Juno Dawson reveals hope of creating ‘trans equivalent of It’s A Sin’
She wrote new Doctor Who spin-off podcast, Doctor Who: Redacted.
Writer and transgender activist Juno Dawson has said she hopes to work on projects that will improve transgender representation, like It’s A Sin has done for the gay community.
Dawson, 40, found recognition as a writer of young adult fiction and later came out as transgender.
Her most recent project, Doctor Who spin-off podcast Doctor Who: Redacted, will air on BBC Sounds later this month.
The show follows Cleo, Abby and Shawna – three broke university drop-outs who host a paranormal conspiracy podcast, The Blue Box Files, about a mysterious blue box that appears throughout history.
The series will be set in the Doctor Who universe, with lead character Cleo being played by transgender activist Charlie Craggs in her first acting role.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Dawson said: “When I look at shows like Queer As Folk or It’s A Sin, they have changed the conversation around gay people, about HIV.
“I don’t think there’s been a trans equivalent of Queer As Folk or It’s A Sin, and so I’m really hopeful that trans creators like myself will be given opportunities to tell our own stories.”
Queer As Folk and It’s A Sin, both written by Russell T Davies, followed different aspects of the lives of young gay men in UK cities.
Dawson also said she hopes increased representation of the trans community in work such as Doctor Who: Redacted will show people that the lives of trans people are in fact “normal and boring”.
She said: “It’s so that people can get to know us, because actually we’re just really normal, boring people.
“And sometimes normal, boring people go on adventures with the Doctor – and that’s what Doctor Who has always been about.”
Craggs, who previously presented a BBC documentary about being transgender in the UK, said she also hopes the new show will help change people’s perception of the trans community without making them “feel like they’re being shouted at”.
She told BBC Newsbeat: “I’m so tired of our community being victims.
“When we’re integrated into mainstream culture pieces, like big storylines in EastEnders or Coronation Street, it’s so powerful because people aren’t watching it for that.
“But they can take that from it. It’s hard not to feel the humanity of Cleo’s character when you’re listening to this show.
“You’d have to be some sort of sociopath not to feel something when you hear what she’s going through.”
Doctor Who: Redacted is available first on BBC Sounds weekly from April 17. Episode one will be available following Doctor Who’s Legend Of The Sea Devils special on Easter Sunday.
