Doctors in Need

The above is a new Doctor Who video recorded for Children in Need, an annual charity event in the U.K. for which big stars and productions often record sketches. It's not clear if this is meant to be canon. I would think it's too silly but Russell T. Davies has shown the occasional penchant for silliness. It is funny, all concerns of story integrity aside. The awkward line about having recently been a "brilliant woman" seemed aimed directly at people concerned Jodie Whittaker was being erased in some way. In fact, I'd argue Davies has already stumbled a bit by having the Doctor's outfit changed by the regeneration. If he'd put Tennant in Whittaker's costume, no-one would have complained. It's not a particularly gendered outfit, anyway (which is one of the many reasons Missy was a more entertaining gender swap).

Davies has also revealed that the featured redesign of Davros is canon and will be seen going forward on the series.

We had long conversations about bringing Davros back because he’s a fantastic character. Time and society and culture and taste has moved on, and there’s a problem with the Davros of old in that he’s a wheelchair user who is evil.

I had problems with that, and a lot of us on the production team had problems with that, of associating disability with evil, and trust me, there’s a very long tradition of this. I’m not blaming people in the past at all, but the world changes and when the world changes, Doctor Who has to change as well.

So we made the choice to bring back Davros without the facial scarring, and without the wheelchair, or his support unit, which functions as a wheelchair. I say this is how we see Davros now. This is what he looks like. This is 2023. This is our lens. This is our eye. Things used to be black and white, they’re not in black and white anymore. And Davros used to look like that, and he looks like this now, and that we are absolutely standing by.

I think, because it’s Children in Need night. It’s a night where issues of disability, or otherness, or being excluded from society come right to the front of the conversation. So of all the nights to make this change, I thought it was absolutely vital to do this, and I’m very, very, very proud of the fact that we have.”

Oh, no. I'd be more worried if the sketch weren't genuinely funny and I think Davies, perhaps in spite of himself, is still capable of good writing. But he needs to stop the futile woke shadow-boxing. There's no winning that game. If there was one soul in the whole world complaining that Davros, in concept, somehow maligned real people with disabilities, I would be very, very much surprised. I think everyone understood that Davros was meant to be slowly changing into his own creation, becoming a Dalek. Ah, well. Fingers crossed.