James Delingpole James Delingpole

CBBC’s The Famous Five shows you can update a classic without trashing it

Plus: like all the best propaganda, the new Doctor Who is often gripping

Faithful but modern: Anne (Flora Jacoby Richardson), Julian (Elliott Rose), George (Diaana Babnicova), Dick (Kit Rakusen) and the dog Timmy (Kip) in CBBC’s new adaptation of the Famous Five. Credit: BBC/Moonage Pictures/James Pardon/NWR 2023  
issue 06 January 2024

The new Doctor in Doctor Who has blond hair, blue eyes and a firm handshake, dresses in a splendid red coat and has an exciting catchphrase: ‘Hounds are running! Tally ho!’

No, not really. The new Doctor is so very much what you’d expect the new Doctor to be like that you can guess without my telling you. And it’s not that I think that Ncuti Gatwa is going to be bad as the Doctor. On the contrary, from what little I’ve glimpsed of him so far, he seems charismatic, energetic, and fun. But I do wish the BBC commissars responsible for the series would try to make their social programming agenda a bit less insultingly obvious.

Like all the best propaganda, Doctor Who is often gripping and visually enticing

‘It’s not aimed at you. It’s aimed at kids,’ you sometimes hear from (invariably adult) Whovians when you dare criticise their sacred cow.

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