BBC Responds to Anti-Trans Doctor Who Complaints: Lol, Lmao, Etc.

Doctor Who viewers are willing to accept a lot of things—fascist pepperpots, farting skinsuit aliens, children-kidnapping goblins with Christmas number 1 ambitions, the existence of travel in time and space in general. But some of them just couldn’t deal with a singular trans character appearing in recent episodes. To which, the BBC says: tough, you’ve gotta deal with it anyway.

It was reported last month that the broadcaster received 144 complaints about the first of the three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials, “The Star Beast,” with Deadline noting that the complaints specifically accused the BBC of the “anti-male,” “inappropriate inclusion” of a transgender character in the story: Rose Noble, played by Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney, the daughter of Catherine Tate’s returning companion Donna. Rose is shown as having been supported by her wider family in transitioning, while still facing transphobic bullying from other kids at school. A supporting character in the story, her trans identity becomes an important factor in the resolution of the plot, as well as a culmination of story threads from Donna’s initial exit from Doctor Who back in the 2008 episode “Journey’s End.” It’s unclear what exactly was deemed “inappropriate” by complaints, beyond Rose’s very existence.

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“[There are] newspapers of absolute hate, and venom, and destruction, and violence who would rather see that sort of thing wiped off the screen destroyed,” the showrunner said of recent increasing attacks on trans representation in media and trans livelihoods at large in the UK. “Shame on you, and good luck to you in your lonely lives.”

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