Interesting article I just found from an interview with Waris Hussein, the first ever Doctor Who director.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...ra-Oswald.html

I particularly like the comment from Geraldine Mitchell at the bottom of the page:

In the light of recent findings i think the creepy man hanging around young people and appearing to have no sex life of his own doesn't sit with us now as it once did.

There's nothing creepy about him not having a sex life. He's not human, he's a Time Lord, a race who were all but immortal. Why would immortals need to reproduce except every once in a while? I'm more than happy to believe that the Doctor is asexual, that his granddaughter may have been the result of process that was non-sexual, and that the change of direction (since Paul McGann's TV movie) of bringing sex and/or romantic love into the Doctor's life has been a mistake.

This was in the Sunday Express today as well.

but in the original story in 1963 it was established that he has a granddaughter , so ... well children and grandchildren are the product of sex aren't they ?

Not always. You can inherit them through relationships.

yeah , but unless its stated otherwise its generally assumed that thats how it happens .

Gallifrey is an alien planet full of alien creatures, albeit ones that look externally like Earth humans. Reproduction may be a very different process there, one that may be non-sexual, and yet family units may still exist in some form including someone termed a "Grandfather" and others termed "Grandchildren".

Hmm, I thought "recent findings" were about a creepy man who did have a sex life - and one that was known about seemingly.

Typical of the Daily Fail though

'waits for someone to bring up Looms'

Note to society: sex isn't the motivation for most human interactions. To argue that it is betrays an extremely limited imagination and a corresponding lack of ideas.

Indeed. Sadly, some people seem to think the opposite.

ISTR Hartnell and Verity Lambert believed Susan
was the Doc's biological grand-daughter. If so, it
was never intended for the Doctor to be a
complete asexual being.

But the series has developed since then, and the idea of the Doctor having a romantic partner, children, and grandchildren and then willingly killing all of them in the Time War is almost inconceivable. The character's developed and that aspect of Lambert's plan for the Doctor just doesn't work now, and never really has IMO.

Let alone the fact that she's apparently a Time Lord with the name "Susan".

I've always just decided there's more to her than a simple biological grandfather/granddaughter relationship.

I thought it rather odd that the director mentioned Sherlock as the perfect Doctor Who. Obviously he missed all the gay jokes and the Irene Adler episode(smart is sexy, and her recording on his phone). I don't think it's a problem. The Doctor has been traveling around alone and since the beginning has been shown to favor attractive women for companions. As long as he's not making out with them or running across the moors shouting their names, I'm ok.

And yes, all this talk about asexuality kinda goes out the window when his granddaughter is mention.

The comment was by a reader, not the paper itself, and they said "appearing" to have no sex life - and Savile had no publicly known sexual relationships - so they are right. Nicky Campbell said he did the tribute to Jimmy Savile because he had believed that he was a "sexless eccentric".

Maybe Susan wasn't her real name? Maybe it was just a human name given to her so she could fit in with the Earth kids?

The Doctor isn't some predator type and comments like that comes across as a bit over the top and seem to miss the point of the show.

I have recently found that 1. The Daily Mail is a massive rag. 2. People in the UK are so paranoid that the characters in the paedophile episode of Brasseye look positively sensible.

Whose comments? Waris Hussein's? And you could argue that the point of the show has changed a bit since 1963 when Waris Hussein was working on it.

It doesn't really matter that the article is in the Mail, since Hussein's comments were on the BBC, not speaking to the Mail.

[quote=Sophie ~Oohie~;65241795]I have recently found that 1. The Daily Mail is a massive rag. 2. People in the UK are so paranoid that the characters in the paedophile episode of Brasseye look positively sensible.[

That second point is so true. It is tragic.

I always imagined that Susan was his granddaughter. I know you get all sorts of excuses and changes (The Other for example! ! ) but to me she is his granddaughter.

I am also under the belief that the Doctors Wife (not the TARDIS) died before he left Gallifrey and was one of the major factors in him leaving. I don't know what she was like or how she died but I also don't want to. Perhaps she said to him to go out there and see the universe just like he always said he wanted to, so he did.

Perhaps Susan got caught in the TARDIS when he left and he couldn't go back - part of them being exiles - so he couldn't drop her off. Why they are exiles in the first place we will never know. Especially as it is before his changes in history. Maybe when he left Gallifrey he stormed out causing all sorts of damage in his anger (Shouted, attacked, tore down the Transduction barrier to escape, etc). But again, we will never know.

And we shouldn't know!

Before the Jimmy Savile story came out - with the extent of the crimes committed and the extent of the cover-up - I would have agreed with you 100 per cent.

Her real name is Arkytior.

Didn't know that. Where's that from?