Ncuti Gatwa and Jonathan Groff in Cast Away By James Pardon
Warning: Contains spoilers for an episode of Doctor Who Rogue,” which will air in June. 8
Any doubts about the Doctor's sexual appetites will be put to rest in this Bridgerton-inspired Doctor Who episode. The Doctor who once seemed celibate throughout most of the millennia, now turns out to be a sexual creature.
Rogue, written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman, sees the Doctor and Ruby engaged in a social courtship at a Regency ball. As soon as Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor sees the mysterious man named Rogue, both his hearts will flutter. He soon looks joyfully at Rogue while lip-syncing to Kylie Minogue's “Can't Get You Out of My Head.”
Scenes where the Doctor frolics with a guy in breeches may wake some viewers. After all, his sex life remained, by and large, one of the great unknowns in the universe.
Perhaps it's no surprise that in Russell T. Davies' second reboot, Gatwa's Doctor has a loud and proud gay date. The new series is bold and joyfully diverse. It makes sense to tell the Doctor Who dudes to join us, or let it be rubbed in their faces.
The Doctor in motion seems completely new. But read between the (time) lines, and the Doctor had a mysterious sex life.
The event of the season, the scandal of the century… or the end of the world? 👀 #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/kfftnh0eaP
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) June 6, 2024
Back in 1963, Doctor William Hartnell's original companion was his own granddaughter Susan (Carol Anne Ford), confirming that the Time Lord was what we now call heteronormative – although it was never definitively stated whether Time Lords reproduce in the same way as we do , earthlings. do.
Decades later, David Tennant's Doctor admitted that he was once a father and married (“I'm terrible at weddings. Especially my own”), although he told the story of how Susan came into the world – or who are her parents/children of the Doctor. (or, indeed, who the Doctor slept with in the first place) was never revealed.
The character of Susan was not originally intended to be the Doctor's granddaughter. This detail was added by writer Anthony Coburn, who wrote the first series. According to producer Verity Lambert, Coburn felt uncomfortable with the sexual innuendo. “I think Anthony Coburn felt something wasn't quite right about an old man traveling the galaxy with a young girl as his companion,” Lambert said.
The First Doctor's only romance occurred in the 1964 serial The Aztecs, when he was accidentally engaged to an Aztec woman, Cameca (Margot Van der Burgh). It was a cultural misunderstanding. Unaware of courtship customs in 15th century Mexico, he unwittingly proposed to Cameca by offering her a cup of cocoa.
The hot-tempered Doctor manipulates Kameka, but clearly falls in love with her. “You are a very good woman, Kameka,” he tells her one day. “You will always be very, very special to me.”
Kameka gives him a brooch as a sign of her love. He is about to leave her, but cannot bring himself to do so – he secretly puts the brooch back in his pocket before leaving for the TARDIS.
Carole Ann Ford as Susan Forman and William Hartnell as Doctor Who Photo: BBC
The doctor has been celibate for several centuries. By the time he regenerated into Sylvester McCoy in the 1987 series, the Doctor was 953 years old. Sex – hardly a Saturday tea party topic – was not part of the show's language. Of course, he traveled with his share of young women, but while he felt deep affection for some of them (especially Katy Manning's Jo Grant), it always seemed platonic.
Even Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor – younger than his predecessors, with a certain amount of exuberant energy – did not flinch at the sight of the scantily clad warrior Leela (Louise Jameson). And while his relationship with Time Lady's companion Romana (Lalla Ward) appears flirtatious, it's likely colored by the fact that Baker and Ward became a couple in real life.
By all accounts, the companion was part of Doctor Who to please fathers who still sat in front of the television watching football results.
Script editor Terrance Dicks once made a note to writer Robert Holmes, joking that he had written a script called “The Secret Sex Life of Doctor Who… I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that it's not just hearts, that he has two…”
As long-time fans will know, John Nathan-Turner, who produced the show throughout the 1980s, had a “no walking in the TARDIS” rule. It was only after the release of the much-derided TV movie in 1996 that the Doctor – now Paul McGann – showed any interest in it. His new universe-saving partner, Dr. Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook), was more of a love interest than a companion. No surprise: the British-American co-production was an attempt to revive Who in a more Hollywood style. The Doctor kisses Doctor Grace as New Year's fireworks explode, but she refuses an offer to enter the TARDIS and poke him with the Eye of Harmony.
Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones and David Tennant as the Doctor Photo: BBC/Adrian Rogers
The kiss, among other changes, caused controversy among Who fans at the time. Future showrunner Steven Moffat defended the romance on an early Who forum, pointing to the Doctor's predilection for “girls in miniskirts” as evidence that the Doctor was far from asexual. “What, do you think he chose them for their brains?” wrote Moffat.
When Russell T Davies revived the show in 2005, the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston and later David Tennant) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) were the show's two beating hearts.
The love affair was more emotional than physical. With Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, the romance was more unspoken – and more powerful because of it – although he did end up kissing Rose to suck the time vortex out of her (Eccleston's Doctor also took a liking to the tree woman and received a kiss from John Barrowman's Captain Jack). Harkness).
The Doctor and Rose's romance was more explicit with David Tennant, and indeed his portrayal often felt like a romantic lead, albeit with a heavy dose of eccentricity. Tennant's Tenth Doctor “danced” with Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles) – interpret that however you will – and fell in love with school nurse Joan Redfern (Jessica Hynes) after briefly becoming something of a human. New companion Martha (Freema Agyeman) pined for him, and he kissed the ghost of Astrid, played by Kylie Minogue.
The Doctor's love life further intensified when Matt Smith took on the role in 2010. Here it was revealed that the Doctor had accidentally become engaged to and married Marilyn Monroe. There was also sexual tension with the TARDIS itself when its matrix was transferred into the body of Suranne Jones. “The first time you touched my console…” she says. It does raise questions about what he does when he's alone in that blue box.
It's not hard to imagine what happened off-screen with the Doctor's future wife, River Song (Alex Kingston). Their timelines crossed in reverse, and she had to refrain from giving him “spoilers” about his future. There was no mention of their wedding-night shenanigans, though her hint speaks for itself. “Don't worry, I'm very loud,” she says at one point. “Now, here's a spoiler for you.”
Their last night together on the planet Darillium lasted 24 years – no doubt an opportunity for the Doctor to catch up. It's all a bit creepy, though: River is the adult, twice-regenerated daughter of companions Amy and Rory, conceived in the TARDIS.
When the Doctor regenerated into Jodie Whittaker, the unrealised lesbian romance with companion Yaz (Mandip Gill) felt – like the show at that point – a little stilted. They never even kissed.
Doctor Who has often been a progressive show, from its liberal politics to its gender-bending aliens, although the Doctor has been a little more prudish when it comes to his own sex life. However, the shenanigans of Ncuti Gatwa's incarnation suggest his sex life might be a little more like the upcoming new series: loud, proud and in your face.
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