And then she converted, but he still loved her. Ianto is very open-minded.
It was even worse on Torchwood. He kind of became a super slut if I remember correctly. He was cooler when introduced.
Holy crap, I never thought it was racist. It’s just the Doctor thinking he seemed more like a PE teacher than maths. Yikes.
The Doctor is never racist, even cross-species.
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Holy crap, I never thought it was racist.
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I never thought the “P.E. teacher” thing was racist, either. To me, it didn’t read like The Doctor was insulting Danny because he was black, it read like the Doctor was insulting him because he was Clara’s boyfriend. The Doc’s just being kind of a dick. The putdown would work with any ethnicity, Or even species. He is a Time Lord, after all. And also kind of a dick.
I can imagine:
Steven Hawking: I’m a world renowned astro-physicist.
The Doctor: Astro-physics? You must be proud. Here’s a dodge-ball. I hear humans bounce it off each other’s heads to make them think better.
There was a UK sitcom in the late 70s called Mixed Blessings. At the time it was meant to be progressive, but this was coming out of an era marred by Love Thy Neighbour, so anything looked good compared with that.
I think it’s the lizard/human marriage that might be seen as a bit odd by viewers, more than the lesbian one. Or that could just be me.
I mean, she’s a lizard woman!
US had a mixed race relationship in the 70’s on the Jeffersons. I mean, George called them Oreos and stuff, but no one else in the show cared, and George seemed to hate everyone but Weezie anyway.
I’ve noticed the “trying too hard” thing too. No, you can’t be lesbians. You have to be cross species lesbians! They do that to gays a lot on TV, Brit & US. No, you can’t just be gay. You have to be multi-racial with multi-racial adopted kids. They must have serious allergies to everything and be adorably autistic.
The thing with PE, that was because the Doctor hates soldiers. I did remember thinking, “they wouldn’t do that on a US show. It’d be racist.”
A lot of directors seem to really struggle with gay characters not seeming forced and contrived. It’s even worse for bisexuals. How do you tell the audience they’re bi without them having sex with both genders, and not have them look like sluts?
Well, the Doctor did give Donna a winning lottery ticket as a wedding present. So if they weren’t happy, at least they were rich. 
But from what Wilf said to the Doctor earlier, Shaun and Donna got along very well.
And at that point, did the Doctor know he was a soldier? I’m sure he could not imagine a former soldier teaching maths.
He did not know he was her boyfriend yet. Did know he was a former soldier. The other teacher (he he did think was her boyfriend because he looked like eleven) had mentioned Danny’s military experience, and his electrical experience there.
First the second part is contradicted by the first.
Second, not quite the fair comparison for the show. If you want to use that source you can also quote
Not saying that a fantasy show needs to reflect reality mind you. But that yes they seem to be trying very very hard, not just reflecting the norms of the U.K. as they exist.
Definitely not racist. This Doctor can barely tell humans apart except for a couple that he cares about. He certainly doesn’t care about human skin tone. The P.E. thing was a shortcut to show his disdain for someone he instantly clashed with. Their personalities don’t mix and it was made worse by the Clara relationship.
I will finish reading the thread when I get the chance, but I can’t resist leaving this here first:
There’s also some stuff about the “Savage Indian” in An Unearthly Child.
Not surprising, since Britain’s nearly 90% white. Even in a totally race-blind society with an even distribution of ethnicities, that number wouldn’t rise to more than one in 8.
But I don’t know if that stat is relevant, because I’m theorising that the producers are deliberately including black characters for the sake of diversity, and then deciding what to do with them. And then the question becomes - is it reasonable to have them in a relationship with one of the other main characters? Is that a situation black British people are often in? Well, yes it is. I doubt that they’re putting their black characters in relationships with white characters specifically because they think that it’s edgy. I do think they’re trying to increase their general diversity though (and Old-Who, like a lot of British TV at the time, was pretty mediocre in that respect)
Yeah, those humans. They all look alike, you know.
Yeah, but Amy and Rory were Scottish. That’s barely white.
Also, does every planet in every time period they visit have to have the same racial demographics of Earth? Why not a planet of all black people or all Asian looking people (wouldn’t be Asia obviously)? Or why not a future Earth where everyone is Chinese or something. At least Star Trek made them green or blue or put an ass on their head or something to make them look like they were not from Cardiff.
I’m more interested in the racial dynamics of shows like Battlestar Galactica or V where the aliens/robots are pretending to be human.
“So…do we …um…what to make a black one?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t we?”
“Oh…no reason…it just might be considered racist if we did.”
“I would think it would be racist if we didn’t.”
“Yeaaa…I suppose. So do you want ‘Black Guy’ or ‘Sexy Asian Girl’?”
"You don’t have any “White Guy” models left?
“No. They went pretty quick”.
“Uhhh…then I’ll take Sexy Asian Girl.”
Actually, you know what’s really funny about the racial dynamics of Nu Who? No Asians. If they’re really trying to be inclusive, there should be twice as many Asian characters as black ones, at least.
Torchwood.
Oddly enough, the demographics of the Whoverse are very similar to the demographics of London talent agency clients.