Doctor Who villain star hits back at viewers who think the show has got too inclusive: "Why don’t you let your favorite show teach you something new?"

Drag queen and Doctor Who star Jinkx Monsoon has responded to complaints that the long-running sci-fi show is becoming "too progressive" – and she thinks it's "ridiculous" for fans to take issue with something that she sees as integral to the genre.

"Drag queens are especially apt for heightened performance such as sci-fi, horror, or fantasy, because we already live in the world of the extreme and the absurd," Monsoon tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Doctor Who on the cover. "I think you might be surprised at how many drag performers are huge Doctor Who nerds, because we love to escape into fantasy. Queerness has always been infused in these extreme forms of storytelling."

Monsoon stars in episode 2 of the new season, titled 'The Devil's Chord'. She plays Maestro, the episode's antagonist, a mysterious godlike being with the power to "consume" music. Monsoon is best known for winning Ru Paul's Drag Race in 2013 and taking first place again in the All Stars version of the competition in 2022. 

The actor continues, "When straight fans complain about any kind of progressive step that Doctor Who takes, I just think how ridiculous they seem, because they love this show that’s [run] by a queer writer who is a prolific voice for our generation. The fact that they could complain about it, it’s obviously not your favorite show if something as small as a genderqueer character can shake your foundation of it. I’m so sick of people saying they’re a fan of a show and then getting so irate if it does something you don’t like. It’s still the same show you like, why don’t you listen to it rather than put up your barriers? Why don’t you let your favorite show teach you something new, like it has already done?"

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Doctor Who season 1 releases weekly on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney Plus elsewhere. The above is just a snippet from our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Doctor Who on the cover and is available from Wednesday, May 15. See what you should be looking out for on newsstands below...

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