“It is an unrequited love story. I felt it was more heartbreaking if they didn’t”
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY BBC/JAMES PARDON
The date is 1 January 2022. And it appears that The Whoniverse has just welcomed in a Happy New Queer with its Doctor Who special, Eve Of The Daleks. Fans had been tirelessly shipping Thasmin (the 13th Doctor and Yasmin) and so, we all rejoiced when the episode confirmed that Yaz has feelings for the Doctor, making the ship canon.
Sapphics and queer Whovians around the world tuned in to the rest of the episodes with an increased amount of anticipation, expecting to see a captivating sapphic sci-fi love story unfold. However, by the time the end credits rolled on Jodie Whittaker’s final episode as the Timelord, The Power Of The Doctor, we were left disappointed. Not only did the two women not share a kiss, but there was no big romantic moment and Yaz was left without closure – as were we.
Former Doctor Who showrunner, Chris Chibnall has now spoken to the WHO Corner to Corner podcast on the thought process behind how the Thasmin storyline ended.
“We discussed [a Doctor and Yaz kiss], I think it’s an unrequited love story,” said Chris.
And, while this may have been his intention, we shippers did not view this at all as unrequited. In Jodie’s penultimate episode, Legend Of The Sea Devils, it was confirmed that she too had feelings for Yaz. Albeit, they were quite complex, what with her being reluctant to express them, due to the unavoidable hurt that both would experience due to her being a regenerating Timelord.
“I don’t know whether that’s the right decision, you know, but it is an unrequited love story. I felt it was more heartbreaking if they didn’t,” Chris continued. “If I had to make the decision again, I might make it differently; I don’t know. I can see – it was a really 50/50 one.”
“It wasn’t like, there wasn’t any sense of, ‘Oh, they’re not allowed to kiss’, or ‘they’re not going to kiss,’ it was just, like, dramatically, emotionally slightly more wrenching if they don’t.”
“And also, I think if they kiss, you don’t get the final scene on top of the TARDIS. Because that scene was always sort of the kiss really, that’s the thing because it’s unconsummated, it’s pain and joy, and if they had a kiss, I think it’s, I don’t know, it changes it slightly.”
“It’s a really delicate kind of pressure,” he continued. “Because it could’ve happened, and who said it didn’t happen at some point? But it wasn’t any sort of conscious decision to not have it for anything other than is it going to break your heart if they never quite get there?”
“It’s unspoken, the feelings they have for each other, as much as they’ve declared, there’s also a depth in that final scene.”
It’s moments like these that I’m reminded why so many LGBTQIA people both write and read so much fan fiction. When we don’t lose our favourite ships to the “Cancel Your Gays” trend, they are all too often not given the cathartic endings they deserve… and yes, I still haven’t gotten over the Killing Eve finale.
This November, we’ll return to the Whoniverse with the release of the 60th-anniversary specials. Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa will be playing the 15th Doctor, after a surprise twist revealed David Tennant will be briefly returning to the cast as the 14th Doctor. It has been confirmed that Ncuti will be gay and there are also lots of LGBTQIA cast members this time around. So could we still get a Doctor Who LGBTQIA romance? Maybe.
But, I’ll always be heartbroken that we didn’t get the sapphic one that had been built up for so long.
DIVA magazine celebrates 29 years in print in 2023. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
✨linkin.bio/ig-divamagazine ✨
