In what may be a sign of Steven Moffat listening to the widespread criticism of the way he writes female characters, the new season of Doctor Who is set to include a lot more women.
Last week’s new Doctor Who trailer has opened the floodgates for new season 8 info, including the announcement that Scottish comedy actress Michelle Gomez (Green Wing) will be joining the cast as a “satanic” new character known as the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere. She will appear in the season finale, which incidentally is the first episode by a female director since Steven Moffat took over as showrunner.
At the same time, photos of a new episode have revealed that two female characters from the 50th anniversary special will return this season. Kate Stewart is the daughter of old-school Who character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, while Osgood is a government scientist with a fangirlish hero worship of the Doctor.
THE BOW TIE +THE SHOES OSGOOD pic.twitter.com/CZvaASa0Mv
— I-yo-na (@KnowledgeZebra) June 30, 2014
The set photos indicate that Osgood has gone from wearing a striped scarf like the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), to cosplaying Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor by wearing a bow tie. Osgood has become a kind of mascot of Doctor Who fandom, so plenty of Whovians are excited to see her return for another episode.
i really liked osgood in the 50th and afterwards i kept wishing she would be in more episodes and ta-dah
— alys (@smithandpond) June 30, 2014
This picture makes me so excited for series 8, so glad Kate and Osgood are back pic.twitter.com/RKjIvfJEuA
— Abbie (@SmithandColeman) June 30, 2014
if moffat dares to kill off osgood for ~emotional impact~ i will personally send 5,000 ladybugs to his house inside a box labeled “candy”
— Allegra Rosenberg (@ginger_time) June 30, 2014
Season 8 will also see the return of the Victorian alien Madam Vastra and her wife Jenny, as well as new female characters played by Hermione Norris and Keeley Hawes.
This all looks like a step in the direction for women in the Whoniverse, after the amount of screentime given to female characters rapidly decreased during Steven Moffat’s time as showrunner. Maybe once they’ve got the Bechdel Test situation out of the way, they can get around to hiring a female writer or two.
Photo via bbcone/Tumblr
