Why I Love Bill Potts, The Doctor’s Newest Companion

Guys! Bill is gay! Like actually gay! Not LeFou gay or tragigay or vague-hints-but-we’re-not-going-to-show-anything-onscreen gay. She’s actually, openly gay.

After watching last week’s premiere, I sent that message to a few of my close friends in celebration of Bill Potts, the Doctor’s latest companion. I’ve watched the episode a few times, and I still can’t get enough of Bill. Sure, Captain Jack was unquestionably pansexual, but his limited time with the Doctor often keeps him from being considered a companion along the same lines as Rose or Donna or Clara (don’t @ me). This makes Bill the first openly gay companion*. Not only that, but this isn’t your typical questioning or coming of age story. Bill isn’t trying to figure out if she is a lesbian, she just is a lesbian.

Of course, coming of age and questioning stories are incredibly valuable. It is immensely helpful for LGBTQIA youth to see these stories and to find themselves in them. It is also valuable for straight folk to see that not all coming out stories are the same; that just because someone is now with a woman doesn’t mean they’ve suddenly “turned lesbian.”

There is also a lot of value to seeing LGBTQIA folk just exist as they are on screen. Study after study shows that increased exposure to accurate representations of LGBTQIA folk on screen leads to greater acceptance in society. It said a lot that Bill wasn’t just a lesbian, the entire episode focused around her crush on a one of the students at the school without fetishizing it. In fact, they presented it the same way they would have if Bill had been straight. I am 100 percent here for that.

Steven Moffat did leave the door open for Bill’s sexuality to cause a potential rift with her foster mom, which left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I love the idea of an out and proud Bill. On the other, life isn’t always that easy. I know many people (myself included) who were out to friends and select family members way before their parents or those who helped raise them.

It wasn’t just Bill’s sexuality that made her endearing and a strong contender for favourite companion. Her working class background was refreshing to see, after a few seasons of upper middle class companions. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rory and Amy and Clara (she eventually won me over, don’t @ me), but there is something unbelievable relatable about a character who has to sneak into lectures and works in the canteen.

There was one line that made me feel uncomfortable. It was awkwardly worded, awkwardly placed, and a horrible thing to say, especially by a woman in 2017. In fact, it was so bizarre I had to pause and go back to make sure I heard it properly.

My first day here in the canteen, I was on chips. There was this girl, student, beautiful, like a model, only with talking and thinking. She looked at you and you perved. Every time. Automatic, like physics. Eye contact, perversion. So I gave her extra chips. Every time. Extra chips. Like a reward for all the perversion. Every day, got myself on chips, rewarded her. Then finally, finally she looked at me, like she noticed, actually noticed all the extra chips. Do you know what I realized? She was fat. I’d fatted her. But that’s life, isn’t it? Beauty or chips. I like chips. So does she so that’s ok

Fat shaming? Really? “Beauty or chips”? REALLY? I mean, awesome that she got to the “I like chips, so does she so that’s ok” part, but what?? Was the purpose of this line to make us think that Bill was shallow? Unlikeable? A fat shamer?

Doctor Who comic book artist Rachael Stott phrased her reaction well, that it “took [her] out of the episode” because “it sounds way more like the voice of a middle aged male writer *cough* than a young queer woman.” Moffat does not have a great track record for treating delicate situations delicately, which might explain this weird bit. It felt more like Moffat was speaking than Bill. I am very hopeful that lines like this do not appear when her lines are penned by other writers.

Bill’s fate on the show is up in the air. There have been reports that the Pearl Mackie will leave the show along with Peter Capaldi at the end of this series, giving incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall free to make casting decisions. BBC has not confirmed, simply saying viewers will have to watch and see. If she does leave at the end of this series, I hope that the overwhelmingly positive reaction to her character leads to other, diverse casting choices on the show. How about more companions of colour or other faiths? Bill is the second one since Martha, 10 years ago. There has never been a Muslim companion – why not? One companion of colour per decade and a string of presumed-Christian companions isn’t exactly a great track record for a show that can take place literally anywhere in time and space.

*Clara’s line about Jane Austin’s kissing skills may be a hint to bisexuality, but this was never confirmed (this would make an excellent Big Finish audio book though)