Doctor Who disabled actress controversy: why fans complained about wheelchair user Ruth Madeley’s portrayal

The first Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, The Night Beast, seemed to have gone down well with most fans, but Ruth Madeley’s role in the series caused a backlash among some viewers who didn’t realise that the actress was herself disabled.

Madeley played Shirley Anne Bingham, UNIT scientific advisor number 56 - the doctor was number one, a coded reference to showrunner Russell T. Davies’ favourite number, 57.

The actress, who has worked on projects with Davies before had a supporting role in the series and is set to return in the next two anniversary specials coming this month. Whilst many fans of the show praised the greater representation of disabled characters in the series, some found issue with Madeley’s character.

Why did fans criticise Doctor Who over disabled character?

The newly introduced character Shirley Anne Bingham, who uses a wheelchair, was tasked with investigating the Meep’s spaceship crash in London when she meets the 14th Doctor.

The pair work together, sharing data on the crash and discuss the Doctor’s regeneration into an earlier version of himself. During this conversation, Shirley uncrosses her legs, showing that she is not paraplegic, as some wheelchair users are, but has a different type of disability.

Following the decision to feature this form of disability, some fans, appearing not to realise that not all wheelchair users are paralysed below the waist, complained online about the portrayal.

Some viewers complained that Shirley shouldn’t have been able to cross her legs as a wheelchair user, and the fact that she did was even listed as a ‘goof’ on the episode page on IMDB. Others simply complained about the existence of a wheelchair user on the show in the first place, claiming that the series was pandering to ‘wokery’, a strange criticism given that wheelchair users exist in pretty much every workplace across the country.

In the days following the episode airing, the negative comments have been far outweighed by praise for the way the special handled disability representation. Ruth Madeley, who has spina bifida which causes weakness in the lower limbs, shared on X: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your gorgeous comments & messages.

“We knew how important Shirley would be to the disabled community & I really hope we did you proud. Stay tuned, gang…”

Others shared the importance of showing different types of disability in popular culture, and highlighted the fact that the most recent version of the TARDIS was now wheelchair accessible, as a major change.

Additionally, Shirley’s wheelchair has the ability to fire missiles, which came in handy during a tough spot in the special, and many disabled fans took to X to say that they wanted to own her suped-up wheelchair.