Russell T Davies: Doctor Who is “A Gay Show”, Warns Against Toxic Fans as He Labels X a “Hate Site”

More than two decades after reviving Doctor Who, Russell T Davies has said he now views it as “a gay show”.

Speaking at a masterclass during Series Mania, Davies declared, “I think of Doctor Who as a gay show.”

He went on to justify the notion framing it through the Doctor’s identity as an outsider. “[Doctor Who] isn’t, technically, but [The Doctor’s] an outsider who doesn’t fit in with the world and lives his own life, and he’s very othered from sex and from relationships.”

Davies went on to address negativity in the Doctor Who fanbase, stressing that the loudest voices online are not representative of the wider audience. He noted that we often “fall into the trap of talking about fans and assuming that means the online voice.”

“I think they are different things. I know they’re different things, I absolutely know that,” he continued. “And that online voice, which is hostile, exists on X, which is a hate site. We shouldn’t be surprised to find hatred on it, because it’s a hate site … It’s very dangerously assumed that that is the fan voice.”

He went on to argue that social media, combined with what he described as “the collapse of journalism”, has allowed racist and homophobic views to gain greater visibility.

“That’s where the danger point happens of the minority voices slipping more into the mainstream, because suddenly they’re in newspaper articles, suddenly you find critics quoting those voices,” he said.

While Davies acknowledged that audiences don’t “have to like a show,” he emphasised that disagreement should still be constructive. Fans of Doctor Who, he said, can still “have a great time disagreeing” respectfully.

“Fandom is creative and brilliant and fun, but it’s all getting soured,” he added, before ending with a stark view on digital culture: “Turn those phones off for anyone under 16, chuck them in the bin. I literally am evangelical about it.”