When Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor takes her bow next year, Doctor Who need not implement “radical” change and BBC Director of Drama Piers Wenger should know that. Yet Wenger, who in his former capacity as Head of Drama at BBC Wales served as Executive Producer to Doctor Who, said as much recently at the Edinburgh TV Festival (via Elliot Gonzalez). In a series known for shaking things up every time a new showrunner takes the helm, a Doctor regenerates, or an unaware companion stumbles through those deceptive Police Box doors, change is a constant theme - one that doesn’t require reinventing the wheel.
Doctor Who first premiered on the BBC in 1963 and follows the adventures of a mysterious traveler called The Doctor with their trusty TARDIS who fancies exploring everything in the universe that ever happed or ever will, typically alongside human friends eager to be shown the marvels - and just as frequently, dangers - of existence. The Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who has the ability to cheat death by “regenerating” into an entirely new body when age or injury warrants it, a feature that’s allowed many actors to portray the role. Jodie Whittaker - the first woman to ever play The Doctor - has been announced as stepping down next year alongside showrunner Chris Chibnall, creating intense speculation about the show’s future.
The only radical shake-up ever necessary was in 1966 when Doctor Who introduced the concept of regeneration as a risky solution to continuing the show without its star, First Doctor William Hartnell. The gamble paid off and the series amassed 26 seasons with seven incarnations of The Doctor before ending its original run in 1989. The current 2005 revival can certainly claim a significant departure from the production values and narrative structure of the original, but those were more modern updates to an aging franchise than radical change. And the implementation of gender and racial diversity to the lead role was a necessary acknowledgment that society has evolved since the 1960s. What’s truly radical is that Doctor Who has remained the same no matter who steered the ship in front of or behind the scenes.
The Doctor has been portrayed in varying ways - sometimes dashing, often arrogant, always resourceful - but never apathetic. That’s because at its core Doctor Who is a classic adventure series about a wanderer who refuses to sit idly by while the powerful prey on the weak. It’s that reason why the TARDIS crew can’t help but get involved in local affairs everywhere they land and it also happens to be the most relatable part of a science fiction series centered around time travel, bug-eyed monsters, and a gender-fluid alien who changes faces and personality every few years. If the BBC really wants to change Doctor Who, they should do so by returning to its roots.
Doctor Who is just as much about The Doctor’s travel companions and it's easy to see how that idea’s been lost over the years. The Russell T. Davies era focused on the companions’ experiences and resulting personal transformations. Steven Moffat shifted that paradigm to create a mystery in the companions that needed solving. Chibnall, for whom much went wrong, then centered the mystery on The Doctor themself while losing the evolution of the companions almost entirely. But Doctor Who is at its best when told through the fish-out-of-water eyes of ordinary humans whisked away on an unexpected journey into the fantastical unknown.
The relatability of wanting to escape the doldrums of daily existence for the adventure of a lifetime added to the simplicity of the Doctor’s motivation to help others escape oppression is the essential formula that’s given way to one of the most successful franchises in TV history. If the creatives behind the Fourteenth Doctor focus less on the convoluted sci-fi explanations and more on the personal relationships, character evolutions, and action-adventure elements with an unconnected showrunner, Doctor Who can right its past missteps and rise to new heights. Regardless of any upcoming aesthetic changes - on-screen or off - Doctor Who will continue as an escapist fantasy adventure series forever championing the importance of moving forward, never giving up, and always refusing to turn a blind eye. That’s pretty radical already.
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