Doctor Who: Rosa

This is what happens when you relegate Chibnall to co-writer.

So Malorie Blackman seems to have really wanted to do a biopic of Rosa Parks, because why wouldn’t you. Given her long history of exploring social and ethical issues through sci-fi, she was probably the best person for this job.

Going out on a limb, I’d say that Chibnall’s input this episode was a case of in name only. Maybe he came up with the idea of the time-travelling racist. In the past, I’ve found Chibnall’s attempts to present social issues pretty ham-fisted.

So I’m going to give the credit for the unapologetic and bloody fearless depiction of 1955 Alabama. It’s a risk to tackle this topic in a family program, but I’ve got no complaints about it.

Ryan is put to extremely good use in this episode (unlike last week) as his attempt to help a white lady immediately sets the tone.

Vinette Robinson brings the titular Rosa to the screen brilliantly. When she steps in to defuse the situation with Ryan and the angry white man, she has a pitch perfect reservedness to her voice and mannerisms. You immediately get the message that she has to constantly walk on egg-shells or risk being arrested or shot.

Story-wise, unlike last week, everyone actually does something in this episode. The cast is actually put to good use. The racial element of the episode means that Ryan as a character actually has some fleshing out, unlike last week when he was just used (badly) as comic relief. Yasmin is also put to good use with her backstory linking the treatment of black people in 1955 to the treatment of Muslims in 2018.

Even Graham is part of this arc, as Bradley Walsh brings forward the horror of realising that he’s the extra white person who needs a seat.

The one fault in this episode is the villain. We’re never really given a motivation for his racism. He comes from the far future, where he was imprisoned in the Stormcage prison (the same prison that housed River Song) for some a vaguely defined act of genocide. He has been released by grace of the fact that he’s had a chip put in his head that prevents him from inflicting harm on others.

He’s not especially well defined beyond the bad guy and some of his dialogue does cross the line into moustache-twiddling. I’d put this down to keeping the focus on the Rosa Parks story line.

It’s very difficult to rate this episode as a Doctor Who episode. This is a far more comprehensive and important story than is normally told on this show. However the subject matter is something that everyone should pay attention to.

Overall, an important episode and very well written one at that.