Why Doctor Who's Space Babies mean more than you might think (2024)

As Doctor Who re-emerged onto our screens over the weekend, with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson at the helm of the Tardis, it was hard not to be transported back to a somewhat simpler time. To when, as young people, many of us found ourselves lost in the mayhem that the Doctor ended up in – whilst understanding more about the world (and ourselves) inadvertently in the process.

Episode one of season 14 – this time supercharged by Russell T Davies' return and its new collaborative launch with Disney Branded Television – was its most childish and silly yet.

Titled 'Space Babies', we were introduced to an intergalactic baby farm where 'space babies' roamed in fear of the terrifying (and, it turns out, literal) 'Bogeyman' who lives in the depths of their spaceship.

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It's absurdist and downright nonsensical concepts like this that made so many of us fall in love with the show in our youth, a notable core memory being David Tennant's tenure as the 10th Doctor, which included his fight against Peter Kay as the 'Abzorbaloff' – a creature who absorbed the memories and knowledge of those around him, leaving their faces imprinted on the outside of his body like trophies. A sinister Mr Blobby, perhaps.

But the specificity of the creative storytelling that we see throughout the show is far more than just creative skill or happenstance.

We saw LGBTQ+-specific storylines during Jodie Whittaker's time on the show – including her companion Yaz revealing she had feelings for the 14th Doctor in the 2022 New Year's Day special – but Russell T Davies has a way of creating a consistent hum of identifiable moments for the queer community that aren't always loud but never fail to hit the target.

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Coming from a man who has Queer as Folk, It's a Sin, and Cucumber in his portfolio, it's evident that portraying LGBTQ+ stories with nuance and care is in his blood.

But with Doctor Who he has created an instant, yet rarely explicitly spoken-about, relatability for LGBTQ+ audiences by using the Doctor as an outlet to explore our lived experiences.

As queer kids, we watched in awe at what was happening in time and space, with Matt Smith's Doctor eating fish fingers and custard, Captain Jack Harkness offering us BBC-appropriate innuendo and bisexual representation whenever he dropped in to say hello, and Billie Piper as the unforgettable Rose Tyler.

But unknown to many of us at the time, our love of the show was rooted in our connection to Davies' skill at telling stories that included people from all walks of life, no matter their race, ability, sexuality or religion – or even species.

We saw ourselves, some of us for the first time, on that screen. Behind the sci-fi extravaganza – what we were really watching back then, and what we are seeing again now in 2024 – is a story with humanity at its core.

Underneath the snot and out-of-this-world peril of 'Space Babies', it's a story about searching for a chosen family. The babies are repeatedly referenced as being refugees, looking for love and connection at a time when they are in desperate fear of the big bad monster that hears every step they make.

Even the 'Bogeyman', ultimately, is saved by the Doctor because of his empathetic understanding that it's our one-of-a-kind nature that makes us special in this world, and he doesn't want to see him expelled into the ether because of his past mistakes.

"Nobody grows up wrong," he pointedly reassures a baby anxious about her own identity.

Yes, quite an allegory, but that's the unique sparkle that Russell T Davies holds, that is so familiar to those of us who are queer or on the fringes, who grew up on his childishly optimistic tales of adventure and love.

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Even his inclusion of RuPaul's Drag Race and Broadway superstar Jinkx Monsoon in the second episode, 'The Devil's Chord', was purposeful and expertly choreographed. Their brief stint as a villain saw not only one of the campest episodes of Doctor Who we've ever seen, but a villain open about their gender identity and not afraid to be terrifying all at the same time.

Davies shared, in the official BBC Doctor Who podcast, that the role was written with Jinkx in mind, showing his understanding of not only Monsoon's talents but what LGBTQ+ audiences will want to see from the get-go of the 14th series. An opportunity to go big and make a statement.

So if you're miffed that the new series of Doctor Who isn't for you, or you've jumped onto social media to proclaim that it's 'too childish' or 'woke', then we'd suggest taking a trip down memory lane, back into the archives, because Doctor Who has consistently been a show that pushes the boundaries.

It's a show that never fails to make a statement, whichever planet it lands on – and Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson are sure to inspire a whole new generation of LGBTQ+ people to follow their dreams, imploring them to continue to reach for the stars no matter what.

Doctor Who airs on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ in the US.