tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/peter-capaldi-20504/articlesPeter Capaldi – The Conversation2017-02-01T03:36:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/722622017-02-01T03:36:57Z2017-02-01T03:36:57ZEnough with the Doctor Who gender debate – it’s time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155091/original/image-20170201-12649-8ll5zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joanna Lumley (briefly) played the Doctor in 1999 Comedy Relief special The Curse of Fatal Death.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Youtube</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Doctor is a 900(ish) year old alien with two hearts, at least 12 different faces and the ability to travel through all of time and space. So why is it so hard to imagine the Doctor as a woman?</p>
<p>Peter Capaldi’s decision to leave Doctor Who at the end of the upcoming season has started speculation about options for his replacement. This is a sport of high stakes for fans – the grief of losing the current lead mixed with the excitement of a new face and new identity.</p>
<p>Doctor Who is now over 50 years old, and over that time television conventions have certainly changed. When the first Time Lord was cast in 1963, the audience and BBC felt an elder statesman and “mad scientist”-type was best to lead the franchise. The Doctor was played by William Hartnell, a proper, older, white Englishman – a grandfather, even – and audiences and the Beeb happily relied on this casting to draw in their desired audience. </p>
<p>Hartnell feel ill soon after he had established the character and the role of “The Doctor” for Doctor Who. Rather than cancel or merely replace him, the show’s creators worked with the science fiction narrative to write in the character’s “renewal,” later to be known as the Time Lord’s process of “regeneration”.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Doctor regenerates.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Since Hartnell, Doctor Who has covered 12 regenerations and featured 13 (male) Doctors – not counting the other “Doctor” castings in audiobooks, comics, offshoots and parodies. Favourites include the incomparable Tom Baker, the undeniable David Tennant, the hipster cool of Matt Smith and the recently deceased, but eternally wonderful John Hurt as “The War Doctor” for the program’s fiftieth anniversary special in 2013.</p>
<p>During at least the last couple of “regeneration” rounds, questions of casting and diversity have been asked. Why has the lead still be taken by a white man? What about actors of colour? What about, shock, a woman? They got away with it once – Joanna Lumley appeared as part of a joke sequence of swift regenerations for a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212887/">Comic Relief special</a> – but never as part of the show proper. As British television scholar Lorna Jowett <a href="https://theconversation.com/trust-me-im-a-time-lord-doctor-who-needs-to-diversify-15066">beautifully put it</a>; </p>
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<p>Doctor Who should push the boundaries of representation in the casting of its title character because it can. It’s a major science fiction series with a protagonist who is an alien. The Doctor need not be bound by social conventions.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Curse of the Fatal Death - Comic Relief does Doctor Who.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Jowett’s point gets to the heart, beauty, and genius of Doctor Who as a television story. It’s repeatable in almost any way the producers of the day choose. Adaptable and barely bound by timey whimey wibbly wobbly rules – except when it comes to the last (gendered) frontier.</p>
<p>Sorry fellow nerds – I’m straying from one sci fi galaxy here into another – but you know what I’m saying.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago the US-based “inclusive, feminist community” The Mary Sue offered five reasons why it was finally time for a female Doctor, with author Holly Christine Brown <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/the-ladies-of-sci-fi-5-reasons-why-we-need-a-female-doctor-in-doctor-who/">arguing against existing stereotypes of women as villains, romantic distractions or side kicks</a>. Given we know the position will be vacant again soon, we can formally begin regeneration speculation (and campaigns) to have the lucky Doctor number 13 cast by a female actor rather than a male. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/01/peter-capaldi-leaving-doctor-who-female-doctor">Vanity Fair</a> has been one of the first major outlets to raise the issue again, while reports in the iconic British masthead <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-01-30/peter-capaldi-confirms-hes-leaving-doctor-who-at-the-end-of-series-10">Radio Times</a> have so far tended to avoid recasting talk, instead focusing on the more pressing business of promoting Capaldi’s upcoming (final) series which is still yet to air. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/31/doctor-who-new-time-lord-woman-peter-capaldi">The Guardian</a> has also launched a pro-woman Doctor campaign, suggesting actors like the Olivier Award winner Noma Dumezweni as exciting possibilities.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155099/original/image-20170201-12656-10voki7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Noma Dumezweni, who played Hermione Granger in stage play Cursed Child, has been suggested as a replacement for Peter Capaldi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
