Martha Jones is the first black companion on Doctor Who - part 2
In 2007, when Freema Agyeman took up the role of Martha Jones, the first black series regular on Doctor Who, storylines relating to race issues in time travel were expected. After her first few season three episodes, however, the narrative choices continually became less and less sensitive.
In the fourth and fifth episodes, “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks,” the cast travels to 1930s New York City. Many of the story's characters live in Hoovervilles, settlements created by homeless people during the Great Depression. Another black character, Solomon (Hugh Quarshie) tells the Doctor and Jones that they were both welcome to stay in their Hooverville, describing its people as “a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving.” This “racism-free” look at historical New York seems like it was intended as a progressive anti-racist narrative, but it falls flat and seems to make light of America’s storied past of anti-black racism.
In the episodes “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood,” they go back in time, again, to England in 1913. During the episode, the Doctor wipes his own mind in order to hide from the freak of the week— this time at a boarding school. He goes on in the episode to take on the persona of a teacher and a professor, and Jones, because she’s a young woman of color, is a maid he brought along with him. She’s treated terribly by students and faculty at the school. The Doctor does not defend Jones and even shouts at her multiple times for not having the manners she, a maid, is expected to have. A side character from this story, Joan, the school nurse portrayed by Jessica Hynes, is disrespectful to Jones when she claims to have studied medicine, commenting on both her class status and her skin color.
In the multi-part season three finale, an old enemy from the history of Doctor Who returns— the Master. He, like the Doctor, is played by a series of different actors throughout the series’ run, (in these episodes by Derek Jacobi and John Simm) and is undoubtedly evil. He hypnotizes the United Kingdom into electing him to the office of the Prime Minister and declares the Doctor and his friends terrorists and public enemies. The characters go on the run, but the Master has Jones’ family captured as hostages. The episodes then skip ahead a full year, and we learn that the Master has essentially enslaved the Jones family, holding them prisoner, and forcing them to do unpaid labor. The events of the episodes are horrifying, with a chilling performance by John Simm, but these specific details have viewers wondering, where is the BBC’s sensitivity staff?
Out of the 13 episodes making up the season, six involve the characters traveling to the past. Doctor Who jumps between all kinds of eras and planets from episode to episode. Excluding characters of color from genres of television is not the solution to the problems that period-typical racism brings up, and neither is turning a blind eye. Ignoring the anti-black racism that makes up Western history and culture is trivializing, non-educational, and ignorant. Having black sci-fi characters is crucial for a show as widely popular as Doctor Who, which is often geared towards children and families. Black time-travelers can exist, but many viewers feel the stories should be handled with a little more tact.
Though many fans remember Jones fondly, some have trouble remembering her at all. She is often overlooked, due to being sandwiched between what are considered two fan-favorite characters, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). While Rose is best remembered for her ambiguously romantic relationship with the Doctor, Jones is often disliked for her one-sided romantic feelings for him. Some fans think of her series and plotlines as boring, and she is even disliked for choosing to step away from traveling with the Doctor.
Regardless of any of the racism Jones faced narratively, she suffered from very traumatic events that heavily impacted her character and choices. In the final episodes of the season, when her family is taken hostage by the Master, she goes on the run. She is nicknamed “the girl who walked the Earth,” as she travels through every continent, spreading words of hope and salvation to the terrified human race. At the end of this episode, after Martha’s actions save the day, the events are erased from everyone’s memory, except the main characters and Martha’s family, making her both literally and figuratively the hero that no one remembers.
The Doctor has lost some aspects of their inherent privilege in the 17 years since Jones was introduced, being a largely passing white cisgender straight human male, and not an alien. In 2018, the role was taken up by Jodie Whittaker, the first female actor to play the character, and in several episodes where she traveled to the past, she faced pushback due to appearing as a woman. Similar issues can be expected to crop up in the upcoming season, as the Doctor is being played by Ncuti Gatwa, a black man, for the first time.
Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons