There's nothing only about being a girl...

There's nothing only about being a girl...

I have been a 'Doctor Who' fan for as long as I can remember; my mum used to read me a chapter or two of 'Doctor Who' novelisations. She'd always try and end it on a cliffhanger much like the show itself. She would put the book on the shelf above my head and I'd wait until she was downstairs and take down the book and see what happened next.

When I started Secondary School in 1983, a male class mate saw me reading a novelisation and told me I couldn't like 'Doctor Who' because I was a girl. Something which hadn't occurred to me and didn't really bother me at the time. I think I just rolled my eyes at him and carried on reading.
But in the 1980s and 90s it was fairly unusual to be a female 'Doctor Who' fan, which in this day and age seems quite ridiculous.

Perhaps one reason for the fact that most 'Doctor Who' fans seemed to be male was the lack of female characters to look up to, but I'm not sure that's the case and it never really bothered me and I always identified with the Doctor and when I played games I was always the Doctor -  well why not?
I've been thinking about the question of female characters in 'Doctor Who' a lot recently as there has some discussion amongst viewers of Twitch about this.

As we said in our video about 'The Robots of Death' & 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang', people seem to watch 'Doctor Who' in isolation and not to look at the wider television landscape of the time it was made.

Also as Warren said when we were talking about this yesterday, you also have one of the strongest female characters in Tom Baker's first couple of seasons in Sarah Jane. She is everything you would want in a 'Doctor Who' companion - strong, independent but still vulnerable. But despite this vulnerability, she never gives in and is always prepared to put her life on the line to save the Doctor.
Even when blinded in 'The Brain Of Morbius' she still tries to warn the Doctor that he is walking into a trap.

We also have Leela, origanally I believe the idea was to have a character from the past that the Doctor can nuture and teach. But, anticipating the difficuties this might involve, the production team instead decide to go for a character who though from the distant future is very much a savage. But Leela is a very intelligent character and trusts the Doctor with her life and would lay down her life for him if needed. And although it is perhaps disappointing to see her leaving the Doctor to marry Andred, I'm sure Gallifrey was very lucky to have her around in the Time War.

Romana although lacking experience becomes more than a match for the Doctor and holds her own against the bullish Pirate Captain and Scaroth (last of the Jagaroth).

In the way of guest stars obviously Wendy Williams as Vira shines in 'The Ark In Space' as does Patricia Manyard as the villainous Miss Winters in 'Robot'. The wonderfully dotty Amelia Ducat from 'The Seeds of Doom' and Professor Rumford and Vivien Fay from 'The Stones Of Blood' are wonderfully eccentric characters.

And although there are fewer female characters in the Hinchcliffe era when they do appear they really make a difference. And the introduction of the Sisterhood of Karn in 'The Brain Of Morbius' will prove to be important characters in the 21st century version of 'Doctor Who'.

And. of course, now we have the wonderful Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor and I think she'll be fantastic and who knows perhaps many little boys will watch her Doctor and want to play at being the Doctor despite her being a girl.

Just like I did all those years ago...

(By Lisa Parker)