6. The Racist Agenda
Or the "thunderously racist" agenda, to be more precise. Such was the accusation thrown in
Doctor Who's direction back in 2013 when it was claimed that the series "promotes dismissive attitudes towards black companions and contempt for primitive cultures". Or something like that, anyway. These viewers even went as far as to analyse the show's outdated attitudes in an anthology of essays (yes, we're hardly ones to talk!) and the results of their findings were seemingly conclusive. One contributor pointed out that the show has continuously cast white actors to play ethnic roles, citing John Bennett as a Chinese villain in the 1977 Fourth Doctor serial
The Talons of Weng-Chiang as an overused example, while another author condemned the writers for persistently portraying primitive cultures as "savages". It all escalates
very quickly. In their defence, they do have some sort of point. There
has been a distinct lack of diverse actors in
Doctor Who and show bosses have openly admitted that they need to "get with the times", so to speak. Just why they still haven't is another discussion entirely. It gets rather silly, though, when another writer suggests that Peter Davison's cricket loving Fifth Doctor harked back "to the racial and class nostalgia of the British Imperialism". It's political correctness gone mad.