- TV Review: Doctor Who – Oxygen - 13 May, 2017
- TV Review: Doctor Who – Knock Knock - 6 May, 2017
- TV Review: Doctor Who – The Pilot - 17 April, 2017
Unsurprisingly Doctor Who’s recent same-sex kiss has attracted some complaints. Ofcom, who regulates TV content (amongst many other media platforms), has confirmed that it received a grand total of six complaints about the lesbian kiss between Neve Mcintosh’s Silurian Vastra and Catrin Stewart’s human Jenny.
‘Deep Breath’ featured murder, the harvesting of body parts, mutilation and body parts being worn by others. Hell, it featured a hot air balloon made of stretched human skin! And yet it is a same-sex kiss between two women which has attracted so much controversy. Doctor Who has become porn, apparently. The complaints received by Ofcom decreed the kiss as ‘gratuitous’ and ‘unnecessary’.
Speaking about the issue Ofcom confirmed:
‘Ofcom can confirm it received six complaints about a kiss broadcast in an episode of Doctor Who on Saturday 23 August. Having assessed the complaints, we can confirm that they do not raise issues warranting further investigation. Our rules do not discriminate between scenes involving opposite-sex and same-sex couples.’
Doctor Who has featured numerous kisses in recent series – in fact the Doctor himself has been getting some long awaited action. Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor kissed both Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness. David Tennant’s Tenth incarnation smooched with Rose, snogged Martha Jones and even got lippy with Kylie Minogue! And recently departed Matt Smith got it on with River Song, Amy Pond, and even kissed Rory Williams in a moment of excitement. None of these kisses (even the same-sex kisses featuring Jack and Rory) elicited such a response.
So why did Vastra and Jenny’s expression of their love receive animosity? The kisses featuring Jack and Rory were fleeting and throwaway – they were blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. The kiss between Vastra and Jenny was highlighted and it was noteworthy in the plot. It lasted barely a second, but that was apparently enough to declare it ‘gratuitous’.
Should Vastra and Jenny return (and I hope they do) I want to see them giving a big middle finger to the naysayers and getting it on properly. Screw the haters.
