# Is Doctor Who Racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774 "2013-05-31T06:01:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/1 "2013-05-31T06:01:14Z")
Seriously?! 😕 At least the poll is trending 92% _No_.Doctor Who is described as “thunderously racist” and guilty of treating non-white characters as “second class” in a collection of academic essays about the show. Several of the contributors to the book, Doctor Who and Race, which is set for publication in July, believe the **failure to cast a black or Asian Doctor** demonstrates an integral racism in the series, while others have pointed to an **inappropriately “slapstick” take on Hitler** in a 2011 episode, the early use of white actors in ethnic roles (such as in 1977 adventure The Talons of Weng-Chiang), and the portrayal of primitive cultures as “savages”. One American writer, Amit Gupta, even suggests that fifth Doctor Peter Davison’s obsession with **cricket harks back to the "racial and class nostalgia**" of the British Empire. > **[Home](https://www.radiotimes.com/)** > > Your UK TV and radio guide to what's on TV and on demand plus all the latest entertainment, soap, film and drama news and reviews from Radio Times. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/2 "2013-05-31T06:05:19Z")
Hogwash. Somebody’s trying to get publicity for a paper. Slapstick with Hitler? Have they ever heard “Der Fuhrer’s Face”? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/3 "2013-05-31T06:12:27Z")
Hah! Ask a Dalek about that! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/4 "2013-05-31T07:15:26Z")
I have a sneaking suspicion that the parents of a certain bunch of smarty-pants academics are going to be prevented from ever meeting by a rather ticked-off man with a big blue box. Serves 'em right for talking a bunch of smack about a time traveler. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/5 "2013-05-31T09:40:47Z")
Yet another example of the echo chamber that is the British press. And select bits of the nerdier American 'net. Guess where the original critique of this book appeared? [The Daily Mail](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330872/Discriminate-Discriminate-Doctor-Who-branded-thunderingly-racist-academics--conquers-Daleks-slavery--likes-cricket.html)! (Warning: Retina-searing site with a sound track!) Every other article I’ve seen has been a paraphrase of the original hatchet job. From [the book’s website](http://doctorwhoandrace.com/2013/05/29/dont-judge-till-its-published/): > [@](#): > > Since the book has not been published yet, almost no one has actually read it. This has meant that almost everything written about it has been a distorted, false view, based on third- or fourth- hand information… > > I don’t particularly want to talk about the book in depth until it is published. I prefer discussion and debate to be based on facts not hearsay, so I would like to talk about it once people have had a chance to read it. > > But I do want to clear up some misconceptions about it now… > > First, and perhaps most importantly, the book contains very diverse views about race and Doctor Who. > > Only a subset of essays are critical of the program’s casting decisions or its representations of race-related subject matter. > > Others celebrate the ways Doctor Who has been cast with respect to race, or how its stories have shown racism, slavery and colonialism to be deeply wrong. > > Still others don’t lean one way or the other, but instead merely document and reflect on some of the ways Doctor Who has engaged with race. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/6 "2013-05-31T10:24:47Z")
FWIW, _Weng Chiang_ is almost unwatchable these days, thanks to the bizarre white-actors-as-Asians casting, but I always attributed that to it’s being created **in 1977** (they let real Chinese men be extras, so clearly there were some available). Also, the early episodes featuring cave men and women using perfect-vowelled RP accents are absolutely hilarious. The past is weird. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/7 "2013-05-31T12:19:05Z")
The “Chinese” villain in _Talons_ was played by John Bennet, a white British actor. The other Chinese parts (not counting the alien or the dummy) seem to be played by Chinese. The part could be considered a retro play on Fu Manchu–with The Doctor in a deerstalker & a monstrous giant rat (of Sumatra?) lurking in the sewers of London. Still, by today’s standards the casting is tacky. But not as tacky as [this little gem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MCYzb1vENQ). Which Brits were also watching on their tellies in the 70’s… ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/8 "2013-05-31T12:24:41Z")
Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys. John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Hell, Johnny Depp as Tonto. Not that its an excuse, but we were, and still can be, tone deaf on race. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/9 "2013-05-31T12:48:13Z")
I think he’s thinking of Doctor Ku ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/10 "2013-05-31T12:51:41Z")
