Martha Jones First black companion on Doctor Who - part 1
Doctor Who is notorious for frequently recasting the main roles of the Doctor and the companion: With a show consisting of over 400 hours of television, and around 875 episodes, it becomes necessary. The show usually has at least two main characters, the titular character of the alien Doctor, and a human friend that comes along, the companion.
In 2007, for the first time since the show was rebooted two years prior, the role of the companion was recast when Billie Piper stepped away from the beloved character, Rose Tyler. Freema Agyeman was cast for season three to play the character Martha Jones. While Martha Jones isn’t the first black character to be considered part of the companion character type (given the recurring appearances of Mickey Smith, played by Noel Clarke in the previous two seasons), she’s the first series regular companion in 44 years.
From Martha’s first scene, she’s portrayed as a character with depth and personality. Her first episode, “Smith and Jones,” starts from her point of view and we learn, in a few quick scenes, exactly what kind of person she is. Among the few things we learn are that she has siblings, is a medical student, has separated parents, and that her family is not always on the best of terms with one another.
Most of this is in contrast to her predecessor Rose Tyler’s background, and most likely was done purposefully. When the Doctor (at the time played by David Tennant) meets Martha, he quickly realizes what the audience is realizing as well; she is smart and level-headed and seems to be the kind of person to keep it together in a crisis. The Doctor takes a liking to her, and at the end of the episode invites her to travel with him.
The showrunner of Doctor Who at the time was Russell T. Davies, who is credited with successfully bringing the show into the roaring successes of the 21st century. Some have noticed a pattern between his companion characters' second episodes, or “first real adventures,” which mostly takes place in the future. At the beginning of seasons one and two, the characters travel to the distant future. In season three, Davies chose to break this pattern, and in the second episode, “The Shakespeare Code,” the Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha travel to the year 1599, and meet William Shakespeare (Dean Lennox Kelly).
It’s not uncommon knowledge that people of color don’t always do well in time travel scenarios. Martha is aware of this herself, and after she gets over the shock and awe of time travel existing, she asks the Doctor, “I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?” and describes herself as, “Not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed.” The Doctor tells her, “I'm not even human. Just walk about like you own the place. Works for me.” This dialogue is a little insensitive, definitely oblivious, and does not sit well with a majority of viewers.
Sure, while the Doctor isn’t human, and has been discriminated against due to this fact before, he possesses the appearance of a white British man. The differences between humans and Gallifreyans are mostly on a deeper biological level, so people of 1599 don’t have the resources or skills to even discover that he is an alien. He can successfully hide the fact that he’s an alien, and can afford to walk around “like he owns the place,” because he appears to be a white man, and uses that inherent privilege, as well as sci-fi gadgets. Martha is a young black woman and cannot hide that fact, and when she expresses concern, he’s flippant.
Upon meeting Shakespeare, he addresses Martha using incredibly outdated terms, and she’s shocked to realize that he is flirting with her. He later calls her his “Dark Lady,” and begins to recite a sonnet, which describes a woman who is unattractive, conventionally speaking, but at the end of the poem he declares that he loves her regardless. Shakespeare doesn’t finish reciting it, and while not technically offensive, it was an odd choice for the episode.
While no viewers were expecting a lack of time travel to the past or acknowledgment of historically accurate racism in the rest of the season, it is surprising that the odd writing choices don’t end after episode two. Several more of Martha’s episodes include storylines and dialogue that don’t exactly sit right with the audience, and feel a little out of place.
Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons