A History of Doctor Who in 100 Objects...
THE Y-CHROMOSOME
Here’s a jolly parlour game: how many Doctor Who stories are there in which the entire credited supporting cast is female? Having dwelt long and hard on this fascinating poser, the only one I can come up with is The Night of the Doctor, and I’m not even sure if that counts. Never mind. Let’s flip it around and see if we can think of any stories in which the entire credited supporting cast is male. Again, tricky. The only ones I can think of are The Rescue, The Space Museum, Mission to the Unknown, The Smugglers, The Moonbase, The Abominable Snowmen, The Mutants, The Sontaran Experiment, Revenge of the Cybermen, Planet of Evil, Pyramids of Mars, The Masque of Mandragora, The Power of Kroll, Warriors’ Gate, Cold War, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and Heaven Sent. And if you think that’s a lot, ponder this: if we were to carry out a sweep of all the stories that feature just a single token female, the list would fill the page.