Not Doctor Hu? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/11 "2013-05-31T13:02:16Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > One American writer, Amit Gupta, even suggests that fifth Doctor Peter Davison’s obsession with **cricket harks back to the "racial and class nostalgia**" of the British Empire. You have got to be kidding me.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/12 "2013-05-31T13:09:12Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys. John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Hell, Johnny Depp as Tonto. In between famously playing Khan Singh on the small screen and the big screen, Ricardo Montalban got an Emmy for playing the other kind of Indian in _How The West Was Won,_ after passing himself off as Japanese in the Oscar-winning _Sayonara_ and, apparently, getting nominated for a Tony playing a black dude in _Jamaica_. He’d play an Arab. He’d play a Frenchman. Greek? Check. Mexican? Of course. I don’t know what that means. But Mister Roarke would’ve been a great Doctor Who. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/13 "2013-05-31T13:30:07Z")
He’s more racist on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/14 "2013-05-31T13:36:18Z")
Mickey, Martha Jones (Black), and Captain Jack (multisexual) say Hi. The 70s (and early 80s) were weird, man. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/15 "2013-05-31T14:01:25Z")
Admittedly I don’t watch TV that much these days so maybe my perceptions aren’t right, but one of the things I noticed quickly about the new Doctor Who when I started watching it early this year was just how much of a non-issue interracial (in this case black-white) couples are. I mean, you’ve got Mickey and Rose, Lance and Donna, Donna and what’s-his-name (the guy she married after she lost her memory) and nobody even bats an eye about it. I thought it was cool. Seems like when I see mixed couples on US TV, even if nobody’s making a big deal about it they still have to bring it up one way or another. In Who, I don’t recall it ever even being mentioned on Doctor Who. They were just _couples_. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/16 "2013-05-31T14:16:06Z")
One thing about “white guys” playing “non white guys” when the role is lead rather than extras. The lead needs to at least both a good actor and a fairly known quantity. So between finding the Chinese actor say that is actually good and known enough that the director knows they can work with them IMO its not that big a surprise this occurred. And for that matter the good/known minority actors were probably in high demand and working elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/17 "2013-05-31T14:25:59Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Admittedly I don’t watch TV that much these days so maybe my perceptions aren’t right, but one of the things I noticed quickly about the new Doctor Who when I started watching it early this year was just how much of a non-issue interracial (in this case black-white) couples are. I mean, you’ve got Mickey and Rose, Lance and Donna, Donna and what’s-his-name (the guy she married after she lost her memory) and nobody even bats an eye about it. I thought it was cool. Seems like when I see mixed couples on US TV, even if nobody’s making a big deal about it they still have to bring it up one way or another. In Who, I don’t recall it ever even being mentioned on Doctor Who. They were just _couples_. That’s just a thing about British TV in general - British society, really. There’s no particular expectation that black people will only pair up with black people. Any racial tension present comes out in quite different ways. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/18 "2013-05-31T14:29:40Z")
I’m not familiar enough with OldWho to comment on charges of racism. But NuWho doesn’t strike me as racist as much as vaguely sexist and Moffat’s making it worse. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/19 "2013-05-31T14:45:09Z")
Not only are there lots of mixed-race couples, but I’ve always been pleased that LOTS of non-whites are incorporated into the show - and it’s no big deal. In the States, all too often I feel like when you put Indian people into a show, they need to be Indian first, members of the show second. In British telly they are Brits just like everyone else and no one even flickers an eye. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774/20 "2013-05-31T15:06:32Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Admittedly I don’t watch TV that much these days so maybe my perceptions aren’t right, but one of the things I noticed quickly about the new Doctor Who when I started watching it early this year was just how much of a non-issue interracial (in this case black-white) couples are. I mean, you’ve got Mickey and Rose, Lance and Donna, Donna and what’s-his-name (the guy she married after she lost her memory) and nobody even bats an eye about it. I thought it was cool. Seems like when I see mixed couples on US TV, even if nobody’s making a big deal about it they still have to bring it up one way or another. In Who, I don’t recall it ever even being mentioned on Doctor Who. They were just _couples_. Hell, people are flipping the fuck out over the fact that there’s an interracial couple in a [Cheerios](http://gawker.com/cheerios-ad-starring-interracial-family-predictably-sum-510591871) commercial. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-doctor-who-racist/659774.md?page=2)