Book Review: The Unleashed Scandal: The End of Control in the Digital Age

The long-running television science fiction series Doctor Who offers a rich field for a broad range of academic investigation. The series’ plots, characters and settings encompass multiple historical eras, life forms and time periods (including the future), scattered throughout its fictional universe. Its production methods span a range of technologies and televisual modes, from early small-screen formats and production techniques through to videotape and modern digital formats. In addition to its diverse technologies and narrative experimentation – given that the series spans five decades that include significant changes in male–female relations in Western society, and that the series features ongoing relationships between the main character (The Doctor) and a succession of female companions – the series also lends itself to dissection by scholars concerned with popular culture depictions of gender politics. This collection of essays covers these topics and more. Echoing the narrative device of the series that sees the character of the Doctor, played each time by a new actor, ‘regenerate’ every few series into a new physical incarnation, the book focuses on the theme of change and renewal while maintaining the essential element of continuity that is also wrought by the process of changing producers. Here the influence of show-runner Steve Moffat and his collaboration with actor Matt Smith as The Doctor are central. Editor Andrew O’Day introduces the collection by surveying the role of the producer, touching on the legacy of previous producer Russell T. Davies – who ‘rebooted’ the series after a hiatus of several years and is credited with imbuing it with new life – and by canvassing the evidence for stylistic and narrative differences within the larger necessities of continuity demanded by a series that functions as a consistent narrative whole. The collection is divided into four parts. The first, ‘Performance, Genre and Gender’, includes essays dealing with Matt Smith’s portrayal of The Doctor, the parallels between the series and gothic, fairytale and historical modes of story-telling, and the presentation of gender and sexuality in Moffat’s ‘Whoniverse’. ‘Wider Broadcasting Contexts’, the second part of the collection, examines the cultural meaning of the Doctor Who Christmas specials and the trans-Atlantic dimensions of the relationship between British and North American television. ‘Sights and Sounds’ considers the technology, visual design and role of music in the series. The last part of the book, ‘Beyond the Episodes’, delves into the marketing of the series, the nature of the Who audience and ‘transmedia adventuring’ based on the series that take the official episodes and story lines of the series onto new platforms. The Eleventh Hour builds on an undeveloped field of scholarship around Doctor Who. Significant past efforts – such as Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (Lewis and Smithka 2011) and Who is Who? (Decker, 2013) – have tended to consider the philosophical implications and themes of the Doctor Who universe rather than its implicit social or technological insights. This collection makes a welcome and important contribution to the fields of television studies and cultural studies, prompted by a popular, enduring cultural phenomenon.