Doctor Who and Class

[randomgirl666.livejournal.com]

So I've been thinking about this for a while and last Saturday's episode brought it up again. Whenever the Doctor turns up in "our" time (or near enough) I always find myself looking at the setting and thinking "please don't get it wrong, please don't get it wrong." Following some speculation in January about whether there were enough working-class people in BBC comedy, I've been looking at other TV shows and thinking more about how they relate to my experience of life as a scruffy working class urchin.

Some interesting points to note about "Night Terrors." First of all, it was a bit of a muddle. We're shown a family who can't afford £350 a month in rent (which is, by the way, a good deal cheaper than any real-life flat in London) and there's some implication they were hit hard by the recession. But the child's cockney accent... it was sort of like the middle class conception of what working class people are like. At the same time, we have a plot where the child is supposedly scared of everything and we're shown noises and sights inside the flat as if to say "yeah, council estates are scary aren't they?" But this is never dealt with, really. We can dismiss a certain amount by saying "yeah, it's because he's an alien" but in reality who wouldn't be freaked out by nosey neighbours or noisy lifts at that age? The episode seemed to be saying "yes, these estates can be scary places to grow up" and then backing away from that notion.

This is a running theme when we're presented with council blocks in Who. At least their residents are not presented as ne'er do wells, more interesting in having children for benefits than getting a good job (there are plenty of TV shows that still fall into this pattern of class stereotyping). But at the same time, these glimpses into the working class people of tho Whoniverse just feel a little bit... off.

Last series, Leadworth was presented to us as a kind of sleepy, rural middle-class village, and that fit into the whole dark fairytale feel of the series. The point of setting Who stories in council estates is presumably to find menace in "ordinary" settings, but it's hard not to notice that a fair few of the writers doing this are not actually working class in themselves. Does anyone else think there are probably times that it shows?

Comments

[master-of-drums.livejournal.com]

Yes I can tell they haven't had much experience with real council estates. I my self come from a working class background and a council estate but in the country side so it has a bit more of the sleepy village vibe, I'm not sure what London estates are like so I don't think my view is very valid. But they seem to dismiss the estates like in they're still in a middle class setting. The first two series, Rose lives in a council estate but it's like it's not real all the bits are wrong, especially when you see people walking past in quite pricey clothes. They could at least do some good research before doing episodes like this or find some director that was from a working class background.

[loolaa.livejournal.com]

£350 could be believable for a council flat in London, but since they had a private landlord demanding money it's lower than it should be. I take it they were living in an ex-council flat.

I didn't actually notice the child's cockney accent at all. I'll have to take note next time I watch. He sounded well spoken to me!
But, I didn't pick up on the 'council flats are scary thing'. I just took it on face value. It didn't occur to me, perhaps because I barely noticed they were in a council flat, not in a way that it seemed significant. I would have noticed if they were in a big five bedroomed house with a massive kitchen though.
I took the scares as the child being scared of things that scare kids: clowns, creepy dolls, lifts, shadows etc. I didn't relate any of it to the council estate. But now you're making me wonder!

I think it shows in most TV shows that the writers in general are more middle class. I notice it most in the character's language and dialogue. A lot of kids on TV sound like Enid Blyton 'jolly hockey sticks' kids. The ones that don't always seem to have have the London 'street' accent. There's not much variation and they don't sound realistic to me. (But then I'm Northern and have lived on at least three council estates in my lifetime.)

[gwaithgweneth.livejournal.com]

Would like to point out that "ordinary" is relative. I've heard some criticisms that Leadworth is not realistic, it's a sleepy little lost in time village and they don't really have those.

Yes they do, I live in one. I'm not saying that they don't need more and more accurate portrayals of the working class, just saying...ordinary is relative.

[gwaithgweneth.livejournal.com]

And yes, I realize that this isn't all that related to the real point of the post, it just sort of jumped out at me. Like I said, I live in a sleepy little lost in time village, and it's in America. So I don't really no much about council flats. (Actually I live on a back road in a tiny house surrounded by corn and cows which belong to my neighbors. Still not helpful.)

[randomgirl666.livejournal.com]

I don't find Leadworth unrealistic, in fact I think in some respects it strikes me as more "real" than the council estates portrayed in Doctor Who. Sleepy villages and council estates are both part of modern Britain, I just think the writers tend to portray the sleepy villages more realistically, possibly because the writers are more likely to come from sleepy villages themselves.

[gwaithgweneth.livejournal.com]

Oh, they definitely portray their sleepy villages realistically--and I'm certainly not going to argue that they portray their council estates equally realistically given my very limited personal experience. I've just read a lot recently by people who seem to forget that sleepy little villages exist--and since, as you say, they're both a part of modern Britain, they shouldn't do that anymore then people in sleepy little villages should forget that council estates exist.