Frazer Hines thinks ‘Doctor Who’ needs to ditch history lessons and bring back more monsters.
The 74-year-old actor – who played companion Jamie alongside the second Doctor Patrick Troughton from 1966 to 1969 – has claimed the programme has lost sight of its roots under new showrunner Chris Chibnall, and insisted he’d rather the focus was back on the weird and wonderful villains.
He’s quoted by The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre TV column as saying: "I’m old fashioned, I don’t want to know about Rosa Parks, I don’t want to know about whether we’d done this we could have changed history and Kennedy might not have been shot. I like bug-eyed monsters. Monster of the week, I want."
The most recent series – Jodie Whittaker’s first as the Time Lord – featured a number of episodes focusing on key moments in history, including ‘Rosa’ in October which looked at the moment in 1955 when the political activist refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, which was a spark for America’s civil rights movement.
Another episode in November – called ‘Demons of Punjab’ – was set in 1947 during the time of the Indian partition.
Frazer also insisted he would rather the show also moved away from stories told across a single episode, because he’d prefer viewers had more time to process the plot instead of getting an instant resolution.
He added: "I loved it when it was episodic. Now it’s all in one, beginning, middle and an end.
"I liked it when it ended on a Saturday night and then Sunday in the park or on Monday in the school playground you’d be like, ‘What is going to happen? Doctor Who was caught there. Is the monster going to get him?’
"Now it’s all wrapped up too quick. Just call me old-fashioned."
Frazer Hines blasts Doctor Who for swapping monsters for history lessons
