Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies praised for ‘superb’ trans storyline in Star Beast special | indy100

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary specials trailer

Disney+

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Doctor Who special, "The Star Beast".

For many Doctor Whofans, Saturday night felt like a blast from the past as David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprised their roles as The Doctor and Donna Noble respectively in the first of three 60th anniversary specials, “The Star Beast” – a Russell T Davies episode which has seen the returning showrunner praised for a storyline involving a trans character.

As viewers wondered how Donna would take another trip in the Tardis (given the last time we saw her, she had her mind wiped to avoid her head burning up with Time Lord knowledge, and her family were given the warning not to have her remember her time with the Doctor or she would die), we later learned Donna’s trans daughter Rose – played by Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney – would play a part in resolving the metacrisis.

When the Doctor and Donna were trapped inside the evil Beep the Meep’s spaceship as it planned to turn London into a fiery inferno, Tennant’s 14^th Doctor was forced to undo the mind wipe which kept Donna safe in order to save the world once more.

One of the trigger words for this happened to be one word Donna had trouble saying the last time she was the DoctorDonna: ‘binary’ – a word which Davies plays around with by having Rose be non-binary.

Donna had passed the metacrisis down to Rose, whose Time Lord energy was switched on the same time as Donna’s, meaning the whole Doctor/Donna problem was a lot less serious than the Doctor feared.

And when the Meep’s plan was foiled, both Donna and Rose expelled the Time Lord parts of themselves and the metacrisis was resolved. Nice.

Elsewhere in the episode, we also saw Rose’s grandmother (and Donna’s mum) Sylvia struggle to get to grip with Rose’s pronouns (but try her best), Donna offering to sort out some transphobic bullies at Rose’s school, and Rose remind the Doctor that he should ask what the Meep’s pronouns are (the definite article, if you were wondering).

And Doctor Who fans on Twitter/X absolutely loved the “superb” trans representation:

Transphobes claiming #DoctorWho will lose viewers because it\u2019s \u201cgone woke\u201d will be disappointed to hear that 5.08 Million people (excluding catch-up & international viewers) watched the new trans-positive episode with David Tennant & Catherine Tate \ud83d\udc99\n\n\u27a1\ufe0f https://t.co/YZqfpUtGeN
— (@)

#DoctorWho was so great last night, a fun romp and well made. Most of all I was so happy to see Donna respect her trans daughter, and help her mother when she was clumsy with the details, just all the good representation. In times we live in right now it\u2019s what we need to see \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f
— (@)

Russell T Davies truly stood up and said Trans people are beautiful and we love to see it. \n\n(The Doctor doesn\u2019t stand for transphobes and neither does the Whoniverse) \n\nAnd I wrote a book on that so you can quote me on that. \n#DoctorWho
— (@)

Donna being a massive trans ally #DoctorWho
— (@)

The way that you can tell Russell had so much fun writing the progressive, trans-inclusive elements of that episode knowing that it would make all the worst elements of the internet seeth #DoctorWho
— (@)

Doctor Who having a trans storyline be the centrepiece of their 60th anniversary celebrations?\n\nTURN THAT SHIT UP.\n\n#DoctorWho
— (@)

doctor who spoilers///\n\nthis is so important for the normalisation of asking for people's pronouns and I'm so glad it was included
— (@)

So beautiful. So trans. \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f \n\nThank you Russell T Davies for giving us this amazing Genderfluid rep moment \ud83e\udd0d\n\n#DoctorWho
— (@)

Video has Spoilers.\nRussel T Davies: I'll give you Tennant and Tate, Margoles as an alien, superb Trans representation that's woven into the story and best of all a motherf****ng wheelchair with rockets!! I don't need anything for Xmas, I already got it #DoctorWho
— (@)

I have so much to say but mainly I\u2019m crying because that thing I have loved all my life nailed trans identity. #DoctorWho
— (@)

Trans rights.\nPositive depiction of disability.\nMulticulturalism.\n\nRight wingers watching this #DoctorWho:
— (@)

#DoctorWho was such a celebration of trans people. \n@russelldavies63 thank you. Tonight you made it perfectly clear that the anti-trans lobby won\u2019t win.
— (@)

this wasn't cgi btw all trans women do this at least once a day
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Big fan. No notes. 10/10. #DoctorWho
— (@)

According to TV critic Scott Bryan, Russell T Davies said of Finney’s casting: “The parent of a trans son came up [at the screening] and hugged me in tears, crying, because knowing his son would be that happy at seeing that episode, and that’s the territory I want to be in.

RTD on Yasmin Finney's #DoctorWho casting:\n\n\u201cThe parent of a trans son came up and hugged me in tears, literally crying, because knowing his son would be that happy at seeing that episode, and that\u2019s the territory I want to be in. \n\n"That\u2019s the joy I want to be in. Tears of joy.\u201d
— (@)

“That’s the joy I want to be in. Tears of joy.”

Oh God, yes please, Russell.

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