Matt Hills

*Disclaimer: A different version of this blog appeared in [The
Conversation](https://theconversation.com/doctor-who-jodie-whittaker-excels-and-inspires-as-the-bbcs-time-lord-104515){target="_blank"
rel="noopener"}*

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There's a freshness of purpose to this episode from its very first
moments, as a new aspect ratio immediately gives way to remediating
YouTube, with Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) vlogging about the "greatest
woman" he's "ever met". When the Doctor's gender-shifting has been such
a topic of press coverage, it's an opening that teases the viewer,
playing with expectations from the outset. However, as we discover, it
is Grace (Sharon D. Clarke) that Ryan's talking about, not the Doctor.
And it is Grace who ultimately "falls to Earth", just as the Doctor
does, marking them as characters who are repeatedly paralleled in Chris
Chibnall's script. Grace runs toward danger and aliens as if she has a
Time Lord's level of bravery, and the Doctor eventually takes Grace's
place by watching over Ryan's bike-riding efforts. But for the Doctor to
step into Grace's shoes, this episode needs to be marked by tragedy.

Given recent debates around 'fridging', and the trope of a female figure
(often a girlfriend) who is killed in order to motivate and underpin a
male character's angst-filled storyline, the loss of Grace feels like
one potential misstep for the early Chibnall/Whittaker era -- a
brilliant woman of colour being displaced by a white Time Lord hero.
This element of series 11's set-up will provoke much discussion across
the coming weeks, I am sure.

New showrunner Chibnall is preoccupied with overturning expected
meanings in 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth'; Ryan assumes that the
mysterious entity moving through a Sheffield train has killed someone (a
classic *Who* set-up), only for the Doctor to counsel that, no, it was
more likely shock. Later, the Doctor comes up with an '*Alien vs
Predator*'-style explanation of events, only to accept that she too has
got things wrong. Chibnall even wrong foots viewers by depicting the
character of Karl as an obvious "red shirt" -- I know, that's the wrong
TV series -- only to make him more "randomly" central to the narrative
than convention might dictate.

::: {#attachment_6197 .wp-caption .alignleft style="width: 310px"}
[![Programme Name: Doctor Who Series 11 - Episode: n/a (No. 1) - Picture
Shows: Yaz (MANDIP GILL), Ryan (TOSIN COLE), The Doctor (JODIE
WHITTAKER), Graham (BRADLEY WALSH), Grace (SHARON D CLARKE) - (C) BBC /
BBC Studios - Photographer: Sophie
Mutevelian](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php-3-300x200.jpeg){.size-medium
.wp-image-6197 loading="lazy" decoding="async"
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-6197" width="300" height="200"
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sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"}](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php-3.jpeg)

Doctor Who Series 11, Episode No. 1 -- Yaz (Madip Gill), Ryan (Tosin
Cole), The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Graham (Bradley Walsh), Grace
(Sharon C Clarke) -- (C) BBC / BBC Studios -- Photographer: Sophie
Mutevelian
:::

"New can be scary", the Doctor cautions her latest friends, whilst
reflecting on the post-regeneration fact that she's become "a stranger
to myself." And finally there's a mission statement of sorts, as she
hails the alien 'Tim Shaw' with an inspirational account of
transformative self-identity: "we're all capable of the most incredible
change. We can evolve, while still staying true to who we are. We can
honour who we've been and choose who we want to be next."

'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' is a story preoccupied with gender  --
but probably not the one you were expecting. In a way, it's less about
the Doctor's newly embodied femininity (which gets a few great
one-liners) and more about wayward masculinity. 'Tim Shaw', the Stenza
warrior, is a "big blue cheat" who knows he's "unworthy" and doesn't
feel he can ascend to leadership without the help of illegal
data-gathering, whilst "Karl from the train" intones inspirational
quotes about how he is "special", "confident", and "brave" when he is
plainly none of the above. Even his job as a crane operator is
attributed to the fact that Skylark Building Services is his "Dad's
company" -- patriarchal lineage being shown up as pretty dysfunctional.
As the Doctor observes, "if you want something doing..." -- and she's
the one who leaps into decisive action.

