Doctor Who fans convinced the Doctor is headed for queer romance after emotional twist
Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. (BBC)
Doctor Who: Flux has left fans convinced that the Doctor is headed for a queer romance with her companion Yaz.
Sunday’s (5 December) season finale saw the Doctor and Yaz reunited after Yaz and Dan were sent back in time earlier in the season.
Though in the Doctor’s timeline, the separation had been brief, she was shocked to learn that for Yaz, it had been two years. It made their reunion all the more emotional, and fans were quick to pick up on the heavy romantic tension and queer subtext.
Earlier in the six-part season, Yaz was seen replaying a hologram message left for her by the Doctor over and over, yearning to see her again.
“You’d have to work *really* hard to watch that hologram scene and still be convinced that Yaz’s feelings for the Doctor are purely platonic,” Radio Times executive editor Morgan Jeffery said on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/morganjeffery/status/1465027610132590598
Upon their reunion, the pair shared an intense hug before the Doctor apologised for shutting Yaz out.
“I want to tell you everything,” the Timelord, played by Jodie Whittaker, said.
“I’d like that,” Yaz (Mandip Gill) said, before the tension was broken by an interruption from Dan (John Bishop).
It’s far from the first time Doctor Who has suggested that there’s something more to the Doctor-companion relationship, with fans having long suggested that Yaz is in love with her.
https://twitter.com/_mag_lex/status/1467576295886233603
Many pointed out the achingly obvious romance that could be.
https://twitter.com/Kcoszo/status/1467561035267821578
https://twitter.com/spacethirteen/status/1467575722621476871
https://twitter.com/lesbiantardis/status/1467575160777625601
Jodie Whittaker has spoken about fans shipping the Doctor and Yaz in a new interview, admitting that she “adores” Doctor Who co-star Mandip Gill.
“It’s probably also based on the fact that every time me and Mandip are photographed on set, my arm’s forever draped over her,” she told The Guardian.
“You can base it on the fact that I absolutely adore her and I’m never more than a foot away from her in real life anyway.”
Gill has also previously spoken about the major hints that Yaz might be bisexual, stating in December 2020 that she is “here for” a relationship between the pair.
“Me and the Doctor? I love it,” she told SFX (via Radio Times). “The fan art is just out there. It’s good, innit? You want a character and a storyline, [and] even though that storyline wasn’t there, you want people to be talking about it.
“I don’t want it to just stay on-screen, I want people to relate to it or have seen something in our two characters that they think could go on a different journey. So to me, I’m here for it.”
Of course, the Doctor has shared romantic moments with female companions previously, but these all happened in her male incarnations.
The show has previously won praise for LGBT+ inclusion – notably, the “omnisexual” hero Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman – and the introduction of female regenerations played by Jodie Whittaker and Jo Martin suggests that the Doctor doesn’t particularly care for the concept of gender.
But making her explicitly queer would represent a huge shift for the long-running show, which will soon return to the stewardship of gay TV supremo Russell T Davies.
Following Sunday’s Flux finale, Doctor Who will return for three specials stripped across 2022, with Whittaker exiting the role at the end of the year. Speculation as to who will replace her is rife, with many suggesting Davies will choose from among his It’s a Sin cast.
