Doctor Who a Kids Show? Grow Up!

I came across the whole " 'Doctor Who' is a kid's show" argument again this week. Personally, I thought Warren Ellis was more supportive of the show than he recently indicated on his own forum boards. But by placing the kid show label on Doctor Who, he perpetuated a pop culture myth that really has had its day.

“Personally, I think DOCTOR WHO is a kid's show, and I watch it with my daughter. If I didn't have a daughter, I doubt I'd be watching it. Not being a kid and all.”

Warren’s argument seems to be that if a show is enjoyed by children as well as adults, it is a kid’s show. If he had merely said that he wasn’t that interested in the show and probably wouldn’t watch it without his daughter, it would be a different argument. But clearly he relates his disinterest to an identification of the show as purely kids stuff.

'Doctor Who' markets itself as a family show - it is designed to be enjoyed by all ages -and it has been incredibly successful in achieving this. But there are still those that believe if a show is capable of being watched by a five year old, it is somehow immature to want to watch it at thirty-five. Of course, these same people would defend 'Star Wars' or 'Star Trek' from being labeled in the same way. Maybe this is a purely television phenomenon?

Some would argue that the adults among the audience are watching out of a decades long loyalty or a fond remembrance of their own childhood. All 'Doctor Who' fans are big kids who refuse to grow up – that sort of thing.

But personal experience tells me this argument is false.

I have introduced the new 'Doctor Who' to a number of adults. Here in Australia, not everyone experienced the series as a child, as not all regions received the ABC, and even then not every family bothered to tune their TV to what was considered a dry and boring government funded station. My ex-girlfriend thought I was mad to try and convince her to watch the series with me. Even though we parted ways well over a year ago, she now avidly downloads each episode the day after broadcast and burns them to DVDs for regular rescreenings.

My fiancé and I have been together for just over a year. She had never even heard of 'Doctor Who' before meeting me and was completely unimpressed when I interrupted an evening together to watch ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ episode.

Having since devoured all three seasons, she is just as excited every weekend for the latest episode in the current series, and was recently caught thrusting my box set of series one onto her mother.

These are grown adults in their mid-thirties who definitely did not watch the show as children, had no nostalgic attachment to the series, and do not fit the stereotype of the male, nerdish, single anorak wearing man-child our detractors would expect.

Warren Ellis is a hero of mine. If you’ve not experienced his writings, you’ve missed out on one of the most original minds in modern comics. But for once, he is wrong. Children and adults can enjoy the same program without either being compromised in any way. 'Doctor Who' is rare in being a true family television show, but that should be celebrated, not belittled.