasy and pantomime. That would not only bring back old school fans but also bring in the refugees from all those other franchises AND by encouraging people to think about and discuss these topics in a balanced, nuanced way with all views represented it could actually do some good for society. Maybe it could even bring people together instead of constantly dividing us with one sided lecturing like the current show does. Even those that agree with the narratives being pushed in the modern show must realize, you can reach more people through writing quality science fiction than you can with a lecture in the middle of a pantomime.

4. Stop Sensationalizing The Companions!

While we don’t truly know how a 1000 year old alien would feel about 20-ish year old girls of an entirely different species, it seems unlikely that he’d start falling in love with them. He certainly wouldn’t be talking to them like a school girl about how hot some random dude was. None of that seems right for such a character. It also doesn’t add anything really to the show except for cliches and complications. The Doctor should be aloof from all that. Now obviously there is a suggestion that the character has had a relationship in the past, seeing as he appeared to have a granddaughter, but that was before his first regeneration, before we even meet the character.

Had they just done the romance with Rose and left it at that, perhaps it would have been fine. But they didn’t leave it there. With the next major story arc, they gave him an actual wife, who ended up being the daughter of a companion that also had the hots for him, despite first meeting him as a child herself. The entire thing was a little creepy. Clara seemed out of the same mold and certainly they pushed the idea again with Yazz. Companions constantly falling for the doctor is boring, limits the storytelling and gets in the way of the individual stories.

The Importance of Variety.

Even when not having the companion drooling over the Doctor there has been a trend with the reboot series of making every companion super special and the center of season long story arcs. Donna became “The Doctor Donner”, Clara became a character out of time that had apparently been The Doctors guardian angel throughout his life (At least up until they added a extra regenerations). Amy Pond became the mother of his wife as well as someone that met him as a child and waited for him. These are all cheap mysteries and cheap replacements for telling actual stories. I mean how many “The girl who” titles do they need? The universe doesn’t need to always revolve around the companion. I think it’s for this reason why Martha was my favourite companion of the reboot show, Martha was good because of her personality not because she had superpowers.

But it’s not just about sensationalizing the companions. It’s about time the Doctor went back to having multiple companions, each with their own stories, identities and desires. These characters can have complex relationships with each other, instead of always making it about The Doctor. They can also have their own unique strengths and actually have flaws (Often missing from Nu-Who companions). Of course the reboot show did move back to a group briefly with Whitaker’s Doctor, but the men in that group were treated as unimportant, while Yazz ended up being shipped with The Doctor and as soon as the Doctor became male again he immediately went back to one female companion. Predictable. On top of that these were all companions from modern day Earth. Remember when the Doctor used to travel with aliens, Highlanders and people from the future? That is real diversity.

5. Keep The Doctor Male

This will be my most controversial rule. The fact is there are many differences between men and women (As I said, controversial). Some are physical, some are in how we think and feel and some are in how we are perceived by society. These differences mean that changing the gender of a character radically alters how the viewers will relate to that character. None of this appears to have been considered when they decided they wanted a female Doctor. It never really made any sense and yet it was clearly something they had planned since at least the arrival of Steven Moffat as show runner. Before then, there had not even been a hint that this was possible in the shows lore. But the moment we started seeing other Timelords change genders, we all knew why. This was done entirely for reasons external to the shows storytelling.

That in itself is an issue. You shouldn’t be taking a wrecking ball to your show canon, just because you want to somehow empower women by saying they too can be this fictional character that has been male for 50 years. The motivation for doing something in story should never be virtue signalling. It should never be justified by “Why not?” or “It’s about time”. It should only ever be about telling a good story. But outside of that there are many other reasons to keep the Doctor male. For example, you need to keep a character relatively consistent to make sure they can always be recognised by the casual audience. That keeps a franchise in the public’s conscious and ties the past to the future. As soon as it becomes unrecognizable, the link between the past and present is severed and brand confusion reigns supreme.

Role Models and Personality

But an even more important reason to keep the Doctor male is his personality. See the Doctor is a little forgetful and scatterbrained at times. For a male character that is sort of charming, but for a female character it is a negative female stereotype, the ditsy blonde. More importantly the Doctor solves problems with empathy and intelligence instead of aggression and violence. For a male character this is fairly unique and it makes the Doctor a great male role model. It tells young boys they can solve problems with empathy and intelligence instead of brute force. It was a lesson that I learned from the show and I think many others did too. Boys need that kind of role model. Girls do not. Indeed part of that way of solving problems can sometimes involve manipulation. Having a female character that empathetic is basically just a generic female character, but having one that is manipulative? Well again we’re onto negative female stereotypes.

