Posted in: BBC, Disney+, TV | Tagged: doctor who, steven moffat

Doctor Who Doesn't Have "Secret Agenda": Moffat on "Woke" Accusations

Steven Moffat discusses Doctor Who not getting a Season 3 order yet, those "woke" accusations, and why The Doctor is "a classic liberal."

With only days to go until Showrunner Russell T. Davies' Ncuti Gatwa (Fifteenth Doctor) and Nicola Coughlan-starring, Steven Moffat-written Doctor Who Christmas Special, "Joy to the World" hits our screens on Christmas Day, Moffat is opening up about the upcoming Christmas Special, his run on the show and if he would consider returning, and much more. In particular, Moffat addresses the rumblings of concern out there that Season 3 might not happen and why there's "nothing unusual" about a green light not being given yet. Following that, Moffat explains how Doctor Who isn't "woke," how the series is simply doing what "heroic fiction is supposed to do, and how The Doctor is a "classic liberal"

In terms of whether or not there will be a third season, Moffat makes it clear that he has "no idea" one way or another while also explaining why it's not surprising that a possible Season 3 order has happened yet. "I've got no idea. I don't think anyone has got an idea. There's a lot of fuss being made about this. But can I just gently point out most shows are not commissioned before they go out," Moffat explained during a recent interview with The Times. "Russell obviously had his first two commissioned at the same time. But as you know, it's absolutely normal to wait until the show is going out to see if it comes back again. There's nothing unusual about that."

Since its return, Moffat hasn't bought into critics' accusations that the show is "woke," arguing that position only tells "half a story." As he sees it, it's been the role of fiction to inspire us to be better individually and as a society. "I think a lot of fiction works that way. How do people learn how to be good except through fiction? That's what heroic fiction is. You can argue that's what religion is. It's a set of constructed myths giving you an ideal to work towards," Moffat shared. "Fairytales, in effect, tell us what life is always like and what you should be doing about it. Imagine in a world without stories, how would you know how to be good? A story without a moral dilemma pretty much doesn't happen. There's a moral fable element to 'Doctor Who,' but I can't think of a show where there isn't."

"If you're to harvest the show for things that you don't agree with so you can feel pleasurably irate, help yourself. But don't pretend that you've uncovered our secret agenda. Because we don't have one," Moffat continued. "The entire culture war is like the Time War. It's a war that absolutely no one notices is going on, and we don't have the budget to show anyway. Literally, no one cares about any of this guff. Literally nobody. You know, maybe a few fatuous media lovers like me wandering around in our tiny bubble with all the other pinheads give a shit about this, but check the bus queues and restaurants in Britain. Go and listen outside the living rooms. Do you think they're talking about any of this bloody crap? Course, they're not. Most of them wouldn't know what the word 'woke' meant, except, you know, as a distinction between being asleep and not, for goodness' sake. Stop it. Nobody cares. The Doctor is a classic liberal in the sense that he thinks he should be in charge and someone should get him tea."

Doctor Who Christmas Special: "Joy to the World" (Official Overview)

Along with Gatwa and Coughlan, the special also stars Steph de Whalley as Anita, Jonathan Aris as Melnak, Joel Fry as Trev, Peter Benedict as Basil, Julia Watson as Hilda, and Niamh Marie Smith as Sylvia. Produced by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios for the BBC and Disney Branded Television and set to hit Disney+, BBC One, and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day, here's a look at the overview released in the BBC's holiday rundown:

Ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte? The Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, returns this Christmas for a time-hopping trip through the history of Earth.

The episode introduces Joy, starring Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls), who checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her quiet stay is anything but ordinary. When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas.

Where has the Doctor been? What is going on in Joy's hotel room? An old enemy of the Doctor's is lurking in the wings, and all of human history hangs in the balance. Can the Doctor save Christmas – everywhere, all at once?

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