I'm glad someone else noticed the prominance of the sexual overtone, I was starting to feel like I was on my own.

If they were brought up in a 'traditional' lifestyle, I'm sure they'd know about straight relationships alread - mummy and daddy exist, after all. Pregnancy, even teen pregnancy, isn't some major issue in life - I'm sure in small villages and islands it's just as common (possibly moreso) as anywhere else - people tend to have more sex in places where there's not a lot to do - it fills the time. As for gay/bi relationships, there was nothing about tonight's episode that screamed HOMOSEXUAL ATTRACTION to anyone who doesn't really already know what it is. So it would be the parents' choice as to whether to bring it up or not, otherwise they could easily pass it over by saying that Rose isn't a soldier, and doesn't know how to talk to soldiers...

(edit: I've just remembered about Nancy's comment to the homeowner about the butcher, which, fair enough, does raise the issue - if you can call it that - of homosexuality, but the fact that I didn't think about that til now either means it's not entirely prominent, or I'm just oblivious to the universe. I actually took it to mean that he'd been nicking from the butcher, but I could be wrong.)

Crikey! The way some people are going on you would think the programme had full on gay sex in it. All we had between The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack was a bit of flirting and dancing. As for Nancy being Jamie's mother, this was explained by Nancy being older than she looked and there was nothing at all about how she got pregnant.

It was an ambiguous line, I think, but I also took it to mean that he had a 'relationship' with the butcher, but not a sexual one (or even close). Perhaps the guy had been able to do the butcher a favour? Petrol coupons? Silk? Who knows - the point is, it was enough that Nancy knew and had a hold over him.

Gary

Since when was Dr Who shown to give out 'messages' as the American shows do?

I do not deny that Dr Who is about tolerance and understanding - it is also an ENTERTAINMENT programme targetted at children ....

NOT an EDUCATIONAL programme.

Its supposed to be for FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT on a Saturday night ...

I was assuming it would be something like this as soon as they described the vessel as an ambulence. Not knowing how to fix a human properly reminded me of the Star Trek episode The Gilded Cage.

my daughter's 8 and she doesn't understand a lot of things that happen including any sexual references she just passes over that and gets on with the story!! I think they are trying to make it a family show and I actually thought the sexual tones were no more difficult than the meaning of life references which also my daughter doesn't understand.
I thought it was great, and really funny, I wish Chris wasn't leaving!!

Which reminds me ... Chris never really has given his side of the story as to why he is leaving.

He knew he was leaving before the series was shown on TV ...

I'd say that were it not for the fact that such things were swept under the carpet in the early decades of the 20th Century there would have been much suffering and heartache saved...the likes of Vera Drake would never have been called on to perform backstreet abortions and the likes of Oscar Wilde would certainly never have been imprisoned...these themes raised carefully in a 1940s setting produced a sense of history and realism for me that added to the power of the programme...and the idea that mankind eventually forgets the hypocrisies and silly bigotry attached to sex and sexuality and goes dancing out among the stars is one that makes me feel happier for the future

Actually, Doctor Who was originally commissioned because IT WAS educational.

And the BBC remit is to Educate, Inform and Entertain... and the fact that Doctor Who can fulfill two of those, with an audience of 7+ million is, to use an already overused phrase, FANTASTIC!

Erm . . actually, Doctor Who was very first conceived - way back in 1963 - as an educational show. The Doctor's first two companions were school teachers and the whole series was designed to educate and entertain children. So, on that point, you're wrong.

Secondly, I don't agree at all on any of the points regarding people with children having the right to 'censor' what the rest of us see on TV.

I'm not saying the show had gay sex in it, i'm not saying that children dont know about sex.

What i'm saying is for a child it raises a lot of questions that for one 45 minute block I think was too much.

Doctor Who is a good family show. So let me break it down and hopefully they will be more than one person that see's this from my standpoint.

Nancy tells the bloke in the house that she is aware he is messing about with the butcher, Jack points out that the Army guy is gay, Its apparent that Nancy was a teenage mother, Jack is adressed as being a bi-sexual.

Now children do have questions, and those questions should be answered, but when as a family you sit down and watch a show now aimed at a child audience. And the BBC's Fear Factor panel gives you an idea of there audience in respect of children. If the child points out more than one of these issues a parent may be bought into explaining something to a child before they have to, whether its gay or straight.
I dont agree in that things should be kept from children, but I think there are areas of a childs life where there are other things to concern theselves with other than sexuality . Maybe the reason we have some many teen parents more than any other European county is because these things are raised early. There are more child pregnancies now than there were 10 years ago. More sexual disease. It was more under wraps 10 years ago than it is now.

[quote=mad1]Ok yes there are gay people in the world but was it really necessary to have that guy sleeping with the butcher QUOTE]
Interesting...she merely used the term "mucking about" and could well have meant it as operating a black market scam with in the man's sense, it was you that interpreted it as sleeping with the butcher...that's good writing.

Woohoo, Conservative policy on Sex Education in a Doctor Who thread.. FANTASTIC!

Sorry if my last post was a bit brief - I'm at work now, so not as able to type in lengthy posts, but that's basically what I was trying to say

I think that the references were subtle enough that if a child noticed them and took them the way most of us have, then they're obviously at a point in their development where they need and want to talk about them. Lets face it -even some posters on here have taken a non-sexual meaning to them.

As for Doctor Who not being educational - that is precisely what it was intended to be when it first aired in 1963. That aspect admittedly got lost over the years, but it was the original remit.

I took it to mean exactly that. And the penalty for blackmarketeering during the war were far more severe than the penalty for stealing food to feed hungry orphans.

I mean, I'm not up-to-speed on homosexual bedroom antics, but I can't for the life of me think what you would use wirecutters for... Maybe someone could explain?

Its not necessairily censorship, my point was simply not all issues be raised in one episode. There have been other opportunities to raise issues of sexuality in the series. And with the exception of Nancy been a child mother none really had any point to be raised. It's not censorship to ask for a sense of balance. This is not the first time in the series the Doctor has been in the past. I'm just saying address the isues over a course of several weeks not just in one story.

Actually, studies show that it's our repressed attitude towards sex that causes all these teenage pregnancies, sexually acquired infections and the like. Holland, and in particular, Amsterdam has the free-est attitudes and the lowest rates.

I agree, the fact that so many parents are expressing their delight at being able to sit down as a family and watch entertainment that crosses the generations just as they did when they were children...Leela stayed with her Time Lord Guard, Jo Grant left to go up the Amazon with her professor and was surprised he wanted to marry her AS WELL...I didn't hear choruses of disapproval at the time...but then, I was only a child and was sad to see them leave series...

I dont think the wire cutters had any involvement at all.

However she said it was not his wife mucking about with the butcher it was him.

All will become clear at the end of the series...

Well that was not what was mentioned on the News this week!

If this serious, please rephrase...there hasn't been any sex in Dr Who nor will there by order of the Exec Producer who of all is people is very aware of the viewing market he is aiming at...what is it about this country that equates emotion and affection between two people with sex? It's mystifying to me...

Hookers and drugs.. Amsterdam truly is the happiest place in the world!

Tee hee.

Are we ignoring ITV, or can I point out that is the second week running that they have run a Sci Fi movie in blatant spoiler slot? What a bunch of idiots! This won't hurt Dr Who one bit and it is a waste of an expensive movie, which might have got respectable viewing figures if they had shown it in another slot. Are they still sulking about Celebrity Wrestling, or have they simply lost the plot? For my money CW would have died on its arse no matter what it was up against.

Next week it is Kindergarten Cop, which is crap, but at least it indicates that they have given up on trying to canibalise the Dr Who audience.