Rosa

 

Written by Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall this is a pseudo-historical. Blackman because the first writer of colour to write for Doctor Who in its entire history, which when I read it genuinely shocked me. 

The historical events are reasonably accurate, but we throw a white supremacist time travelling arsehole into the proceeding: Krasko (Joshua Bowman). 

Bowman plays Krasko like a football hooligan. You could see him being dropped into one of those mostly terrible films about football hooligans. His plan is to stop Rosa Parks from being arrested because he thinks this is where it all starts. And by 'it' he means the battle for equal rights. 

It is odd though that a British TV series would take a black American woman to write this story about. It isn’t as if Britain doesn’t have a long, long history of racism and colonialism. Or have heroes in the battle for anti-racism itself. But I suppose Rosa Parks has a global recognition that British figures might not have. Perhaps, at some point, we can tackle that issue. 

The thing that this story does do is remind you of how recent this stuff is and how it hasn’t gone away. There is no stinting on this from the beginning - Ryan gets slapped for touching a white woman even though his intention was just to return her glove. Sometimes people talk about these things as if they happen two hundred years ago. They didn't. 

It is when Ryan gets into trouble that they first meet Rosa Parks (Vinette Robinson) when she intervenes to calm things down. Reminding Ryan of what happened to Emmett Till. Vinette Robinson is excellent as Rosa Parks and is a solid centre to the story. The revelation that she is Rosa Parks and how star struck everyone is plays on throughout the episode. It is one of the aspects of time travel that often gets missed in Doctor Who. How do you NOT get star struck when you meet...Rosa Parks. 

 Once they realise what Krasko’s plan is they must stop his attempts to fiddle with time. It’s stupid plan. Something like this was coming and whether it had been Rosa Parks or someone else this wasn’t something that could be stopped. The arc of history was in the process of bending towards justice. Krasko is a pathetic. His plan is stupid, he’s a racist arsehole, and the Doctor runs rings around him. He's meant to represent the Trumpian modern right-wing backwards looking thug that seems to have become a recent phenomenon. But he's not the point. The point is to tell the story of Rosa Parks. 

Everyone is enjoyable to watch here. Vinette Robinson is fantastic as Rosa Parks. The main cast get to show their chops too. There’s a great conversation between Yaz and Ryan about racism when their hiding from a Montgomery Police Officer outside the hotel for example and Ryan’s genuine anger having to be held down. Graham gets a couple of good scenes too. 

First there’s the little conversation when he reveals that he knows the name of the bus driver because Grace told him that James Blake – the driver of the bus that Rosa Parks made her protest on – gave bus drivers a bad name. It brings back memories of Grace. Then there's the moment that the Doctor realises that they can’t get off the bus. Because if they do there will be empty seats for white people and therefore Rosa won’t have to move and history will be changed. They must play a part in the oppression. When it hits Graham Bradley Walsh plays it so well. He doesn’t want to be part of it, but he is. It is also a good way to make a subtle point about how white people are part of the structures of racism whether they agree with it or not. 

Rosa is an interesting story about a key moment in American history. It ends with a bit of a lecture though, which I think is unnecessary after the story. It’s a classic tell not show moment. I'm going to guess that Chris Chibnall wrote that bit. And we go out not to the end credit music but to ‘Rise Up’ by Andra Day. 

It isn't subtle. Sometimes though - as recent history shows - subtlety doesn't quite cut it.