For many families in Britain, celebrating Christmas will involve eating turkey, exchanging gifts, and — in a relatively new addition to the Yuletide routine — settling down to enjoy the Doctor Who Christmas Special.
Last year it drew an audience of 8.9 million and with a new companion set to star in this year’s episode it’s bound to be a hit.
Cowering behind the sofa
While we cower behind the sofa, the Doctor is usually too busy zooming through time and space to sit down and consider deep theological questions. After all, there are universes to save, villains to thwart and ‘wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff’ to play with (‘Blink’, 2007). Yet many have noticed the show’s metaphysical preoccupations. Russell T. Davies, the writer who fought for the show’s revival, said: ‘The series lends itself to religious iconography because the Doctor is a proper saviour. He saves the world through the power of his mind and his passion’.
The Doctor is an enigmatic saviour figure, whose mind and passion can seem complex and erratic. However, it is the hidden depths of his imagination that are the driving force of the programme. One book dedicated to exploring the relationship between Doctor Who and philosophy states: ‘Like the [...] TARDIS, the alien morality that the Doctor represents has unseen dimensions that no one would suspect lay behind his unassuming facade’.
Moral quandaries
The Doctor’s alien morality is ambiguous in nature, stemming from an emotional response to individuals rather than a carefully calculated logic or an insistence on abstract ideals. This becomes apparent when the Doctor finds himself in difficult situations which pose a moral quandary, a remarkably common occurrence. Should he destroy those who pose a threat to others? Should he prioritise his companions over the rest of the human race? Should he sacrifice himself to save a world, a species, a single person?
Davros, nemesis of the Doctor and creator of the Daleks, recognises that, when the Doctor is forced to make decisions to preserve certain life forms, he is crippled by the implication that it means others must perish. His ultimate trump card is to reveal the truth that the Doctor is in fact responsible for numerous deaths: ‘Just think, how many have died in your name? [...] The Doctor, the man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself’.
The Doctor is all too aware of this reality; in ‘A Town Called Mercy’ (2012) another doctor reminds him of this, using an apt metaphor: ‘We all carry our prisons with us. [...] Yours is your morality.’
If I believe in one thing...
If the Doctor is imprisoned by his morality, he does sometimes manage to overcome the obstacles and save the day, thanks to his boundless passion for flawed, weak human beings. His deep respect for life means that he detests uniformity, instead revelling in eccentricity, uniqueness and variety. Every individual is valuable, and this is the message that he instils in every human he meets. In fact, the Doctor’s certainty in the ability of human beings to make the right decisions is his one fixed point of reference. Speaking of assistant Rose, he declares: ‘I’ve seen a lot of this universe. I’ve seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods. I’ve had the whole pantheon. But if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her!’ (‘The Satan Pit’, 2006).
His confidence in imperfect mortals to stand up for what is right and take action when it matters inspires people to do just that. As Rose explains in ‘The Parting of Ways’ (2005): ‘The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. [...] You don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand. You say “no”. You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone else just runs away’.
Perhaps this Christmas we can crawl out from behind the sofa to make a stand and do what’s right, because we are companions of the true Saviour who believes in us, shows us a better way of living our lives and takes us on adventures immeasurably more exciting than we can ask or imagine.
Rachel Helen Smith works as an events planner and freelance writer in Cambridge. More of her articles are available at http://www.rachelhelensmith.com
