Doctor Who: The Cancer Question

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

photo copyright BBC

Youknow, the more I write these articles for the 60th anniversary and get these niggly things out of my system after all these years, something hit me.

People must be either watching programmes with their faces in their phones resulting in the stupid reactions I see online. This for me is one of the biggest and really think certain peiple should be banned from the internet; indeed banned from ever talking again because it’s literal shit they speak. It also shows the world that they are not watching shows closely at all..

In the episode Can You hear Me? from Jodie Whittaker’s second season Graham asks the Doctor a question. Niw we know Graham, the lovely Bradley Walsh, has survived cancer but lives in a constant fear of it returning. Now this aspect of his character ould have been used more amply than it was. Plunging head first into the mad adventures with the Doctor is a fantastic way of stopping yourself thinking about cancer and enjoying this life while we can. However the addictive nature of life in the Tardis can be a harmful thing too as demonstrated by the fate of Tegan and Clara. But in the moments between adventures, Graham tends to think about things he’d rather not.

It is in one of these quiet moments he takes the opportunity confide his greatest fear in the Doctor. She backs away awkwardly fiddling with the console unable to answer him. It is one of those times the Doctor is socially awkward when human personal issues are directed at her with expectant eyes. Instead she says she should say a reassuring thing but in a minute will think of something she should have said that would be helpful. It’s a nice human moment that reinforces the Doctor may look human but is alien. The implication being that she would have the answers to Graham’s worries. Reading between the lines, it is clear that Graham wants to know if his cancer will return. He knows the Doctor is long lived and a wealth of information about life but the fact she has a time machine automatically makes Graham think that she would know the answer or maybe even go forward to see his future. As Peri was once told in Revelation of the Daleks, it is possible to go forward to visit your own grave.

Now, here’s where the idiots jumped on and took great exception to the Doctor’s behaviour. Thye berated her for not answering Graham’s question but two things they forgot.One, the point of the scene was that the Doctor does not have all the answers and that death scares her as much as any mortal. Secondly, her reaction is very human yet distinctly Doctorish as she does not know what to say. No one in that situation really does. What do you say to someone who is living in fear of cancer returning again? You can give a hopeful assurance it may never happen and to enjoy life while you can. But that mist of an answer can be interpreted as do what you want before cancer comes back and finally takes you.

So the Doctor’s response is exactly what the Doctor would do and she doesn’t come up with something clever or reassuring because of all the darkness she has fought, a disease taking the life of a friend is not in her remit. Remember when the eleventh Doctor found out that the Brigadier had died several months before and he had missed it? His reaction was deep shock that concepts like friends dying of old age or disease is not in his pervue. It is only when it happens that the Doctor is brought back down to Earth. There is no easy answer to cancer and all we can give is a hopeful ‘worry about it when it happens’ air. In the meantime we fill what life we have left with as much fun and adventure as possible. Maybe that’s why the Doctor tries so hard to show his companions so much in such a compact time frame. Inwardly she knows her time will end with her friends and indeed she will regenerate one day so this could be her fear; her cancer fear. Let’s get out there before the darkness falls. As the eleventh Doctor told Amy he is running towards things before they fade away.

So once again, the viewer looks but does not see and they are set in that mindset. They forgwt thsi is only a television show and the Doctor is a fictional figure. It is up to the writers to ensure that all character’s reactions reflect the general mindset but vitally that individual character’s own values and traits. Here we got a perfect reminder that the Doctor is an alien traveller and not all knowing or omnipotent despite the reveal of the Timeless Children. Inded the eleventh Doctot couldn’t handle housework in the Power of Three. Normality for us drives him mad.

Once again, misconception and not paying attention to what is unravelling on screen can damage a show we care about which long term will lead to tears.