Doctor Who Series 12: Ten Huge Questions After Can You Hear Me?
2. Was The Doctor Being Heartless Towards Graham?
This ought to go down as one of the most extraordinary scenes in the entire run of the series. Graham, having been confronted with his fears about the cancer coming back, decides to talk to the Doctor. There is something truly poignant in his decision to open up. Graham masks his true feelings to his friends, putting on a brave face when asked how he was doing after Grace’s death.
The fact that the Doctor is the only person Graham feels able to talk to, tells us that his jovial personality can be a protective veneer. Underneath, is a loneliness and a fear of what is to come. The Doctor, for Graham, is like an online ‘friend’ who is there, but not there. A safe person to confide in.
Whittaker is at her absolute best as she conveys the Doctor’s social awkwardness in listening and responding to her friend’s concerns. She has no suitable words for him, and Graham is clearly not surprised. Heartless or insensitive are not the right way to describe the Doctor’s response, despite the fury being raged by some disgruntled fans. This isn’t a 12th Doctor-like dismissal of the kind that would incense Clara after she told him about Danny’s death, though both are examples of the Doctor’s lack of tact when it comes to matters of the heart.
The Doctor is brutally honest about her struggles to relate. As much as she is on the one hand trying to be the most incarnate of incarnations, she is acutely aware that she doesn’t quite get it, that she doesn’t quite fit in, and that she might say or do something that would inadvertently cause offence.