‘I’m making history on the new Doctor Who – it means the world’

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As Doctor Who returns for a second season, Juno Dawson has made history as the show’s first ever trans writer.

The BBC sci-fi series has been running since 1963 with Ncuti Gatwa currently playing the Time Lord known as the Doctor who travels throughout time and space with a companion in his machine called the Tardis.

Since the reboot in 2005, helmed by Russell T Davies, the show has been praised for its inclusive characters and storylines – and this season is no different.

Juno a longtime Whovian and creator of the podcast Doctor Who: Redacted, is the writer behind the new episode, The Interstellar Song Contest.

It’s essentially a sci-fi Eurovision-inspired plot starring Rylan and Freddie Fox as the Doctor and his new companion Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) face down a deadly threat.

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For Juno, writing for Doctor Who has fulfilled a ‘childhood dream’ and the significance of having this platform as a trans person in the UK is not lost on her.

Juno Dawson’s episode, The Interstellar Song Contest, will air ahead of Eurovision in May(Picture: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/Lara Cornell)

‘I’ve done one episode. I want to do 10 episodes,’ she told Metro at the Doctor Who season two premiere which coincided with Transgender Day of Visibility (what Juno called a ‘double celebration’).

‘This is a dream that I’ve had since I was 10 or 11 years old. I was writing what we would now call fan fiction for my grandma, except I just did it on bits of paper. And 30 years on, I’ve written a whole episode,’ she continued.

Reflecting on what it means to make history on the show, the 43-year-old author added: ‘It means the world. When I was a kid growing up in Bradford, I didn’t know what it was to be trans.

‘I knew I wanted to be a girl, and I would tell my mom all the time, “when am I going to turn into a girl?” but she didn’t know what a trans person was. I didn’t know what a trans person was.

Juno has always dreamed of writing for Doctor Who (Picture: Ian West/PA Wire)

‘And I keep thinking: “What if I’d have had Yasmin Finney in Doctor Who? If I’d been able to see it on screen”.’

She reiterated that visibility is just as important ‘on the other side of the camera, calling the shots and creating the opportunities.’

‘That’s where I see myself now. I’m in a very, very fortunate position to be given this kind of a voice because most trans people in the UK don’t have a voice. People talk about us, but they never talk to us. So actually, I don’t take this for granted,’ she concluded.

As for what to expect in her episode, she was coy about the details only revealing that ‘there are some villains determined to destroy the contest’.

And she is not the only member of the cast and crew who has praised this season for its diversity.

Andor star Varada shared what it meant to her to join a growing legacy of South Asian characters in the Whoniverse.

Varada Sethu is thrilled to join the South Asian legacy on the show (Picture: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf)

‘It means so much. I think it has a special place in my heart as well, to be able to expand the universe a little bit.

‘Anything that includes people that have felt othered or marginalized in any way – whatever we can do to make something more inclusive. Because Doctor Who should be inclusive, it should be universal. I see it as a mark of progress, really. It’s amazing,’ the 32-year-old actor said.

Meanwhile, Ncuti spoke about just how unexpected the past year has been since his first full season landed.

‘I don’t think you can expect any part of this experience because it’s so unlike any other job you will ever do in your life,’ he posed.

Then continued: ‘Every day is a learning curve, is a test, is a new challenge. What job do you have where you’re in Lagos one week and then you’re fighting a cartoon the next week? What it demands of you technically and emotionally is so varying.’

This season will see the Doctor go to Lagos and face down runaway cartoons (Picture: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon)

And both of them confirmed that they are excited for fans to see the ‘classic Whovian reveal’ at the end of the season which will no doubt uncover Mrs Flood’s identity and just why Belinda can’t seem to return to earth.

The premise of this season sees Belinda desperately try to return home, with the travelling duo getting into plenty of intergalactic scrapes as the Doctor attempts to get her back.

Although it is a unique dynamic for the reboot, Russell reminded us of the parallel with the first 60s companions – school teachers Ian and Barbara – who are accidentally whisked away by William Hartnell’s First Doctor.

He reflected: ‘Belinda is a nurse in A & E so she knows what a tough life is, and she knows what hard work is, and she knows what horrors happen.

‘She realises the moment you step foot outside that Tardis door someone’s shooting a laser beam at you, or someone’s trying to murder you or throw you off a cliff or exterminate you.

The new season focuses on Belinda’s fight to get home (Picture: BBC/Danny Kasirye)

‘Ruby, played by Millie Gibson, also pops up this year. She’s not gone. She’s much loved and comes back, but she’s much more wide-eyed and joyous with the universe.

‘So it’s time to balance that with someone saying: “This life is mad, you are irresponsible, and get me home”,’ he joked.

And, as usual, online forums and social media are flooded with Whovians sharing their wildest and wackiest fan theories but Russell tends to steer clear of the chatter.

‘I don’t or I would go mad because they talk about it all day, every day. I’m actually not that sort of fan. I don’t do X, I’m not on that. I don’t do Facebook, so I love Instagram. I have fun on that.

‘But again, I just have a laugh on it and if anyone’s rude to me, just block them immediately. Takes approximately two seconds to block someone, so that’s easy. So no, I don’t really engage with it partly because I don’t know how, and it’s a bit late now,’ he said.

As for his highlights from the upcoming season, he confirmed that one episode, starring Slow Horses actor Christopher Chung and Rose Ayling-Ellis, is a ‘tough’ watch.

‘It’s not only scary, it’s tough. It’s 500,000 years in the future. Everyone’s dead, everyone’s been murdered, [and there is] just the Doctor and some troopers who arrived to find out what’s going on. And then it gets worse,’ he teased.

Doctor Who season two starts on BBC One on April 12.

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