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Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Review, TV | Tagged: BBC Sounds, doctor who, Doctor Who Redacted, jodie whittaker, LGBTQ
Doctor Who: Redacted: The "WHO-niverse" Can Take Pride In Series 2
Doctor Who: Redacted is one of the best & most fun spinoffs we've had yet as we head closer to the 60th Anniversary specials in November.
Doctor Who: Redacted is back for another series, part of the run-up to the 60th Anniversary to tide us over while we wait for Doctor Who proper to come back to television in November. It's an audio drama podcast and radio and audio spinoffs of Doctor Who never got enough love, even though they've been around since the 1970s. Doctor Who: Redacted is lots of fun and worth your time. It's a combination of fan callbacks and social commentary that Doctor Who has always been good at, with a trio of LGBTQ heroines.
"Doctor Who" Without The Doctor
It's a year since the events of the first series of Doctor Who: Redacted, and the trio of podcasters are at a different stage of their careers. They're now friends with Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra), all grown up after The Sarah Jane Adventures and who helped them last series, who has a rival investigative podcast of her own. Abby (Lois Chimimba) and Shauna (Holly Quinn-Ankrah) are now officially a couple with the insecurities all that carries, leaving Cleo (Charlie Craggs) feeling like a bit of a third wheel. Cleo is especially put out because she's the only one who remembers meeting the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker at the time), and they're at best patronizing her about it, at worst gaslighting her that it didn't happen.
The podcasters announce they have a new investigation. Abby and Shauna want to go to Scotland to find a secret organization called Torchwood. Cleo wants to investigate reports of mutant rats in London and takes off on her own, believing it's the kind of thing The Doctor would show up for. Cleo runs into dashing alien Apex Costa, played by Freddy Carter, who claims to be a member of the Intergalactic Census Bureau, whose job is to keep records of all alien species, and who is in search of the missing Doctor. Apex says that The Doctor being the last Timelord makes their whereabouts especially crucial for the census bureau.
He looks like a possible love interest for Cleo, but is he really who he says he is? Apex is not all he seems, and it's no accident that he reminds us of a certain Captain Jack Harkness before he met the Doctor and became a good guy. Apex introduces Cleo to The London Underground, a hidden part of the city where alien refugees are now living and being threatened by a greedy, evil alien landlord – some overt commentary about the plight of refugees and corrupt landlords in the UK here – and collector named Honour (Dervla Kirwan) who has beef with Apex. Across the country, Abby and Shauna run into serious trouble that draws in Rani, and soon everyone is in big trouble.
Callbacks, Social Commentary, Representation & FUN – What The Franchise Does Best
Head writer Juno Dawson and her team Chris Cornwell, Karissa Hamilton-Bannis, and Ken Cheng, have crafted a bingeable six-part serial that does everything a good Doctor Who story does, even without the Doctor in it. There are callbacks that are accessible to casual fans in the way they weave Torchwood into the story and a long-awaited revisit to the late Sarah Jane's old house on Bannerman Road and the reappearance of her guardian supercomputer Mr. Smith (Alexander Armstrong), all fitting into the story naturally. Unlike Doctor Who: Doom's Day, Redacted easily sets up what the personal stakes are for the characters and makes us care about them. The series also highlights LGBTQ issues without just using them as window dressing (it helps to have LGBTQ writers at the front of the series). Cleo has gotten into the acting course at university and wants to move on with her life but still has to put up with transphobia: a date gets squeamish when he sees she's trans. Her acting professor doesn't want her to audition for female roles. No wonder she sees The Doctor as her North Star.
Meeting the Thirteenth Doctor last year had a big effect on her because she sees The Doctor as a trans role model who's heroic and lives her own life. When she asks if The Doctor has changed bodies again, she asks if The Doctor has transitioned again rather than use the term "regenerate." Apex refers to The Doctor as "they." These minor details are the loudest declaration of The Doctor as an LGBTQ icon and ally ever. And if you've seen Shadow and Bone on Netflix, you will have seen Freddy Carter play the brooding, scheming fan favourite antihero Kaz Brekker, leader of the Crows who schemes and plots but ultimately does the right thing. This is a Doctor Who story, after all, and the series has always been about redemption and second chances. Before the mothership show comes back, we have an endless amount of content with Doom's Day and the Big Finish crossover event, and Doctor Who: Redacted is the best of the lot so far.
Both series of Doctor Who: Redacted Series 2 are available on BBC Sounds now.
Doctor Who: Redacted Series 2
8/10
"Redacted" is the best audio drama podcast tie-in to Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary Specials so far, the most fun serial without The Doctor that weaves fan callbacks like Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures seamlessly into the story and also addresses issues in the LGBTQ heroines' lives and loves with social commentary without making them mere window dressing. This is what Doctor Who does best.
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