In short, it simply doesn’t work. But since even complaining about it gets you labelled as a sexist misogynist, it actively drives people away from the show and divides the fandom into two equally angry factions. Last but not least it is absolutely unnecessary to gender switch the character. Doctor Who was always filled with interesting female characters that were ripe for a spin off, several of which are Timeladies or have similar capabilities: A Romana spin off has been an obvious thing to do since the 70’s; The Rani running a redemption ark could have been an interesting/unique spin off story and; The Doctor’s Granddaughter Susan who hasn’t been seen on screen since the 60’s could easily have her own adventures. Even limited to reboot era characters there are many options: The cloned “Daughter” of the Doctor, who presumably can regenerate; Clara and Ashildr, who have their own Tardis; Even Bill Potts and her puddle girlfriend are out there somewhere.

When you think about it, the Whoniverse is pretty much a universe of many strong female characters and very few strong male ones, so maybe those should stay male?

A Quick Note On Race.

Before I move on, I should touch on race swapping the Doctor. This isn’t an issue for personality or lore. However, it does impact that surface level character consistency, so to do a race change you need to make sure you have an actor that screams “Doctor Who” at your, either in their performance or just in themselves. Richard Ayoade has been a fan favourite choice for a while for that very reason. Not giving him a shot will likely always go down as a missed opportunity, though to be fair some have questioned if he is actually a good enough actor. In my experience comedians often surprise you, so I would have considered it worth a shot. The last thing you want to do however, is race switch and then also make them look and act radically different to past incarnations. Then it no longer seems like Doctor Who at all.

Of course that is literally what they just did. It’s almost like they deliberately wanted to make him more difficult to accept. Why? Well again it seems another decision done for reasons outside of the show itself. That does nothing to help the franchise. But in theory switching races isn’t a problem if the right actor is chosen. I would say though that given this is an iconic British show, the demographic should reflect the countries demographics. We are majority white, but our largest non-white demographic is Asian (Mostly South Asian). Black people represent just 4% of our population, while Asians represent 9.3%. That is more than double and yet the BBC treat this like it is the other way around. For me this exposes a larger issue: They seem more interested in pushing popular mainstream perceptions/politics than providing genuine representation.

6. Stop With The Power Creep

The last thing is a problem for a lot of franchises that are fantasy or science fiction based these days. In Doctor Who the best example of this going wrong is The Daleks. They have gone from radiation eating armored mutants that can only travel within their own city, to virtually indestructible flying, time travelling demi-gods that threaten all of time and reality, multiverses and the Timelords themselves and who are basically impossible to defeat… except with a magical bullshit machine performing a Deus Ex Machina. These power levels and stakes ultimately render the entire story meaningless. It’s silly and it needs to stop.

Somewhere along the line it was decided that threatening The Earth wasn’t enough. That enemies with weaknesses wasn’t interesting enough and that The Doctor himself effectively needs to be a god to be in the same playground as the other giants. It all became just a tad too ridiculous. Right now through a combination of this and the Doctors new infinite lives cheat code the show has literally no stakes (That anyone will ever believe anyway). Obviously with a full reboot you get a hard reset on that, but you must be ever vigilant to ensure bad writers don’t take these kinds of short cuts again. Every now and then it’s okay to threaten the universe or reality itself, but you have to pull things right back to a more personal level after so it doesn’t get out of control and you need to chose the right villains for those threats. The Black Guardian is right for that level, not The Daleks. Not that I’m saying the Daleks should go back to being killed by being pushed over a coat. But maybe they could be less god-like.

Final Words

I recognise there is a need to compromise with Who, because like any show that has run for so long and changed throughout, there are fans of each era and they want different things. So I’m not saying to drop everything the reboot series offered, just that these elements that were better in the original show should return. Even before the new show went into an era I can only describe as “Zombie Who” it was stagnating because of the lack of variety. Sadly RTD’s ideas to add variety are to reduce the show to pantomime and to virtue signal, neither of which will attract viewers. But combining what worked prior to that in the reboot with what worked in the original show could create something that keeps both sets of fans happy and brings in new ones.

This is how I would fix Doctor Who. But it is all theoretical. Sadly with the BBC where it is now and with Disney and Bad Wolf/Sony as their partners, there is almost no hope of course correction. To fix Who those corporations needs to either change internally or be removed from any control of the franchise and that won’t happen any time soon. So to create a situation where the show actually can be fixed, the most immediate thing that needs to be done is, well… to cancel it. Yes, the most important step right now is to stop inflicting further damage to this franchise and let it rest for around five years. Then it can be rebooted more sensibly and by that time hopefully the people in charge of it will be more interested in quality and less in what often seems a vindictive campaign against those that have spent their life loving the show.

That’s all I have to say on the subject for now.

Thanks For Reading