Seventh Doctor actor Sylvester McCoy defends the political storytelling of Doctor Who. Picking up the role from Sixth Doctor Colin Baker in 1987 through the classic series’ end in 1989, McCoy’s Doctor was both a guiding mentor and a trickster challenging the powerful forces of the universe. While his tenure would bring the series to a close, the actor reprised his role for Big Finish’s audio dramas, alongside on-screen returns in Doctor Who’s 1996 TV movie and 2022’s “The Power of the Doctor.”
As Doctor Who will re-release McCoy’s season 25 in a new boxset, the actor was present at a BFI screening of the remastered “The Happiness Patrol,” where he commented on why political storytelling is vital to the series’ success (via RadioTimes). Defending its place in the franchise from critiques levied by certain outlets in recent years, the actor explained that part of the series’ original appeal was how it engaged with younger generations during its release in the 1960s. Check out McCoy’s full explanation below:
In the ’60s, I got hooked on Doctor Who, and the reason why was because of the politics in it, subtly put there. The ’60s, they started to swing, they started to change… it was a kind of a revolution, a peaceful and wonderful revolution going on, and Doctor Who was the only decent thing on [the BBC] at the time that had anything that talked to young people like me in a political way. So it’s always been political, as far as I’m concerned.
Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who Era Had Some Of The Series’ Finest Commentary
McCoy’s Era Saw Some Incredibly Direct Real-World Parallels
With McCoy’s comments, it’s unsurprising that his incarnation of the Doctor is involved in some of the show’s most well-known political stories. Not only did McCoy’s original Doctor Who auditions pitch his character facing a tyrant identified as “The Iron Lady”, but the aforementioned “The Happiness Patrol” featured Helen A, a character heavily-inspired by Margaret Thatcher. Ultimately, Helen A’s grip on Terra Alpha was shattered by a worker’s revolt, a move inspired by the Miner’s Strikes of the 1980s.
Even McCoy’s encounter with the Daleks in “Rememberance of the Daleks” brought the species as close to their real-world inspirations than ever before. While past Doctor Who stories leaned into their fascist inspirations, the 1988 episode saw the warring Renegade faction of the Dalek Civil War align with a group of British fascists unsatisfied with the UK’s alliances in World War II, all within a time when racism was prevalent, as seen by Ace’s horrified reaction. Direct parallels are drawn between the warring Daleks and the human bigots.
Doctor Who has always worn its political commentary on its sleeve. For its time, the series had an incredibly diverse team of creators, and that has always been the case as more storytellers have been allowed to tell their own tales in the universe. As such, the series’ commentary is a vital element to helping it continue to this day, and that is something McCoy respects greatly.