Cover art for Doctor Who 60th anniversary. (BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney)
Doctor Who fans have been full of praise for the show as it returned to screens for the first of three special episodes, with many finding joy in its LGBTQ+ inclusivity.
On Saturday (25 November) the ever-popular sci-fi show aired the ‘The Star Beast’, the first of three hour-long episodes marking Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary.
The episode’s synopsis reads: “The Doctor is caught in a fight to the death as a spaceship crash-lands in London. But as the battle wreaks havoc, destiny is converging on the Doctor’s old friend, Donna.”
The specials see the return of showrunner Russell T Davies to the series’ helm alongside David Tennant as the Doctor and Catherine Tate as his former companion Donna Noble.
Trans icon and Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney was introduced as Donna’s daughter Rose Temple-Noble whilst lesbian legend Miriam Margolyes starred as classic Doctor Who villain Beep the Meep – who actually prompted a conversation about pronouns in the episode.
Following the episode, fans were quick to take to social media to praise the show, in particular noting its inclusion of LGBTQ+ topics despite what bigots had to say.
“Russell T Davies truly stood up and said Trans people are beautiful and we love to see it,” one X user commented.
“#DoctorWho was so great last night, a fun romp and well made. Most of all I was so happy to see Donna respect her trans daughter, and help her mother when she was clumsy with the details, just all the good representation. In times we live in right now it’s what we need to see,” another said, full of praise.
Trans rights campaigner India Willoughby wrote: “Very moved by Doctor Who tonight. After doing a talk at Cambridge Uni earlier this week, and watching shows like Strictly and The Voice, you realise trans hate is definitely age related. Conservative, straight-laced, frumps. Wish I’d been just one generation earlier.”
“RTD knew he was going to be accused in bad faith of being woke regardless, so he leaned in HARD. Loving it,” a third fan said.
“The way that you can tell Russell had so much fun writing the progressive, trans-inclusive elements of that episode knowing that it would make all the worst elements of the internet seeth,” someone else commented.
“Doctor who is literally about transgenderism saving the world,” a fourth wrote.
“People losing their minds about David Tennant talking about pronouns in Doctor Who when he was making out w/ Michael Sheen as a non-binary demon in Good Omens 2 a few months ago is kinda hilarious, ngl,” another wrote.
If you can’t get enough of Doctor Who, the second of the three specials – entitled ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ – will air on 2 December and the final part, ‘The Giggle’, will arrive on 9 December.