Doctor Who News

[Skanky Vamp]

from the giz

Although the unique bond between the two was clear almost from the get-go of Chris Chibnall’s tenure on Doctor Who, it took until the penultimate episode of Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor to explicitly dive into her incarnation’s romantic feelings for Yaz—only for that romance to be cut short with her regeneration. But looking back, Chibnall thinks things could’ve been handled differently.

Speaking on the WHO Corner to Corner podcast, the showrunner framed the Doctor and Yaz’s relationship as an “unrequited love story,” a peculiar choice of wording considering that he was also clear that the feelings between the two were indeed mutual. “We discussed it. I think it’s an unrequited love story. I don’t know whether that’s the right decision, but it is an unrequited love story,” the former showrunner said. “I felt it was more heartbreaking. It wasn’t like there wasn’t any sense of ‘they’re not allowed to kiss,’ or, ‘they’re not going to kiss’. Dramatically, emotionally, it felt slightly more wrenching if they didn’t.”

Chibnall countered that the Doctor and Yaz’s final scene together—sitting atop the TARDIS looking at the Earth below them—is what he considered a worthy exchange. “I think if they kiss, you don’t get the final scene on top of the TARDIS, because that scene was always sort of the kiss really,” Chibnall continued. “It’s a really delicate kind of pressure because it could have happened. And who said it didn’t happen? But it wasn’t any sort of conscious decision to not to have it for anything other than ‘is it going to break your heart if they never quite get there?’”

Chibnall did conclude the thought saying that given the chance he would potentially do things differently with the Doctor and Yaz’s relationship—perhaps to make a groundbreaking queer moment in Doctor Who’s long history more explicitly textual than it was. Alas, what we got is what we got.

Sad that he didn't have the fortitude to go for it. "who said it didn’t happen" you did, mate, when you didn't show it on screen.

 

[Bop]

Sad that he didn't have the fortitude to go for it. "who said it didn’t happen" you did, mate, when you didn't show it on screen.

Chibnall didn't even come up with the idea, Jodie and Mandip saw some Doctor/Yaz shippers on Twitter and they were into it so they brought the idea to Chibnall.

 

[Cohen]

I’m trying really hard to forget the Chibnall years. Love Yaz though.

 

[Bop]

I’m trying really hard to forget the Chibnall years. Love Yaz though.

I thought Graham was the best Jodie companion, what did you love about Yaz?

 

[Cohen]

I thought Graham was the best Jodie companion, what did you love about Yaz?

I think I just liked Mandip. I thought she did great with what she was given. I still wish we would have gotten adventures with just the Doctor and Yaz. I didn’t like that they made it a romantic thing. I prefer friendships between the Doctor and his/her companion. Like Ten and Donna. And Twelve and Clara, or Twelve and Bill.

 

[Bop]

I still wish we would have gotten adventures with just the Doctor and Yaz.

I remember when Graham and Ryan's departure was announced people were hoping Yaz would be given some development being the only companion with Jodie but then they put Dan, basically a copy of Graham, in the mix and it all led nowhere. Sums up the whole era really.

 

[burrunjor]

Oh no. I think I have a new doctor heart throb to lust over. I always wanted 9 to whisk me away but I’m thinking 15 is where it’s at! 😳❤️

And not William Hartnell or Jon Pertwee?

Post automatically merged: Tuesday at 10:18 AM

I thought Graham was the best Jodie companion, what did you love about Yaz?

I personally was never keen on Yaz, but I do love the actress who played her mother. She is one of the most stunningly beautiful women in the world. She's also so nice personally too. I posted some of the lyrics to Stacey's Mom but with Yaz's mom and she thought that was hilarious. Hahaha.

Should have been a companion. Yaz's mom has really got it going on.

 

[Bop]

And not William Hartnell or Jon Pertwee?

I think all the doctors have varying degrees of sex appeal other than Hartnell, Whittaker and Colin Baker. To be fair to Hartnell he was unwell. But only David and Ncuti are the hot doctors.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

It's so weird to think how young Hartnell was.

 

[Bop]

Plus David Tennant in these new specials is only like 4 years younger than Hartnell and Capaldi were when they first played the doctor.

 

[burrunjor]

I think all the doctors have varying degrees of sex appeal other than Hartnell, Whittaker and Colin Baker. To be fair to Hartnell he was unwell. But only David and Ncuti are the hot doctors.

WOW I didn't actually expect anyone to say sex appeal about Jon Pertwee's Doctor LOL.

I mean don't get me wrong here I'm not being a dick and saying they were ugly. No one is ugly, all tastes are different but it's safe to say that classic Doctors were intended to be as sexless as possible. (Ironically the first four were all womanizers in real life.)

I will say though on my recent rewatch of the Pertwee era I noticed some unfortunate implications between Sarah and Jon Pertwee's Doctor. IE bits where it does feel romantic between them. Not like they're a couple, but where they're in love, like when he presses his finger to her lips and rubs tears from her cheeks, or when he is missing and she visits his office every day and hugs and cries into an old coat of his. Honestly those scenes weirded me out LOL. Particularly that last bit, which was like something from Brokeback Mountain.

Jon Pertwee was very adamant about there being nothing sexual in regards to his Doctor, so much so the first actress to play Sarah Jane was let go, as she was closer to his age, had played sexy mistresses in other shows and Jon was terrified that side by side she'd look like his Doctors mistress and he'd seem like a dirty old man. He said the companion had to look like his daughter. I obviously felt bad for the actress, but honestly if those scenes had her then they would have probably looked like that. We may very well have got Rose Tyler, Thasmin stuff 30 years earlier! The only reason it doesn't pop into your head right away is the age difference between them, though when you watch it back that can make it more uncomfortable LOL.

Still it shows you how careful you have to be to eliminate that from it and that's probably why Sarah and Jon Pertwee has always been a bit of an uneasy pairing for me. I much prefer Sarah with Tom. Ironically even though he was younger, the platonic thing worked out really well with them.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Yeah, you forget just how poor and primitive post war Britain was and for how long.

 

[burrunjor]

Yeah, you forget just how poor and primitive post war Britain was and for how long.

Hartnell also drank and smoked A LOT. I've read his biography and it's quite fascinating.

He was diagnosed with arteriosclorsis, (probably spelling that wrong.) In the middle of his second season of Doctor Who. It causes the arteries to harden which can affect your memory and legs. Now Hartnell's prognosis actually was quite good, but he was advised to stop drinking and smoking, because that speeds up the process. Sadly he didn't listen. Also the schedule for DW was punishing. They did 40 episodes a year, and the pressure was huge because if you made a mistake it was left in as they didn't have the money to shoot retakes.

All of this contributed to his health failing faster to the point where he had to quit in its fourth season, and coupled with the wig and make up he wore, made him look much older than he was at that time.

He didn't even live another ten years after he left the part and was hugely ill during that time to the point where when he came back for The Three Doctors in 1972 he had to read his lines off an autocue and is only in it for all of 2 mins and spends it sitting down. (Despite this however if you read the radio times for the tenth anniversary Hartnell does give an interview and he was also able to do a lot of publicity shots at least with Jon an Patrick Troughton.)

 

[Bop]

This scene is a lot more touching now that I know who Ian is, I hope they took care of him on set, considering his dementia. But how awesome for him to come back on the show at 97.

In other news, Ncuti Gatwa's stunt double has been seen on set wearing a kilt, they're filming the 2024 Christmas special and then series 15 filming begins in October.

 

[burrunjor]

Does the actor playing Ian have dementia? I didn't know that.