Series 10: Nardole Is A Full-Time “Non-Human” Companion | Doctor Who TV
Moffat: “He’s going to end up being in all episodes, in fact, because we love him.”
http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-10-nardole-is-a-full-time-non-human-companion-82018.htm
> cast unknown black woman as Companion
> but make sure uk household name dude who made blackface okay on british television also gets Companion role
> continue to bump up his appearances
>therefore essentially demoting Pearl to Co-Companion
> i’m not sure i’m liking how this is playing out
Oh ffs
1) Matt Lucas did not make blackface OK on British television. Britain aired The Black and White Minstrel Show through to fucking 1978. This is appalling, as are the 2010 Matt Lucas sketches being referred to here, but this is still elevating a fairly obscure corner of Lucas’s career to epic proportions to get a cheap hit off.
2) The notion of “demoted to a co-companion” is simply not one that has ever existed. I don’t think anyone suggested that Rory demoted Amy to co-companion. The single companion format was only a sporadic presence in the classic series, and I there’s never been a sense that the companions who were part of an ensemble were somehow lesser than the ones who weren’t.
I’ve got literally zero excitement for the return of Nardole (though I said that about Donna at the time as well), and am much more interested in Bill, but this is a cheap as hell shot.
You’re right; I should have said, “made blackface and yellowface and classism and ableism and homophobia and transphobia okay on British television in this century.”
(Yes, it was worse before. But -)
Little Britain (the blackface show in question) – it really wasn’t obscure. People referenced it in casual conversation for years while I was growing up, using the cute little catchphrases “I don’t want it!” to mock people in wheelchairs (my mother is in a wheelchair) and “yeahbutnobutyeah” to mock the poor and broke (most of my friends came from council flats or poor areas). That’s not even touching the racism, homophobia (yeah, I know Matt Lucas himself is gay, but-) transphobia, and just general cruelty him and David Walliams (another person I didn’t particularly want to see on Who) paraded across screens and magazine covers on a seemingly daily basis. The Daily Star used Little Britain characters to mock transpeople. The Daily Mail used it to mock a disabled man.
How this shit was commissioned in the 00s and instantly became a massive hit I really don’t wanna know, but there it is. Yes, it probably is “a cheap as hell shot”. But a huge part of the reason Matt Lucas has a career, a huge part of the reason he’s in a position to be a Doctor Who companion now, is because he literally made a name for himself making cheap as hell shots at people. Which were also racist, classist, ableist, homo- and trans-phobic cheap as hell shots.
(Rory and Amy were very much co-companions post series 5.)
(I judge Tom Baker for his Little Britain involvement, too.)