Doctor Who is silly now – but that's not a bad thing

When exactly did it click into place that Ncuti Gatwa's first season of Doctor Who might be a bit… silly? Was it when the Bogeyman of 'Space Babies' is revealed to be a ludicrous, literal snot-form bogey man? Or maybe when said humanoid of boogers finishes the episode by howling like a wolf, for no clear reason? Or perhaps it was just the musical number straight out of Hairspray's Baltimore corridors which caps off 'The Devil's Chord'?

We kick off the premiere double bill with tiresome throat-clearing, in which the Doctor explains why he has no normal name and what in the heck Gallifrey even is, ostensibly to Ruby (Millie Gibson), but really to the new US-based Disney subscribers tuning in for the first time.

Once that's been trudged through, we settle in for some foolish fun. Remember fun? Gatwa might be the optimum conduit for it. He skips around from place to place in unflappable vintage fits addressing people – even the villains – as "babes".

It makes complete sense that Gatwa's Doctor is the one-of-a-kind last Time Lord, because who else could match his startling levels of charisma and hench cool?

Before the rebrand, the show had become a bit dour and depressing, with predecessors like Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor grimacing through grumpy storylines that hammered home the fact that he bears the weight of the world on his shoulders.

This lighter, brighter Doctor Who may be on account of the youthful chaos Gatwa brings to his Time Lord. But the Disney of it all has probably lent a sunnier outlook to a show now out for mass appeal.

Take 'Space Babies'. It's an offbeat premise with a final twist all predicated on a pun. Wordplay as storyline! It doesn't get much sillier than that.

What's more, it all revolves around a gang of pram-bound Boss Baby-esque infants. The show's mission isn't entirely dissimilar in its focus. Now, more so than ever, it caters to kids.

That question of who Doctor Who is for has plagued the show, in part because the answer has varied from era to era depending on how scary or sexy each showrunner goes.

Davies has tied himself up in knots talking about it. "We do very scary stuff. Some stuff is quite violent. It’s not for children, it’s about children," he said before the anniversary specials. But then, very confusingly, added: "It’s not a children’s show but at the heart of it is an eight-year-old watching."

Davies has said children should not watch the show, but also when promoting Gatwa's season took every opportunity to say it is the littl'un tuning that's at the forefront of his mind when writing scripts.

This Doctor Who, with its low stakes and joyous, if random, storytelling, is firmly for children as well as adults. That doesn't have to make it lesser than, especially given Davies' rousing efforts to fold progressive themes into the episodes.

'Space Babies' contains an allegory on abortion rights in the US, which doesn't clang as loudly as it might in other hands. The superior 'Devil's Chord' episode folds in commentary on the importance of the arts. Both deliver these big political ideas as subliminal strands which speak directly to those children watching.

So, yes, the song-and-dance number featuring people off Strictly might feel like we've stepped out of the TARDIS into weird new world where Doctor Who isn't wholly dissimilar from Bluey. But perhaps it will be nice to linger somewhere silly for a while.

Doctor Who continues on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere.

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