Doctor Who‘s ‘Rogue’ spoilers follow.
If casting Jonathan Groff – a queer icon – in a show run by Russell T Davies – another queer icon – for an episode set to kick off Pride Month didn’t clue you in to what ‘Rogue’ might hold, the moment the Doctor and Groff’s mysterious bounty hunter first lock eyes probably did.
As the Fifteenth Doctor teases Rogue’s brooding stance on the ball balcony and does a decent impression of his American accent, all while a string rendition of Billie Eilish’s ‘bad guy’ plays in the background, it’s clear this is going somewhere good.
Ncuti Gatwa and Groff have simmering sexual chemistry for their Regency romance, which leans all the way into the fizz. “Honey, I’m here for fun,” the Doctor tells Rogue. So are we.
The fun is there – most palpably with a Kylie Minogue needle drop that sees the Doctor do full body rolls as he mouths along to the lyrics – so too is a celebration of the Doctor’s queerness.
But after frustrated fan hopes for the Doctor’s queerness being actualised reached a fever pitch at the end of Jodie Whittaker’s run, there’s also the implied recognition that those previous vague allusions to the Doctor’s sexuality didn’t pass muster.
With ‘Rogue’, Bridgerton has gone not just global, but universal. Ted Sarandos must be buzzing.
This ubiquity of television and the Chulder’s hopes of stepping into it stress how the shows we love to watch, like Who, can reshape our ideas of everything from the Regency period to the queer community.
There’s a long history of queerness in modern Who – Captain Jack, Bill Potts, The Master. Then David Tennant’s regenerated Doctor lusted after Isaac Newton in the second of the 60th anniversary specials – which was met with some “yeah, duh” responses. The Fifteenth Doctor’s sexuality was referred to in the Christmas special, with the loaded recollection of a steamy summer with escape artist Houdini.
But after the shambles that was the teased out Thirteenth Doctor’s relationship with Yaz – not to mention their doomed send-off – Who needed something more tangible to point to.
In an episode very keenly aware of the artifice of television, the plotting of Rogue and the Doctor’s episodic romance feels conscious of righting wrongs.
Once clearly friends not foes, Rogue and the Doctor drift close together and very nearly kiss. Only to inexplicably stop mid-hover because the TARDIS motherboard beeps. The copy-and-paste TV moment touches on how such relationships on screen often rely on the implied, leaving the rest undone and unsaid.
When we return to the Bath ballroom, the Doctor asks Rogue to dance in the hopes of “causing a scene”. Rogue is nonplussed. “You should have researched this era a little more, because we are scandalous,” the Doctor replies, leading him out into the midst of the waltzing couples.
The scenes feel like a nod to shows, including this one, queer baiting without actualising LGBTQ+ stories. In that moment, the Bridgerton setting and its send-up feels pointed. While the Netflix smash has pushed boundaries in its diversity, the Shondaland show continues to be woefully heteronormative and faces its own accusations of implying queerness without depicting it.
Once the Chulder clan rear their beaky heads, we might have assumed the Doctor and Rogue’s romance would be lost to the high drama of world-saving. And yet, just as the Doctor faces down having to lose Ruby (Millie Gibson), they kiss. Finally!
Rogue is likely now another of the Doctor’s ones that got away, disconcertingly lost to some “random barren dimension”. But he has also changed the Doctor, despite attempts to brush the whole thing off when debriefing with Ruby. The ring from their cosplayed proposal reappears and he puts it on. Maybe they’ll get to argue across the stars one day yet.
Doctor Who‘s ‘Rogue’ is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ in the US.
Deputy TV Editor
Previously a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape for Digital Spy, when she’s not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas.
When she’s not bingeing a box set, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we’re all watching.