The latest ‘Doctor Who’ companion, Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie will be gay, says the star herself.
“Yeah, Bill’s gay. It shouldn’t be a big deal in the 21st Century. It’s about time isn’t it?”
Of course, Bill joins the likes of gay or bisexual characters like John Barrowman‘s Captain Jack Harkness, Neve McIntosh’s Madame Vastra and Alex Kingston‘s River Song but Bill will mark the first openly gay main companion. Of course Captain Jack’s sexuality was more fully explored on the spin-off series ‘Torchwood’. Recently, a gay relationship was also included on another spin-off ‘Class’ between Charlie Smith played by Greg Austin and Matteusz Andrzejewski played by Jordan Renzo.
Mackie went on to stress the importance of inclusion on the core series.
“That representation is important, especially on a mainstream show.”
“It’s important to say people are gay, people are black – there are also aliens in the world as well so watch out for them.”I remember watching TV as a young mixed race girl not seeing many people who looked like me, so I think being able to visually recognise yourself on screen is important.”
“[Being gay] is not the main thing that defines her character – it’s something that’s part of her and something that she’s very happy and very comfortable with.”
She did reveal that Bill references her sexuality with her second line of dialogue in her first episode.
Mackie posted this little video explaining her character:
Speaking of that, after taking the bulk of 2016 off, ‘Doctor Who’ returns on April 15. It marks the final season for star Peter Capaldi and showrunner Steven Moffat. It is also expected that Bill will also only be featured for one season. Chris Chibnall will take over as showrunner and the show is expected to be a clean slate once he comes on board.
What do you think about this development? Is it about time?
Source: Radio Times
