Tuesday 16 February 2010

The "political agenda" of Doctor Who

An off-the-cuff comment by Sylvester McCoy on 'political agenda' during his time on the show seems to have set off a right media scramble - the Times started it on Sunday (and got a mention on BBC Breakfast), and the other big-weights have subsequently weighed in with their opinions! It's a non-story - Who fans have known this for years! - but with an election looming the papers seem to like anything 'controversial'! The debate culminated in a discussion on BBC2's Newsnight on Monday evening.

Here is a list of the various media reports and opinions on the subject - for more information see the Doctor Who News Page article.


Media Items:
The Times(14th) - Doctor Who in war with Planet Maggie
The Telegraph(14th) - Doctor Who 'had anti-Thatcher agenda'
The Telegraph(15th) - Thatcher-bashing Lefties didn't ruin Doctor Who – its silliness is apolitical
The Telegraph(15th) - Doctor Who: Invasion of the Nags
The Register(15th) - Doctor Who attempted to overthrow Thatcher
The Guardian(15th) - 'Doctor Who tried to exterminate Thatcher'
Western Mail(15th) - Dr Who reveals ‘political messages’ in 1980s scripts
Daily Mail(15th) - BBC scriptwriters tried to use Doctor Who to bring down Margaret Thatcher
Daily Mail(15th) - Just Who is he kidding? (in response to Sylvester McCoy)

io9(15th) - Doctor Who Tried To Overthrow The British Government
Express(16th) - Doctor Who's war with Margaret Thatcher
Mirror(16th) - Doctor Who's revolution flopped



NEWSNIGHT VIDEOS

BBC: How Time Lord Doctor Who took on Margaret Thatcher:

BBC: The role of political satire in Dr Who and other sci-fi:

The Newsnight programme itself is available on BBC iplayer until 11:20pm, 22nd February

Note: videos may not be available to watch from outside the United Kingdom.