Doctor Who finally gets queer representation after 60 years

Doctor Who Season 14 has marked a huge milestone for the franchise, with the newest episode providing some of the show’s best queer representation across its 60-year run.

Episode 6 titled ‘Rogue’ sent the Doctor and Ruby Sunday back to 1813 for an adventure that ended up making Bridgerton’s events cannon in the Whoniverse.

Along with giving a big shoutout to the streaming service‘s popular series, Doctor Who Season 14 Episode 6 also gave long-time viewers the franchise’s first bit of queer representation in six decades thanks to Jonathan Groff’s bounty hunter Rogue.

Rogue and the Doctor meet at a ball thrown by a Duchess and, while they have instant chemistry, things take a bit of a turn when Rogue believes he’s behind evil schemes committed by the bird-headed monsters known as the Chuldurs.

BBC/Disney+

After some quippy banter, Rogue holding him at gunpoint, and the discovery of multiple dead bodies, the pair come to a fork in the road when it turns out Ruby, through one of her signature shenanigans, managed to become ensnared in the Doctor’s trap set out for the Chuldurs.

The trap was set to send the Chuldurs to another galaxy and the Doctor would be forced to choose between saving her or letting her go forever. But before he can make the choice, Rogue sacrifices himself, and the pair share a kiss.

This isn’t the first time the Doctor has been shown to be queer in some way since the series first premiered in 1963, as Jack Harkness kissed the Ninth Doctor in 2005’s ‘The Parting of the Ways’ and the Tenth Doctor raved about how hot Issac Newton was in 2023’s ‘Wild Blue Yonder.’

However, this is the first time the franchise allowed the Doctor’s queerness to take center stage in a way that integral to the plot as a whole.

Before he was taken away with the Chuldurs, Rogue told the Doctor to “find him,” so there’s a huge possibility that the two will reunite sometime down the line and the show will continue to tell their queer love story.

While some viewers may not be on board with this decision, others are delighted that the series is finally committing to a real queer storyline, with critic Ed Power writing, “It’s encouraging to see the BBC belatedly have the courage of its convictions and give the Doctor his first same-sex snog in the saga’s history.”

For more, you can find out when the new episode of Doctor Who is out and check out our recaps for other episodes, including ‘73 Yards‘ and ‘Dot and Bubble‘. You can also catch up on all the biggest Doctor Who Season 14 theories.