Doctor Who Hires Its First Female Writer in Six Years

roseofbattle

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Apr 18, 2011
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Doctor Who Hires Its First Female Writer in Six Years

Catherine Tregenna is the fifth woman to write for Doctor Who out of the 92 people hired to write for the show in its history.

According to an Torchwood [http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/torchwoods-catherine-tregenna-penning-series-9-story-69191.htm], EastEnders, and Law & Order: UK, and she is the fifth woman to write for Doctor Who. She's also the first woman hired to pen an episode since 2008 for the long-running show.

Writer Neil Gaiman, who wrote the Doctor Who episodes "Nightmare in Silver" and "The Doctor's Wife," spoke out on the lack of women writing for Doctor Who a lot of criticism over how he writes women who are tied to the men around them [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/11151320/Why-are-there-no-female-writers-on-Doctor-Who.html], such as River Song, Amy Pond, and Clara Oswald.

Before Tregenna's hiring, the last woman to write for the show was Helen Raynor, who wrote "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" in 2008, "The Sontaran Stratagem," and "The Poison Sky" in 2007.

Gaiman said Moffat and many of the producers and script editors have attempted to get women involved [http://www.themarysue.com/gaiman-on-doctor-who-gender-disparity/] in writing the show, but scheduling problems have allegedly stood in the way, and some women have declined offers.

Doctor Who now has had 92 different writers in its history, and only five have been women. [https://www.nerdist.com/2014/11/hooray-doctor-who-hires-first-female-writer-in-6-years-for-season-9/]

Source: doctorwhotv.co.uk [http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/torchwoods-catherine-tregenna-penning-series-9-story-69191.htm]

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Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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Is it really going to matter, as long as Moffatt's the one in charge overall? He seems to be the source of the problems, and he's still in charge.

Also, I doubt anyone could make Clara not terrible.
 

Josh123914

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Nov 17, 2009
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Great!

Now get rid of Moffat!

Over the years since Davies left I've been trying to figure out what the problem's been with Doctor Who without him. It wasn't the Doctor himself, or his companions, or hell even the villains.
Sometimes it wasn't even the main villain of the season. No, it was Moffat this whole time.

Fucking really? Master-Cybermen team-up and you devote 30 minutes to-GAAAHHH
 

Zero=Interrupt

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Who cares about the gender of the writer? If they're good, then hire them. If not, then don't. How hard is that?
 

Baresark

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I don't really understand all the hatred towards Moffat, he has been pretty good for the show overall. He is a great writer in his own right, his portrayals of women withstanding (I don't honestly have an issue, but people will find fault with anything if they want to). Honestly, if they could hire Neil Gaiman full time we would never have a dull episode, he pretty much eclipses everyone who has written for the show.
 

Thaluikhain

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Zero=Interrupt said:
Who cares about the gender of the writer? If they're good, then hire them. If not, then don't. How hard is that?
Given that only 5 out of 92 writers were women, and none in the last 6 years (none under Moffatt's leadership), it would seem that people do care.
 

jFr[e]ak93

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Josh123914 said:
Great!

Now get rid of Moffat!

Over the years since Davies left I've been trying to figure out what the problem's been with Doctor Who without him. It wasn't the Doctor himself, or his companions, or hell even the villains.
Sometimes it wasn't even the main villain of the season. No, it was Moffat this whole time.

Fucking really? Master-Cybermen team-up and you devote 30 minutes to-GAAAHHH
The problem is Moffat writes like a fan boy. Most of his episodes start off with the doctor being all mysterious and usually not even present. Some characters talk about how awesome the doctor is. Then he shows up and does stuff. There is then a lore contradiction (because time travel) and then it's over.

Moffat isn't a bad writter, he's a bad show runner. Blink is one of my favourite episodes, but he had to follow someone else's rules for it.

I miss Davies. He wasn't perfect, but man the guy nailed continuity, season long story arcs and the wacky intensity of The Doctor.

I haven't seen season 8 yet, but I really don't want to see my Doctor tainted any more...

OT - I really don't care what gender you are as long as you can write. I've seen a lot of crap from men and women alike.
 

Josh123914

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jFr[e said:
ak93]snip
Well I agree with that.
I figured Gaiman would be very similar. He's great in small amounts but I doubt he'd have the energy to run the show.

And for the record, season 8 was (in my opinion) the best season since Davies. It's just the finale that let it down.
 

