10 Simple Fixes That Would’ve Improved Doctor Who
3. Have The Thirteenth Doctor Reassure Graham With A Hug
The closing moments of Can You Hear Me included a touching, heartfelt moment between the Thirteenth Doctor and Graham. Or, more accurately, Graham opened up to The Doctor about the fear that his cancer might come back… and the Doctor shuffled away awkwardly and said nothing to reassure him.
Now, by her own admission, she can be socially awkward, and we know that the Doctor has a history of struggling with acts of affection (see Eleven’s wavy hands when River kisses him for the first time, or Twelve saying he’s not a hugger in Deep Breath). But this particular moment felt rather insensitive, and actually resulted in the BBC receiving multiple complaints about the way the Doctor responded to Graham’s confession. Eventually, a statement was issued by the BBC which explained:
“The intention of this scene was to acknowledge how hard it can be to deal with conversations on this subject matter. When faced with these situations, people don’t always have the right words to say at the right time […] by showing the Doctor struggling to find the right words, the intention was to sympathise with all those who may have found themselves in a similar position.”
In this particular situation, we can’t help but feel it would’ve been more appropriate for the Doctor to simply give Graham a hug. No additional dialogue. Just a small gesture to let him know that he has people who care about him. This could even have shown an element of growth in the Doctor, heeding Twelve’s departing instructions to “laugh hard, run fast, be kind.”
What’s kinder than giving Graham a hug in his moment of need?!