Doctor Who ’s traveler make out to unseat Prime - Minister Harriet Jones with six word . But when he strain to do the same to Margaret Thatcher , it did n’t ferment out so heavy . The show ’s creators admit they were trying to “ overthrow the government . ”
People have long suspected that late-1980s physician Who featured some pretty strong anti - Thatcherite messages . The malefic dictator Helen A , who leads a untrue utopia of forced sunshine in “ The Happiness Patrol , ” is oftentimes name as a Thatcher archetype . In another sequence , the Seventh Doctor gave a speech about nuclear weapons that was lift from CND materials . A tie - in novel , Turlough And The Earthlink Dilemma , sport a villain make Rehctaht , or “ Thatcher ” spelled rearward .
Andour own painstaking researchfound the percentage of stories where the Doctor overthrows a satellite ’s regime , or else of just furbish up the status quo , went up drastically in the late eighties .
http://io9.com/338332/doctor-who-revolutionary-or-tool-of-the-man
Now , maybe for the first time , the great unwashed need with the making of those final seasons of the classic series are admitting they had an anti - Thatcher agenda , and it ’s causing waves in Britain . Then - maven Sylvester McCoy say :
We were a mathematical group of politically motivated people and it seemed the right-hand affair to do . At the time physician Who used satire to put political messages out there in the way they used to do in places like Czechoslovakia . Our feeling was that Margaret Thatcher was far more terrifying than any monster the Doctor had encountered .
And script editor program Andrew Cartmel , who worked on those last few seasons , says that he was honest when producer John Nathan - Turner asked him in his job consultation what he ’d wish to do with the show :
My precise words were : I ’d wish to override the government . I was a vernal firebrand and I desire to answer candidly . I was very raging about the social injustice in Britain under Thatcher and I ’m delighted that came into the show .
Cartmel tell he gather a group of “ angry vernal writers ” in the hopes of using the show to foment dissent . Instead , the show faded into obscurity and got canceled . Only to do back 15 years later , with overt anti - Tony Blair messages .
Top image : A phallus of the “ Happiness Patrol ” at last year ’s Dragon - Con , viaEclectic Muse on Flickr . [ Times Online ]
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