Is Doctor Who political?

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research project which investigated the vernacular political philosophy of the television program Doctor Who. Fans were asked about their political thinking, their interpretations of the politics of that program, and the relationship between these two. The results contribute to a cultural history of the political natures of different kinds of texts. These television viewers are revealed to be well able to articulate their own political thinking, and to argue cogently that Doctor Who is not useful for that thinking. The politics of this group range from self-nominated Marxist to extreme right-wing; and their interpretations of the program's politics, when they are asked to produce them, are similarly wide ranging. It seems that the program does not function as vernacular political philosophy. This has implications for thinking about the 'ideology' of popular texts.