Doctor Who Introduces First Transgender Character As Eighth Doctor Companion

Doctor Whointroduces its first openly transgender character as the Eighth Doctor's companion. British actress Rebecca Root will portray the character in a new Big Finish audio drama to be released this month. Root's character marks another critical step for better representation inDoctor Who.

The show premiered in 1963 and has been on the air for more than fifty years. Doctor Who's main character is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who regenerates into a new face whenever they are mortally wounded. (Essentially this is the show's clever way of replacing the actor/actress playing the Doctor with someone new.) While the show continually moves forward when the Doctor regenerates, the Big Finish audio dramas allow for fans to listen to brand new adventures with some of their past favorite Doctors. For example, Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor originally appeared solely on screen in the failed 1996 Doctor Who movie and in the 2013 mini-episode, "The Night of the Doctor." However, fans loved McGann's portrayal so much that he's returned for countless Doctor Who audio dramas, to include the upcoming story with Rebecca Root's transgender character.

Related: The Doctor Who Movie With Paul McGann Was A Complete Failure: Here's Why

Rebecca Root, who is a trans woman, will play the character Tania Bell in the new audio drama, "Stranded." Bell will be a companion of Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. Root was in several previous Doctor Who audio dramas, but this will be the first time she gets to play a transgender companion. Here's what the actress had to say about the character in an interview with Nerdist.com, and what it would've meant to see a trans person on the show while growing up.

"She’s [Tania Bell] a person like all the other people I have played and hope to play in the future. She’s not perfect, but she’s not a mess, and certainly, I don’t think her gender identity has any influence on her behavior in the story...It would have been amazing to see a trans person in a show like Doctor Who. In fact, to see a Trans person period would have been amazing. But I [grew] up in the ’70s and society was differently populated back then, and gender ID was not really 'a thing.'"

Representation matters, and there's no show better for the job than Doctor Who. One of the sci-fi show's central themes is acceptance and understanding others, despite differences. The Doctor has many memorable quotes throughout the series, but one of the best is, "You know in 900 years of time and space I've never met anybody that wasn't important before." (Attributed to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor.) It's also exciting for Root's character to make her debut during Pride Month, which is meant to celebrate the LGBTQIA community. Like Root mentions in the interview, hopefully, Tania Bell will continue to be the Eighth Doctor's companion beyond, "Stranded." 

Hopefully, this is the start of even more diversity for Doctor Who. It's high time for the Tardis to feature companions of every shape, size, color, creed, and gender identity. Science fiction is about exploring how the universe can be, it's great potential, and what we should strive for. The genre can also serve as a warning of what should change now to create a better future. Representation is crucial for so many reasons, and for Doctor Who fans worldwide, seeing someone like them travel with the Doctor is just simply fantastic.

Next: The Most Exciting Doctor Who Story This Year...Won't Be On TV

Source: Nerdist.com

 

source https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-transgender-character-eighth-doctor-companion-audio/