Doctor Who

The long-established male Doctor was cast as a woman (13th Doctor) and later played by a Black actor, deliberate gender/race changes to an iconic legacy character — though across a long-running series and presented as canon regeneration.

• The Thirteenth Doctor reimagined as a woman
• Subsequent casting of a Black actor as the Doctor
• Companion roles cast across races over the revival era

The revival features strong female companions and a female Doctor, but generally without framing men as the problem; male characters remain capable and sympathetic.

• Female Doctor leads multiple seasons
• Companions like Rose, Martha, Donna, Bill as competent leads

The revival prominently features recurring LGBTQ+ characters and relationships across its run, increasingly central in later seasons.

• Captain Jack Harkness as openly pansexual/omnisexual
• Bill Potts written as an openly lesbian companion
• Madame Vastra and Jenny as a married same-sex couple

Diverse casting is common and mostly plausible in a modern-day-and-future sci-fi setting, occasionally foregrounded but rarely contradicting lore.

• Diverse companions and supporting cast across eras
• Historical episodes with race-conscious casting choices

Later seasons in particular include overt social-message dialogue and themes that sometimes pause the story to make a point.

• Episodes addressing racism in historical settings
• Speeches on tolerance and morality in later Chibnall-era episodes

Some episodes critique colonialism and prejudice thematically, but masculinity itself is not generally framed as toxic.

• Historical episodes critiquing empire and bigotry

Regeneration is canon and built to allow recasting, so gender/race changes fit the show's own lore rather than betraying it; deviations are mostly creative.

• Gender change explained via established Time Lord regeneration
• Time Lord lore expanded (the Timeless Child) altering origins