Ukomba

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WHAT?!? OMF DOCTOR WHO IS OVER! IT'S THE END OF ALL THINGS!!!!

no, wait, the other thing: I don't care and don't know anyone who would. Good for her I guess.
 

Thaluikhain

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jFr[e said:
ak93]The problem is Moffat writes like a fan boy. Most of his episodes start off with the doctor being all mysterious and usually not even present. Some characters talk about how awesome the doctor is. Then he shows up and does stuff. There is then a lore contradiction (because time travel) and then it's over.

Moffat isn't a bad writter, he's a bad show runner. Blink is one of my favourite episodes, but he had to follow someone else's rules for it.

I miss Davies. He wasn't perfect, but man the guy nailed continuity, season long story arcs and the wacky intensity of The Doctor.
I disagree with that. Davies story arcs and wackiness were (IMHO) rubbish (though Moffatt's are likewise), and he fanboyed much harder than Moffat.

But definitely agree that Moffat really needs to have someone above him script editing.
 

mad825

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And within those 6 years no women didn't even bother raising the Equality Act 2010 against them despite there being reasonable evidence.
 

WeepingAngels

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Zero=Interrupt said:
Who cares about the gender of the writer? If they're good, then hire them. If not, then don't. How hard is that?
You know, we have to celebrate everything female.
 

Mr Cwtchy

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roseofbattle said:
Before Tregenna's hiring, the last woman to write for the show was Helen Raynor, who wrote "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" in 2008, "The Sontaran Stratagem," and "The Poison Sky" in 2007.
DiM/EoTD came out in series 3, TSS and TPS in series 4. Unless writers write episodes in a very bizarre order I think these may be backwards.
 

Thaluikhain

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Mr Cwtchy said:
roseofbattle said:
Before Tregenna's hiring, the last woman to write for the show was Helen Raynor, who wrote "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" in 2008, "The Sontaran Stratagem," and "The Poison Sky" in 2007.
DiM/EoTD came out in series 3, TSS and TPS in series 4. Unless writers write episodes in a very bizarre order I think these may be backwards.
Sometimes the order is a bit odd, yeah. Sometimes a story was written for the previous doctor, but didn't get used until after the change, which can cause problems.
 

JarinArenos

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Zero=Interrupt said:
Who cares about the gender of the writer? If they're good, then hire them. If not, then don't. How hard is that?
I constantly boggle at how someone can see a 93/5 split, and somehow come to the conclusion that this wasn't badly gender-biased already. Or are you making the claim that men are just that much better at writing, and 95% of the time, it just so happened to be a man was the best qualified for the job? If so, please state it explicitly.

Edit: Reminds me of that social-interactions study where participation level was being tracked against actual participation. When women spoke barely a third of the time, men had the perception that they were dominating the conversation, and it didn't drop to a "balanced" perception until something like 90/10. (it may have been 93/7, which makes this writer split almost dead-on)
 

Josh123914

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Nov 17, 2009
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JarinArenos said:
Zero=Interrupt said:
Well yeah, but of those 93 writers, how many were during the original run decades ago? You can't assume they make up for it by having the next 80-something consecutive writers be women.

A better method is to number the existing writers and take it from there, but again the job should be given based on merit, and not on gender.
 
Mar 9, 2012
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Zero=Interrupt said:
Who cares about the gender of the writer? If they're good, then hire them. If not, then don't. How hard is that?
That would be the ideal, yes. But with numbers that that heavily skewed in favor of male writers, is kind of hard not to suspect some sort of "Good Ol' Boys Club" culture for being at play amongst the creative staff on the show.
 

JarinArenos

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Josh123914 said:
JarinArenos said:
Zero=Interrupt said:
A better method is to number the existing writers and take it from there, but again the job should be given based on merit, and not on gender.
Okay. Two episodes since the new series started up were not written by men. Also, See post below yours. I have very little trust in Moffat's management ability/inclination to do what you describe.
 

NearLifeExperience

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Do we really have to cheer everytime a developer hires a woman? Who even bloody cares, as long as they write good stories, I don't see how their gender matters in ANY way. This shouldn't be news.
 

Something Amyss

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NearLifeExperience said:
Do we really have to cheer everytime a developer hires a woman?
No. Thankfully, virtually nobody does (possibly literally nobody does).

Sort of makes me wonder why the naysayers so frequently pretend it's the case.