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<p>Strong female leads are now on the rise across television (thankfully), and reports like Screen Australia’s “Gender Matters” and <a href="http://www.womensagenda.com.au/career-agenda/item/6631-reel-action-on-gender-screen-australia-sets-minimum-targets-for-female-led-projects">subsequent initiatives to help address gender in balance</a> are positive steps. Research from The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media also suggests that “<a href="https://seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/data/">Gender balance in casting produces sound financial returns</a>”, and at times, even increased earnings for films that are gender diverse when compared to those that aren’t. So there is some hope that a Doctor Who-like television program lead by an excellent woman could work, and work well. However – are we able to accept the direct replacement of a male actor with a female one?</p>
<p>If <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/the-sexist-outcry-against-the-ghostbusters-remake-gets-louder/483270/">reactions to the 2015 Ghostbusters reboot</a> are anything to go by, it seems that any incumbent actor will be in for an uphill battle regardless of how talented she is. Suggestions that the recasting “killed the childhoods” of many angry viewers or was “reverse sexism” were loud, and sadly, got pretty ugly at times. </p>
<p>While all of the cast members received criticism (much of it even before the film was released), the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/movies/leslie-jones-star-of-ghostbusters-becomes-a-target-of-online-trolls.html?_r=0">abuse directed at Leslie Jones</a> was downright shameful. It was disappointing that she moved away from the spotlight for a while, but also completely understandable. No one should be subjected to that.</p>
<p>However, we also know that the trolls are not the only people who watched and were influenced – with praise coming from, importantly, new generations of young girls (and boys) who were having some of their <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/this-photo-shows-why-we-needed-an-all-female-reboot-of-ghostbusters_us_5783f409e4b01edea78f0c9d">first screen experiences with funny, fierce and kickarse women</a> in the lead roles.</p>
<p>So – a message to (Queen) Helen Mirren, (Should Be President) Meryl Streep, (Dame) Sarah Millican, (Lady) Miranda Hart, (Glorious) Meera Syal… and any others who might get a knock on the door or have an agent make a call – don’t let the trolls scare you. Same goes for you, incoming Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall. Take a chance, explore all of time and space – and hand the sonic screwdriver over to a woman, hey?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Giuffre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a universe of infinite possibility, why is Doctor Who always a man? Peter Capaldi’s forthcoming retirement from the role means it’s surely time to hand the sonic screwdriver over to a woman.Liz Giuffre, Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/477962015-09-18T15:44:12Z2015-09-18T15:44:12ZIs Doctor Who exterminating BBC drama around the UK?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95363/original/image-20150918-17689-11dl5ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is there a doctor in the house?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=Doctor%20Who&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=202166866">Ints Vikmanis</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>So it’s welcome back to Doctor Who. The <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-09-14/steven-moffats-exclusive-doctor-who-series-nine-episode-guide">ninth series</a> of the 21st-century revival looks like it may be among the best yet, with the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) facing off against assorted Daleks, Zygons and Missy, his sex-changed nemesis, formerly known as The Master.</p>
<p>Having previously been derided by TV executives as an industry joke, it is now ten years since Doctor Who <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/feature/a637323/doctor-who-10-years-on-where-are-the-class-of-2005-now.html">was revived</a> to spectacular success by first showrunner Russell T Davies. Nu-Who has done many things for the British TV industry. It rediscovered Saturday night TV, which was long thought to have died in era of multi-channel broadcasting, multiplexes and other leisure distractions. It showed that if the programme was big and exciting enough, the audience would sit down to watch together as a family. </p>
<p>It also alerted British producers to the power of “high concept” TV drama. Instead of building a narrative out of the realism of setting and character, the traditional preoccupations of British TV drama like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m86d">Eastenders</a> and <a href="http://www.itv.com/coronationstreet">Coronation Street</a>, this was more akin to American shows like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106179/">The X-Files</a>: developing a concept that could be transformed into a brand and exported all around the world. </p>
