The internet is still reeling from the announcement of the new lead for Doctor Who this past weekend. As you’ve surely heard, Jodie Whittaker has been revealed to be the Thirteenth Doctor, taking over from Peter Capaldi who bows out in the Christmas special. We probably don’t need to point out that she’s also the first actress to take on the previously male-oriented role.
As you can imagine, everyone has reacted very calmly to this news and social media users have hardly had anything to say on the matter. Wait, no, that’s not right. We meant to say that the internet has been torn in two over the subject, with many people loving the decision while others are decreeing that it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened.
Unfortunately, there’s been quite a bit of backlash against both incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall and the BBC, and while neither party should really need to defend the decision, the latter has spoken up about it via a statement released earlier today, explaining why choosing a female Doctor makes sense.
Since the first Doctor regenerated back in 1966, the concept of the Doctor as a constantly evolving being has been central to the programme. The continual input of fresh ideas and new voices across the cast and the writing and production teams has been key to the longevity of the series.
The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey and it has been established in the show that Time Lords can switch gender.
As the Controller of BBC Drama has said, Jodie is not just a talented actor but she has a bold and brilliant vision for her Doctor. She aced it in her audition both technically and with the powerful female life force she brings to the role. She is destined to be an utterly iconic Doctor.
We hope viewers will enjoy what we have in store for the continuation of the story.
They make some very good points here and quite frankly, we totally agree. Regardless of how you feel about Jodie Whittaker being chosen to take over for Capaldi in Doctor Who though, there’s no denying that a female Doctor opens up a lot of new doors for the writers to head through and could certainly usher in an exciting new era for the show.
We’ll have to wait until the Christmas special to get our first taste of the actress in the role, of course, but something tells us that this will end up working out and we can only hope that the critics will be pleasantly surprised once they see what she can do.