Team behind Doctor Who dismiss fuss” made over first openly gay assistant.
It was made public last week that Doctor Who’s newest companion Bill Potts would be openly gay, making her the show’s first "full-time" LGBTQ+ character.
According to the BBC, Bill Potts's sexuality will be revealed in her second line of dialogue when the show returns to BBC One on 15 April.
This sparked an ongoing discussion swinging from a positive one celebrating on-screen diversity, to one which points fingers at those making a "big deal" out of something that shouldn’t be one.
The team behind the television programme had been congratulated, but Showrunner Steven Moffat, speaking at a press screening for the first episode of the tenth season, dismissed the “fuss” that’s been made:
"There are children here and they are much, much wiser than our generation.
"They don't understand. You [journalists] just did a headline out of someone being a fairly average person,” he continued.
"We don't want young kids who may happen to fancy their own gender to feel as if they are some of kind of special case.”
Pearl Mackie, 29, who plays Bill Potts was quoted on PinkNews, as saying:
“[Being gay] is not the main thing that defines her character – it’s something that’s part of her and something that she’s very happy and very comfortable with.”
So where should we stand on the subject? A quick search on Twitter using the #BillPotts or #PearlMackie pulls up a number of conflicting Tweets from fans:
Y'all: *Making a big deal about something you don't want to be a big deal.*#DoctorWho #BillPotts
— Daniel 🦑 (@ftdanieljames) April 1, 2017
Diversity is always a good thing, especially in a progressive show like #DoctorWho. #BillPotts
— Matt B. (@MatthewBeardmo3) March 31, 2017
Yes, it shouldn’t be a big deal in, but it looks as if it’s at least a little bit of a "deal", doesn’t it?
Maybe it’s okay to make a positive, "not-so-big-a-deal" out of this? Instead of a "shock reveal", stories of racial and sexual diversity should be noted – positively – and then left at that. Until there’s no need to do so anymore.
Discuss.