A female Doctor Who? TV expert Lorna Jowett published new book on how the popular series represents gender

With speculation rife amongst science fiction fans about whether the next Doctor Who could be female, Dr Lorna Jowett, Reader in Television Studies at the University of Northampton, has just published a book on how the popular science fiction series represents gender in the 21st Century.

‘Dancing with the Doctor: Dimensions of Gender in the Doctor Who Universe’ delves into the distinctive stories and characters of ‘Doctor Who’ and both its spin off series, ‘Torchwood’ and ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’, also focusing on their male and female companions.

Lorna considers the showrunners, directors, producers and writers and the problems they have had in offering alternative gender models, as well as looking at the constructions of masculinity, the author function and how gender intersects with the other facets of identity, race, ethnicity and age.

Lorna said: “With the official announcement that actor Peter Capaldi, currently playing the renegade Time Lord in the rebooted series tenth season, is leaving the series, speculation is already running high about who might be cast as the next Doctor.

“In 2013, when Matt Smith prepared to bow out as the 11th Doctor, there were calls for more imagination in casting a new actor to play the role, rather than another white male. Capaldi’s casting only upped the ante for this new opportunity, especially coupled with criticisms of the series’ showrunner, Steven Moffat, for not employing more women writers and directors.

“All of these areas–characters, stories, casting, writing, directing and showrunning—as well as press, viewer and fan responses to all three series are covered in the new book, from an admittedly feminist viewpoint.

“I was persuaded to write this book after giving a keynote lecture on female companions in the new ‘Doctor Who’ at the 50th anniversary academic conference in 2013. Philippa Brewster from publisher I B Tauris was in the audience, and, seeing the way both male and female academics reacted to my paper, realised this was a perspective that still had a lot of potential.

“I’m fairly certain this latest book won’t be popular with everyone, but I don’t mind if it shakes things up a little.”

Lorna has published widely on television, film and popular culture.

She is co-author with Stacey Abbott of ‘TV Horror: Investigating The Dark Side of the Small Screen’, author of ‘Sex and the Slayer: A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan’, and one of the editors of ‘Time on TV: Narrative Time, Time Travel and Time Travellers in Popular Television Culture.’

Her latest book, ‘Dancing with the Doctor: Dimensions of Gender in the Doctor Who Universe’ was published on 29 April 2017 by I B Tauris.