<p>Steven Moffat, Davies’ successor, has consolidated this first wave of success. UK ratings <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3028211/BBC-boss-reveals-Doctor-run-FIVE-YEARS-ratings-better-ten-years-relaunch.html">continue to</a> hold up, supplemented by many viewers choosing to watch on catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer. At the same time, Doctor Who has become one of British TV’s biggest international exports, screened in more than 70 countries. </p>
<h2>The Celtic dimension</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95364/original/image-20150918-17704-1pvo3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">BBC drama, Welsh style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bbc_fangirl/9590473158/in/photolist-hXuYzJ-vfTvyu-hXv82y-hXvFJg-hXuB1x-hXv74m-hXuTSj-hXuQ4h-hXuCTR-uAC8gr-vfTyp9-uAsg8j-4KqiLK-fBtFxu-4K6RGi-4Kb6T9-9G8utJ-4KqGuB-9G5zQc-9G8uZw-9G5AaK-r5mNGW-fBtDxE-fBeiuv-52bMPR-vvbk39-uArhhq-737TRd-e6o7qY-nQQQ8c-nQZoPE">Laura</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Viewers in the Moffat era may also have noticed something else: the show is full of Scots. Not only is Moffat a son of Paisley, he was instrumental in casting the Glasgow-born Capaldi as the 12th Doctor. You can add to this the key recurring roles of Madame Vastra, played by Paisley-born Neve McIntosh, and Missy, played by Michelle Gomez from Glasgow. Meanwhile the show remains produced from Cardiff in the specially built Roath Lock facilities, showcasing the talents of Welsh crew and technicians. Much exterior filming at locations around the city also helps to show off the beauty and variety of the Welsh landscape.</p>
<p>This might suggest there has never been a better time for British TV drama production representing and involving what we in the UK call the “nations and regions”. Indeed the BBC <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/whoweare/publicpurposes/communities.html">has made</a> specific commitments to better represent these areas and spread production more widely to them. </p>
<p>Yet speak to many TV practitioners in Scotland and Wales and the picture painted is often more gloomy. At a TV drama <a href="http://cstonline.tv/future-of-cyfrwng">symposium I attended</a> in Cardiff a couple of years ago, one person even compared the BBC’s drama studios in Roath Lock to “a giant Nike factory”. He said it had no real connection to the area, and was set up simply to exploit workers without putting much back into the community. The feeling was that there were few opportunities for local producers from outside the BBC to get a look-in. This is known in the trade as “warehousing”, where ultimate creative control continues to lie in the hands of others from the metropolitan centre. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95365/original/image-20150918-17709-duuppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Did you spill my pint?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mseckington/4543909507/in/photolist-7VwHZn-8m3V5o-7pvtX-y3cQNh-5iLELs-usmHE4-5SQVyR-pL5Ns4-fLVXUy-bbCS3i-7TmsXx-uQqGXe-9gxMce-rdPd8E-7YGhEh-iE3BcP-oNY1sy-8v965i-2nT1ec-8UgZmL-78sqze-2Q5p2d-qVxQNR-v4EoDy-sjBB-oWzhfi-73L42g-d9EahV-8iN5FU-4EG38E-cAGZa7-9TPUNj-e1b7wV-cB5faE-qZTRk-7oAHAF-afmX6g-nhXNs7-apGkjQ-nd7yWS-4eueAB-iiN4Zg-29vwd-xj19-7oFd5a-pRpQDx-85rnJg-h1zD3M-2E3dF-muWF5T">Melinda Seckington</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>The Doctor Who effect</h2>
<p>Undoubtedly there have been knock-on effects in bringing Doctor Who to Cardiff, which was driven by Welsh-born Davies and original executive producer Julie Gardner. The city had not previously been seen as a big player in national TV drama. Now it came to be designated by the BBC as a drama hub, to which the likes of Bristol-made hospital show <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m8wd/episodes/guide">Casualty</a> have been relocated. </p>
<p>Yet to what extent is Wales truly being represented to the UK by these developments? While long-running Welsh-language soap opera Pobol y Cwm (“People of the Valley”) is now also produced from Roath Lock, for example, it is only shown within Wales. And despite all the production activity in Cardiff and the BBC’s nations and regions commitments, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nf70">Gavin and Stacey</a> (2007-10) and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m8ln">Torchwood</a> (2006-11) were the last time big BBC TV dramas showcased Wales, its people and culture across the UK.</p>
<p>The Doctor Who effect has also impacted Scotland. In contrast to Wales pre-Doctor Who, Scotland’s TV drama history is very rich. It was a second centre of BBC production outside of London, with many successful and acclaimed dramas produced there – from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072570/">Sunset Song</a> in the 1970s to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00twywx">Tutti Frutti</a> in the 1980s; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111993/">Hamish Macbeth</a> in the 1990s and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238793/">Monarch of the Glen</a> in the early 2000s. </p>
