Former Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall has opened up about reactions to the romance between Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor and Mandip Gill’s Yasmin Khan (dubbed ‘Thasmin’), insisting it’s not an “unrequited love story”.
During their adventures together in the TARDIS, it was made clear that Yaz had developed romantic feelings for the Doctor, with the companion later confessing how she felt. In Legend of the Sea Devils, it was revealed that the Doctor reciprocated her feelings – although, the pair accepted they had to part ways in heartbreaking scenes in The Power of the Doctor, with the Doctor explaining that she can’t “fix” herself to anyone.
Speaking to Radio Times‘s Patrick Mulkern for his new book You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who, Chibnall looked back at how he presented the story on screen, and the impact it had on audiences.
“It’s not just, ‘is that a queer dynamic going on there?’ It’s that the Doctor is this type of character who has other concerns swirling around, but you’re trying to find that sweet spot where it’s hopefully touching people’s hearts and feels true to where these characters have gradually come from,” he said. “I think we took it exactly to the place I wanted to take it to.”
Chibnall added: “It’s now sometimes spoken about as an unrequited love story. But it’s not unrequited; it’s unconsummated. I think, A, it’s the most romantic and heartbreaking version of that story; and B, we’ve all had those people in our lives.
“And perhaps you go, ‘OK. Another day or another week and that might have been something else…’ What’s been incredible is how meaningful it’s clearly been to a lot of people. That’s one of the biggest things that people write to me about, and I’ve had people coming up to me with tattoos of dialogue on their arms.”
Gill went on to say: “As Jodie and I were forming our own bond, I believe our true friendship was bleeding onto the screen.”
She added: “I’ve had multiple conversations with people who told me ‘Thasmin’ allowed them to broach personal conversations with loved ones at home. To go to work and meet a best friend in Jodie was one thing, but to create something that is celebrated by the people it represents, is quite another.”
The two actors left Doctor Who in 2022, but Thirteen and Yaz’s story has continued in audio form, with Gill recently speaking to Radio Times about how Big Finish’s audio adventures have stayed true to the depiction of the relationship on screen.
“Their relationship, and the development of that relationship definitely continues,” she said.
“It’s not heavy, it’s not the forefront of all of their storylines which I quite like because that’s not what it was on the TV show. It’s slow, and they’re not quite sure what it is. And, like you saw when she was in the latest series, we don’t know if it can head that way.
“So it’s quite nice, because it is in there, and there are references to it, but it’s not at the forefront. And I think what’s happening, and rightly so, is that Yaz is trying to figure it out, because she didn’t know herself that she was into the Doctor, and she didn’t know what those feelings were. So she’s trying to just understand it.
“So we touch upon it, and it’s nice because it’s there. It’s not not mentioned, and I quite like that we did leave the TV show there, but it can head forward – but I think very organically and slowly.”
You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who is available to purchase now.
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