10 Reasons Doctor Who Is Better When You're An Adult

Ensuring gender inclusivity for identities previously unnamed, discussions of discrimination issues, moral debates on capital punishments - was this really 2005?

Doctor Who was beyond its time in more ways than one, often showing thoughtful consideration of how the future human race would evolve and the issues they would consider important. In season one episode The Long Game, the Doctor and companions, including everyone’s favourite Adam, arrive at Satellite 5. Here humans have transformed themselves into transmitters of information to create a new form of journalism. Before the transmitting process begins, the lead journalist Cathica addresses the employees as: “Ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot.”

It’s a casual greeting that may have slipped our notice as children, but for those struggling with their own gender identity, this inclusion is especially meaningful. A show like Doctor Who could have easily brushed off this issue, particularly in 2005. Making it particularly refreshing to see Russell T Davies considering the future of gender inclusivity rather than reinforcing outdated views.

The writers also tackle themes of discrimination appropriately for its young audience. In the 2007 Christmas Special, The Voyage of the Damned, we meet an alien called Bannakafflatta who was converted into a cyborg after a fatal accident. He tries to keep his identity secret, due to the prejudice cyborgs face on his home planet.

Whilst these issues weren’t unheard of when we were children, it’s only as adults that we can identify their relation to our current time.