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<p>But since the rise and rise of Doctor Who and Cardiff, the TV drama department in Scotland has arguably been struggling with new hits. It has tried to find a niche with adaptations of detective novels such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748888/">Case Histories</a> (2011-13), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830332/">Field of Blood</a> (2011-13) and perhaps its most notable success so far, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s711r/episodes/guide">Shetland</a> (2013 to date). But these dramas, often commissioned for small episode runs and networked by the BBC in the summer period (in the case of the first two) inevitably lack the presence and impact of big long-running “brands” like Doctor Who and Casualty. </p>
<p>All of this is arguably a consequence of the runaway success of Doctor Who. BBC TV drama is a bit like an ecosystem where what happens in one part can affect what happens in another. While Wales has surged ahead, Scotland has struggled to keep up, though arguably there have been cultural losses for both. </p>
<p>Northern Ireland is another small country that also “warehouses” a global franchise, in this case <a href="http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones">Game of Thrones</a>. Yet as it has shown with the success of the Belfast-set drama <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wrk40">The Fall</a> (2013 to date), one or two indigenous hits can make all the difference. So when you sit down to thrill at the Daleks returning to Doctor Who, spare a thought for TV drama staff in the nations and regions who, just like the good Doctor and his companions, are gamely struggling to duck the death-rays and avoid extermination. With BBC Charter renewal again <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament-2015/media/renewing-bbc-charter/">on the agenda</a>, hopefully soon they will have a better story to tell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cook has received past funding from AHRC</span></em></p>Everyone’s favourite BBC sci-fi show is sometimes held up as a model of regional development in television. Don’t believe it.John Cook, Professor in Media, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/477292015-09-17T17:00:47Z2015-09-17T17:00:47ZHow to make a Doctor Who title sequence at home – a masterclass<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95229/original/image-20150917-7534-1gwi4ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Stand by for lift-off'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorwhospoilers/15043061762/in/photolist-oViCaQ-oNi4gW-pcTxJj-o2JAhM-o2rmRi-oa1ugx-o2B7mN-mcRgbR-ozPTwY-mqmTL4-oTiDkw-oLhVzQ-oViJaf-oCQRZw-pYJRHz-oN3QqH-o7W4HT-oE3xN3-nKdL64-nKfdAW-nKe9rA-nZGmjo-nKdTcu-o2qZ5x-o2APCY-nZETrh-nKdRRc-o4v7Tk-nKepFd-nKfqjK-o2J7bg-o4vNhF-o2JCzx-nKeRYW-o2Jm5P-nKe7A1-nKdZbJ-o2CatQ-nKfDdv-nKehhr-nKf18b-o2Jy5a-nZG3uq-nZEJRG-o2Adqy-o2r9SZ-o4usPz-o4vuF8-nKf8Fe-nKdXxn">Doctor Who Spoilers</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that the new series of Doctor Who has begun, it is worth re-telling the story of the modest motion graphic designer working from a small home studio in Leeds who made <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28871058">international news</a> a year ago. This was the fairy-tale story of Billy Hanshaw, whose homemade title sequence for Doctor Who became a YouTube hit (60,000 views in the first weekend) and was picked up by BBC series showrunner Steven Moffat. </p>
<p>At the tender age of 46, Hanshaw was thrust delightedly into the limelight, <a href="http://billyhanshaw.co.uk/weve-been-nominated/">picking up</a> a Royal Television Society nomination along the way. In a recent <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-11/doctor-who-opening-title-sequences-ranked">Radio Times poll</a> of top Doctor Who titles, his work for Series 8, with its cogs and coiling Escher-like clock faces, was only beaten to the number one place by the 1963 original. Not bad for a fan. </p>
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<p>I write this as a former BBC graphic designer and now academic. My only professional contact with Doctor Who in my BBC days was walking past a rather scruffy old Tardis in the scenic store at TV Centre every morning, and occasionally witnessing the surreal sight of Doctor Who characters in costume ordering drinks at the BBC Bar. I did however meet <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-11-11/meet-bernard-lodge-the-man-behind-the-doctor-who-titles">Bernard Lodge</a> a few times. He was the BBC television graphic designer of the first incarnations of the now iconic television title sequence, and offered me generous encouragement at the start of my career. How times have changed since he sat down with pencil and layout pad to storyboard the original Doctor Who title design. </p>
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<h2>Everything and nothing changes</h2>
<p>The BBC once had a vibrant, world-leading and award-winning graphic design department. The Doctor Who titles were one of the crown jewels of the department. <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2656726">The opening</a> to competition and producer choice in the late 1980s and 1990s eroded the esteem of in-house design and some (not all) of those crown jewels, such as the BBC channel idents, were lost to external competition. </p>
