With all versions of Who, I think it really depends on the executives, showrunners and the writers of that period. In general, that's why we had a lot of independent female characters in the Classic era, IMO.
Executives started to panic about how "violent" Who was around the last season the Fifth Doctor was on, and by the Sixth Doctor, they were tired enough to give the show a hiatus and eventually give Colin Baker the boot (along with other personal reasons, most likely). I have to agree with others that executives (at that time) didn't like Who because they didn't like Who, despite its ratings. By the time the Seventh Doctor was made into a more mysterious character, the ratings were down because of various reasons (including making Who more light-hearted), and executives pulled the plug.
With New Who, I feel that Davies tried to be more inclusive with his characters (especially with sexualities), but on other fronts he missed the mark (especially with race). Moffat, on the other hand, doesn't listen to criticism too much, and I feel his hangups about race and sex from his other shows (like Jekyll and Sherlock) pop up in Who.
I'm not sure about how the audience for Classic Who feels about Classic Who, but I know for New Who there are camps who scrutinize the failings of the new series and there are camps that would rather talk about the show and ignore meta about race and sex. In general, I've seen a lot of people disappointed in Moffat's Who as opposed to Davies. (I can't speak for Davies too much because I joined Who fandom with Moffat.) I'll have to admit, I fall into the former that sees some of the failings because I identify as a queer POC. I know sometimes social justice talk can be polarizing (and, at times, I do have problems with some of the talk), but for the most part I find it reassuring that I'm not alone in thinking there are problems with New Who at times.
With all versions of Who, I think it really depends on the executives, showrunners and the writers of that period. In general, that's why we had a lot of independent female characters in the Classic era, IMO.
Executives started to panic about how "violent" Who was around the last season the Fifth Doctor was on, and by the Sixth Doctor, they were tired enough to give the show a hiatus and eventually give Colin Baker the boot (along with other personal reasons, most likely). I have to agree with others that executives (at that time) didn't like Who because they didn't like Who, despite its ratings. By the time the Seventh Doctor was made into a more mysterious character, the ratings were down because of various reasons (including making Who more light-hearted), and executives pulled the plug.
With New Who, I feel that Davies tried to be more inclusive with his characters (especially with sexualities), but on other fronts he missed the mark (especially with race). Moffat, on the other hand, doesn't listen to criticism too much, and I feel his hangups about race and sex from his other shows (like Jekyll and Sherlock) pop up in Who.
I'm not sure about how the audience for Classic Who feels about Classic Who, but I know for New Who there are camps who scrutinize the failings of the new series and there are camps that would rather talk about the show and ignore meta about race and sex. In general, I've seen a lot of people disappointed in Moffat's Who as opposed to Davies. (I can't speak for Davies too much because I joined Who fandom with Moffat.) I'll have to admit, I fall into the former that sees some of the failings because I identify as a queer POC. I know sometimes social justice talk can be polarizing (and, at times, I do have problems with some of the talk), but for the most part I find it reassuring that I'm not alone in thinking there are problems with New Who at times.
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