Doctor Who fans fume over ‘mental health lecture’ in Syria-based episode – branding BBC bosses ‘woke brigade’

DOCTOR Who’s latest episode was accused of overkill when it came to stressing the importance of mental health awareness.

The BBC One show has tackled all manner of social issues this season, including climate change and plastic pollution in recent weeks.

The latest episode, titled Can You Hear Me, kicked off in Aleppo, Syria during the year 1380.

Jodie Whittaker arrived at a hospital, whereupon she praised how progressive the country was with its treatment of mental health patients compared to other parts of the world.

Later on, the gang had to face off against two immortal aliens who fed off of nightmares and planned to drain Earth by tapping into humans’ worst fears.

The adventure sparked some major questions about mental health as the likes of Yasmin (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) opened up about their own innermost struggles.

We learned that Yas ran away as a teen after bullying at school drove her to serious depression, but an interaction with a local police officer gave her hope and set her on the path to join her local constabulary.

Meanwhile Ryan urged his best friend to open up to his mates after he shared his struggles with anxiety and insomnia, stressing the importance of communication and honesty.

Graham found himself locked in fear that his cancer would return, while also dealing the survivor’s guilt in the wake of late partner Grace’s death.

Unfortunately some viewers found the collection of testimonies to be to the detriment of the action and took to social media to air their grievances.

One Twitter user fumed: “Oh here we f***ing  go. This week’s lecture is on mental illness! The fact that I actually joked before it even started, I said ‘ I wonder what this week’s lecture will be on.’ So far, we’ve had, racism, homophobia, climate change, sexism… and this week it’s mental illness.”

A second brutally quipped: “And tonight's lecture is ‘mental health’. FFFS, just round up the writers and herd them off a pier into the sea.”

Citing their own battle with mental health, a third chimed in: “As someone with experience with mental health on a personal level, I agree that Doctor Who isn’t the place to be preaching about it... especially when the writing itself is absolute [poo emoji] as well. Wish they’d shut up preaching/teaching, and get on and make it entertaining.”

While a fourth wrote: “Basic premise of Doctor Who vs immortals was good old fashioned sci-fi. Bravo... but then you had to ruin it by shoe horning in a lecture on mental health. Can't you go just one episode without pandering to the woke brigade?”

However, others praised the show for tackling such an important subject, claiming the show helped de-stigmatised the subject and encouraged viewers to reach out for help.

One praised: “I really liked that Doctor Who episode. Interesting discussion of mental health issues and I really liked that last scene. Sometimes people don't need a big speech, they just need to get stuff off their chest. It was nice.

While a second agreed: “Mental Health is not woke, it's a really good message to have and they did a really good job at showing that mental health is important and should be talked about. Doctor Who gets a high percentage of young viewers and is perfect for touching on the subject.”

The other most controversial aspect of the episode came in the form of its villain.

Many were left disgusted by the deity-like being’s ability to remove his fingers and shoot them into his victims’ ears to extract their nightmares.

In other Doctor Who news, John Barrowman exclusively revealed to Sun Online that he would “definitely” return to Torchwood, piling the pressure on BBC bosses for a reboot.

Doctor Who continues on BBC One on Sunday at 7:10pm and will be available to stream on iPlayer.