Going for woke

Jodie, waving her sonic screwdriver around 

It's the Doctor Who season finale tonight. If you won't be watching you won't be alone. 

The season's viewing figures are now well below any other season since the show came back from its long hiatus in the mid 2000s, and as this series has gone on the ratings have kept on falling. Apparently, the figures are now back to the low they reached just before the programme was axed in the 1980s. 

It's just one of those things that the last two episodes have been the best of the season by some margin, but the damage was done with that string of truly terrible episodes earlier in the season and, unfortunately, they used up their supply of good faith. People switched off, and even word-of-mouth that the series has picked up again probably won't encourage many to switch back on. 

What's the problem? Well, there's all the heavy politically-correctness for starters, made worse by the fact that it has sometimes been accompanied by actual preaching. (Who wants to hear Doctor Who lecture the audience as if they are in a classroom? Listening to Doctor Jodie in full flow reminds me of what Queen Victoria is said to have said of Gladstone, "He speaks to me as if I were a public meeting"). But many also cite awful scripts, a Doctor lots of people find unconvincing, unengaging companions, and poor acting (particularly from the companions). 

The BBC is, of course, doubling down. The first female Doctor can't be seen to fail, so she's getting the now-standard third series. As is showrunner Chris Chibnall. And Piers Wenger, controller of BBC drama commissioning, is quoted as saying:

I worked on Doctor Who myself and produced it for many years and I can honestly say I don’t think it’s been in better health editorially. The production values have never been better.

I think someone's been on the Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters. 

To end: a funny video. There's a lot of truth in it.