We also encounter a moment of misogynistic banter when Graham (Bradley
Walsh) asks a friend if there's been "any talk of weird stuff, or
strange creatures out tonight?", only to receive the response: "My
wife's out with her mates at karaoke, if that's what you mean." Graham's
reaction shows that we're meant to feel uneasy about such banal
equations of monstrosity and femininity, but it's the
monstrous-masculine that Chibnall's plotting brings to the fore. Karl
represents the undercutting of an 'emotional journey' -- he's still
mouthing useless 'inspirational' platitudes whilst doing the wrong thing
at the end, rather than being sentimentally elevated into the humanist
significance of everyone-is-important. And win-at-all-costs 'Tim Shaw'
is so intent on ascending to the role of leader that he simply won't
listen to the Doctor.

There is also, arguably, a greater sense of male vulnerability in this
story than ever before for *Doctor Who*: we have the story of Ryan's
dyspraxia to follow in coming stories, and it seems unlikely that
Graham's cancer treatment will be mentioned just this once. Indeed, the
decision to include this level of real-world drama strikes me as a
genuinely brave move for a family entertainment show, one that should be
applauded for depicting life's challenges. This is a deftly grounded,
challenging view of *Doctor Who*, one which wears its humanity not via
reassuring neoliberal tales of self-celebration but instead through a
(public service) sense of needing to "work through" powerful challenges
to self-identity.

And so the travails of contemporary masculinity, rather than the
spurious 'issue' of a female Doctor, are shown to recur here. Female
characters face rather different challenges. Yasmin is shown to be a
strong, resourceful woman who wants to make her way in the world; she's
obviously far more capable than her male superior in the police force
will concede.

::: {#attachment_6196 .wp-caption .alignleft style="width: 310px"}
[![](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-300x200.jpeg){.size-medium
.wp-image-6196 loading="lazy" decoding="async"
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-6196" width="300" height="200"
srcset="https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-450x300.jpeg 450w, https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-140x93.jpeg 140w, https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-1536x1025.jpeg 1536w, https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_-1080x720.jpeg 1080w, https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_.jpeg 2000w"
sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"}](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image.php_.jpeg)

Doctor Who Series 11, Episode: No. 1 -- The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) --
(C) BBC / BBC Studios -- Photographer: Sophie Mutevelian
:::

"If you want different", then this story samples and remixes *Doctor
Who* to great effect. Jodie Whittaker doesn't put a foot wrong, and with
a convincing group of new friends, an unexpected cliffhanger, and a
showrunner unafraid to partly satirise Karl's 'emotional character arc'
as well as brave enough to incorporate cancer, chemo and dyspraxia, this
looks to be a long-running show in safe hands. Male heroics will no
doubt earn an ongoing place in the new Whoniverse, as the likes of Ryan
and Graham can be shaped, inspired and re-made by the transformational
zest of Whittaker's Doctor, whose catchphrase could yet prove to be a
spirited "oi!". Unlike the Stenza warrior Tim Shaw and Sheffield worrier
Karl, Graham and Ryan have an opportunity to learn first-hand how "we're
all capable of the most incredible change".

Sheffield steel meets Skelmanthorpe shatterer (of glass ceilings): the
Doctor is in.

 

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**Matt Hills** is Professor of Media and Film at the University of
Huddersfield, and co-Director of the Centre for Participatory Culture
based there. He is the author of six monographs including *Fan
Cultures *(Routledge 2002) and *[Triumph of a Time
Lord](https://ibtauris.com/Books/Society--social-sciences/Society--culture-general/Cultural-studies/Popular-culture/Triumph-of-a-Time-Lord-Regenerating-Doctor-Who-in-the-Twentyfirst-Century){target="_blank"
rel="noopener"} *(I.B. Tauris 2010), and has published more than a
hundred book chapters/journal articles on topics such as media fandom,
cult film/TV, and transmedia. His latest sole-authored book is *[Doctor
Who: The Unfolding
Event](https://www.palgrave.com/la/book/9781137463319){target="_blank"
rel="noopener"} *(Palgrave 2015), and he recently
co-edited *Transatlantic Television Drama *for Oxford University Press
(forthcoming 2019). He is also a co-commissioning editor for the
'Transmedia' book series at Amsterdam University Press, and was an
invited keynote speaker for the first ever 'Academic Track' at Gallifrey
One this year.


<em>
 Disclaimer: A different version of this blog appeared in The Conversation
</em>
There’s a freshness of purpose to this episode from its very first moments, as a new aspect ratio immediately gives way to remediating YouTube, with Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) vlogging about the “greatest woman” he’s “ever met”. When the Doctor’s gender-shifting has been such a topic of press coverage, it’s an opening that teases the viewer, playing with

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THE WOMAN WHO FELL TO EARTH …OR, THE MEN WHO WANTED TO ASCEND