‘Doctor Who’ is going to continue its trend of tackling serious issues in its current series, with this week’s episode lampooning the housing crisis in the UK.
The latest instalment of the sci-fi show will see the Time Lord moving in to a cramped old house with a bunch of students, as he and companion Bill are unable to afford anything better.
As reported by the Daily Star, when asked how others manage to avoid living in squalid conditions, Bill laments: “Other people have money.”
Mike Bartlett, who wrote the episode, told the official ‘Doctor Who’ magazine: “‘Knock Knock’ is a little bit based on the housing crisis. More and more of us have to live with people we don’t know very well, in shared places.
“When you’re renting, you don’t always have a say over the conditions that you’re living in.”
Last week’s episode of ‘Doctor Who’ also made headlines, after it was reported that it would be tackling the tricky subject of race.
One scene saw the Time Lord and Bill travelling back in time to Victorian London, which Pearl Mackie’s character remarked was more diverse than she had anticipated.
The Doctor then told her simply: “History’s a whitewash.”
Current showrunner Steven Moffat added at the time: “History is always whitewashed. How do we manage to have a diverse cast despite that?
“The way that we did it was... [to just] say that you will see people of different colours there. In fact, there were. People all didn’t arrive in the twinkle of an eye. It is bending history slightly, but in a progressive and useful way.
“Also, it wouldn’t be a pleasant place for [Bill] in several respects. Taking that on is just respectful of the audience really.”
‘Doctor Who’ continues on Saturday night (6 May), at 7.20pm on BBC One.
