The Doctor Who writers have listened to their critics – and it's paying off in a big way

Note: Wibbly-wobbly spoiler warning for Doctor Who season 12 episode six.

Before Doctor Who flipped the script with Ruth's big reveal, fans were already doing cartwheels in their living rooms thanks to the return of Jack Harkness.

While the queer icon didn't appear for long, season twelve's next episode, 'Praxeus', made up for this in a big way by introducing a same-sex couple who both took a key, central role in the story (complete with some bisexual lighting too!)

Back when Jodie Whittaker was first announced as the new Doctor, executive producer Matt Strevens promised that the new seasons would incorporate LGBTQ+ issues and representation:

"I think Doctor Who has been amazing at blurring the edges of sexuality and being quite gender fluid about the characters and relationships. I'm not going to say if any of our characters are or are not at this point. But it is part, I think, of the DNA that Russell re-imbued into the show... There will be characters from across the spectrum."

Unfortunately, this era's most notable LGBTQ+ character (up until now) became famous for all the wrong reasons.

During last year's New Year's Day special, a gay character was killed off less than thirty seconds after his sexuality was revealed.

Twitter was less than pleased.

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'Bury Your Gays' refers to an old Hollywood trope where queer-coded characters were punished — and often murdered — simply for being who they are. Unfortunately, that tradition still continues today, with recent examples including the death of Lexa on The 100, and Denise Cloyd on The Walking Dead.

While it's vital that queer characters are treated like any other, it's damaging to see underrepresented groups killed off disproportionately compared to their straight counterparts — and at one point, it seemed like the latest episode of Doctor Who was about to follow this nasty trend.

For most of 'Praxeus', astronaut Adam Lang lives on the brink of death thanks to the alien virus which courses through his system. His husband Jake Willis stays by his side the whole time, fighting to save the love of his life.

Towards the end of the episode, a successful cure is found, but just before the Doctor can spread this cure to the rest of the population, the ship's autopilot breaks. In a bid to save the world and finally achieve something meaningful in his life, Jake decides to stay behind and sacrifice himself.

For a minute there, it really does seem like the writers are about to rip these two lovers apart right after they've just reconciled, giving into the trope we've seen play out so many times before.

However, the Doctor manages to save Jake at the last possible second by materialising the TARDIS around him, just before the ship breaks up completely.

What looked like yet another example of queer tragedy actually came to a far happier end than we could have ever expected. And even before that, the 'Praxeus' writing team slowed things down more than once to explore the nuances of Adam and Jake's relationship.

At one point, Jake reveals to Graham that he's never felt good enough for Adam, and that he's riddled with insecurities which almost broke them up for good. For longtime LGBTQ+ fans, it's encouraging to see Doctor Who dive deeper than usual into queer relationships beyond just a token mention of sexuality.

Yes, we've had a queer companion on the show before — and let's not forget that Torchwood gave the gays everything they wanted too. However, this episode feels particularly progressive given what happened in the New Year's special, not to mention the current lack of LGBTQ+ characters in this era of the show.

It's almost like the writers deliberately misled us here, setting up a 'Bury Your Gays' moment only to subvert it completely, and honestly, that wouldn't surprise us one bit. Along with the 'Lone Cyberman' mystery and all those Ruth teases, season twelve might just be the twist-iest season of Doctor Who we've seen since the BBC first announced a female Doctor would appear on our screens.

Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.

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David Opie

After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival. 

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.

Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends. 

As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound. 

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