Whenever I hear that old chestnut about “lol superwholock and its queerbaiting” I always want to ask “…have you actually watched Doctor Who?” and the answer is usually no, and that makes me sad, that everyone thinks it’s a homophobic mess, because Russell T Davies.

Like, I have my issues with Russell T Davies (oh boy, do I have my issues) but back in 2005 he did something huge with Doctor Who, which was use it to – being gay himself – completely and utterly normalize queer relationships on British TV. And he did it really well and he did it really loudly, to the extent that you had homophobes both online and in the media complaining about his ‘gay agenda’ on pretty much a weekly basis. By the time the Doctor and Jack kissed in The Parting of the Ways, it was sort of cemented that Yes, Gay and Bi People Had A Place In Doctor Who Now. (Doctor Who has actually had a “gay following” since at least the 80s, but it really seems to be all but forgotten these days, although maybe not in the UK?)

And I know that people are right at this moment gearing up to type “That all went away with Moffat’s era, though” but it…mostly didn’t? Madame Vastra and Jenny were introduced and ended up a loving lesbian couple who faced down monsters constantly and yet remained alive. Clara and River both made allusions to relationships with women that revealed them to be bisexual. (Even though the show still hasn’t ever said the word, sigh.) Don’t get me wrong, this all sure as hell wasn’t/isn’t perfect – the T is still mostly missing from the LGBT representation the show has and that’s just for starters – but it was such a big, awesome deal at the time, it’s still making waves now even.

Essentially, it just seems a real shame that all the things Russell T Davies did for Doctor Who, and for questioning kids have just been forgotten, smushed together with a couple of other shows and completely dismissed. Because he really fought hard for it. Remember that lesbian adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that everyone rightly adored when it aired on the BBC? That wouldn’t have happened without Davis first setting the groundwork with Doctor Who.