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Doctor Who and Torchwood: Perceptions of Wales

Audience Council Wales and the University of Glamorgan will later this week (Friday 5th March) host a seminar to discuss the outcomes of research on portrayal conducted by the University on behalf of the Audience Council. This research considered the impact of Network television programmes on the perception of Wales and gave particular consideration to the impact of Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Commenting today, Professor Steve Blandford, who led the research at the University of Glamorgan, said, “Issues of representation and portrayal and their links to national and regional identity continue to be widely debated. As well as considering a range of portrayals of Wales on TV the project uses Doctor Who and Torchwood as a case study to investigate these issues. Given the enormous domestic and international success of these shows they have been credited by some with a significant alteration in the way that Wales is seen in the rest of the UK and world-wide.

“In our research the team discovered that portrayal is not about quotas or more representation of specific minorities (such as Welsh characters) on TV in a tokenistic way. It is about the ways in which broadcasters engage audiences by representing the complex characteristics of a nation. As licence fee payers, the public might expect to see themselves, their lives and experiences on-screen but this sense of ownership is key to the development of a rich, cultural citizenship.

“Many of the audience members we talked to discussed the importance of seeing their local area on television screens or hearing accents from their own areas. Complexity of portrayal can also be seen in the multiple, often contradictory, identities that viewers have. People are highly unlikely to define themselves by their Welshness alone and might want to see more positive portrayals of Welsh characters onscreen, or more productive examples of characters who are, for example, Welsh and gay, or Welsh and from an ethnic minority background.

“It is the high quality of these shows which often works to counteract a long-held assumption that local or regional TV shows are cheap and have low production values. This is seen as more important by the audience than the criticism that television such as Doctor Who and Torchwood is not Welsh but merely produced in Cardiff.

“One might conclude that here is a more confident Wales (and BBC Wales); a Wales no longer afraid to show the breadth of its identities. From this position of strength it can re-assert its complexity and diversity without losing its new found modernity. Whilst our study examines portrayal as more nuanced than merely wanting to see more Welsh characters on-screen, it is only the starting point for such discussions and issues of portrayal look set to remain on the agenda.”

Janet Lewis-Jones, BBC National Trustee for Wales also said:
“The University of Glamorgan has conducted very interesting research on the issue of portrayal, involving both internet based research and 8 face-to-face focus groups in various parts of Wales. Their report offers a perspective which will contribute to the work of the ACW and the Trust during the months and years to come”.

“I am also looking forward to Friday’s seminar and to welcoming such eminent academics as Enric Castelló from Catalunya, Maire Messenger Davies from the University of Ulster and John Cook from Glasgow Caledonian University. Also attending will be the BBC Vice-Chairman, Chitra Barucha, and representatives from all four BBC Audience Councils.”