<p>By the time the inevitable sell-off <a href="http://www.brandrepublic.com/article/524558/bbc-broadcast-renamed-red-bee-media-macquarie-acquisition">was completed</a> in 2005 with the creation of Red Bee Media, the money was in channel idents, not programme title sequences, so titles had to have prestige to remain in the portfolio. Doctor Who fell into that category, making it attractive enough for Red Bee to <a href="http://creativems.redbeemedia.com/news/bbc-partners-with-red-bee-media-to-create-new-doctor-who-identity">pitch for and win</a> the contract in 2009. </p>
<p>It may surprise many that the design process for creating and producing a title sequence is very similar today to when Bernard Lodge was given the job in 1963. The technology has changed, but it still involves researching the project, reading a script, meeting the producer and director, visualising ideas as drawn storyboards (rarely on the back of a proverbial fag packet or napkin), signing off budgets, presenting work in progress as rough edits and renders, responding to client feedback and presenting finished work (and the invoice). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95213/original/image-20150917-7534-1wwfzxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rassilon in the flesh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sprunka/4566236995/in/photolist-dnH9EK-7X7ca2-4TmNxV-7XacZd-7XamoJ-7X6WKn-7X7136-7Xao8G-7Xachm-7XaneE-7XagaW-7X72a4-7XajXh-7XyqDd-7X7fzr-7XfezP-4Tr1ih-563j91-pVVLtw-7Xv9H4-pVVGRS-djobeS-832tDU-82YnqV-7Xvab4-7Xyp9L-7XvbdH-7XvbuM-7XvbWp-7Xv9kr">Sean Prunka</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Even though Hanshaw’s work was picked up as a complete “finished” work on YouTube, it had first gone through a process of idea generation on paper, test renders and a series of iterations. Once Moffat had secured his involvement, the title design then went through a series of client changes like losing the fobwatch and the seal-of-Rassilon motifs that had appeared in previous sequences (see the comparison in the video nearest the top of the article). </p>
<p>Unlike when Lodge was shooting on 35mm film and waiting for overnight lab rushes to return to Film Despatch at TV Centre, Hanshaw would have been able to render and review in real-time in his home studio. The hardware and software revolution that has come since the 1990s has enabled greater access to what was once the hegemony of television stations and high-end post-production companies. </p>
<p>The democratisation of technology has also had a profound effect on teaching design, and is equally liberating for students. Technical skills are available to anyone with internet access, a computer and software (a MacBook Pro and Adobe After Effects for starters). Nowadays, the reality is that the creative industries are being kept moving by a cottage industry of digital makers and designers. </p>
<h2>Weight of expectation</h2>
<p>When it comes to creating new Doctor Who sequences, there’s not a little pressure involved. You have to follow a long lineage that started with <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/norman-taylor-creator-of-the-howlaround-visual-in-the-original-dr-who-title-sequence-2237431.html">the latest</a> 1960s <a href="http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A907544">special effects</a>. You have the pressure of measuring up to the expectations of millions of fans. I’ve only once before met a proper Trekkie, for instance, and his encyclopaedic knowledge of every episode had me in stitches. </p>
<p>This might explain why the renaissance of Doctor Who in 2005 saw the title sequences tread a relatively safe graphic path: it kept the iconic identity of the police box and the vortex, and left out the face of the lead actor – in keeping with the brief <a href="http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Paul_McGann">1990s revival</a>. The logo went through several iterations after that, and a brand identity only really took shape in 2009 when Red Bee devised the “DW” police box shape. </p>
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<p>Lucky man, Bernard Lodge: no one wanted to make Doctor Who’s titles back in 1963. Producer Verity Lambert came with a wish to use a video effect she had seen, but it was a time to be experimental with no risk attached, since it wasn’t expected to go beyond a season. </p>
<p>Lucky man, Billy Hanshaw. He knew Doctor Who well and understood what it is trying to be. His demo was only designed to compliment his professional showreel, in the hope that maybe there would be a few Doctor Who fans out there watching YouTube who would appreciate his vision. These were not in the brand guidelines, but who was the client anyway? The fans, right? </p>
<p>Now that these credits have returned for Series 9 – and maybe for more seasons to come – it is worth reflecting on how much and how little has changed down the years. In a heritage show like Doctor Who that can only feel the burden of its own responsibility, it is reassuring to know that technology can make it possible to spurn conservatism and find the special courage to go out on a limb.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain has previously received funding from the HEA and Carnegie Trust, though not attached to this article</span></em></p>Big heritage shows facing the tyranny of diehard fans can end up taking no risks. The story of how the 12th Doctor’s screen credits came about is an object lesson in how to turn this around.Iain Macdonald, Associate Professor of Advertising and Graphic Design, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.