Doctor Who boss Russell T Davies hits back at 'wokeness' criticisms

"Someone always brings up matters of diversity," he explained. "And there are online warriors accusing us of diversity and wokeness and involving messages and issues.

"And I have no time for this. I don’t have a second to bear. Because what you might call diversity I just call an open door."

When asked if he writes such themes into the show consciously, he added that: "I think it’s the only way to write."

He continued: "And I think it’s harder to write with that narrow window. That’s really the why. Why limit yourself, why breathe in the exhaust fumes, why be toxic? Come over here where the life and light and air and sound is."

Varada Sethu, who recently made her debut as new companion Belinda Chandra on the beloved sci-fi series, also recently addressed claims about the show's perceived 'wokeness' – saying that it indicated the show was on the right track.

"There's been a couple of Doctor Woke [references] or whatever," she told Radio Times magazine. "But I just think we're doing the right thing if we're getting comments like that."

She added: "Woke just means inclusive, progressive, and that you care about people. And, as far as I know, the core of Doctor Who is kindness, love and doing the right thing."

Read more:

• Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu address being Doctor Who's first non-white TARDIS duo
• Doctor Who needs to be "woke" - and there's a reason every sci-fi fan should agree

Meanwhile, speaking to RadioTimes.com at the launch of the new season, both Sethu and Ncuti Gatwa spoke about how the new run features two non-white leads for the first time in the show's history.

"It means... I guess progress, in terms of how we reflect the societies that we live in," Gatwa said.

"That's something incredible that media can do, and that's what it's doing. But it's also exciting to look forward to a day when [having non-white leads] isn't something huge."

Those sentiments were echoed by Sethu, who said: "[When] it's not something that we have to talk about – and every single thing that we do that gets us a step closer to that day I think is amazing."

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ internationally.

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