There’ve been a broad range of reactions to the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the new Doctor, the first woman to play the part in Doctor Who‘s half-century on TV. While there are definitely a number of extreme opinions floating around, Steven Moffat has claimed that most fans love the decision. Even if that’s not entirely true, it would seem that many of the stars of the show are on board with having a female Doctor.
After all, ever since the announcement that Whittaker would be portraying the character, a number of people involved with the sci-fi series, both past and present, have congratulated the actress – including Peter Capaldi, Colin Baker, Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Now, former companion Catherine Tate has spoken up on the matter and she too seems to be in agreement with the fact that Whittaker is the right person to take Capaldi’s place.
Over the weekend, Screen Geek caught up with the actress and asked her what she thought of the controversy surrounding the decision over making the next Doctor female. To the point and straight forward, Tate simply said that fans need to “get over it.” Speaking about Whittaker in particular, she added, “I think it’s great. I’m sure it will be a really exciting journey on the show. She’ll be brilliant.”
Like we mentioned above, Tate’s comments echo what most of the other former stars from the show have had to say on the news, and though controversy still continues to swirl over having a woman play the iconic role, the initial outrage and backlash that we saw when it was first announced has definitely died down quite a bit. Still, it’ll probably be some time before everyone gets on board with Whittaker. After all, we won’t see her in the part until later this year, when the Doctor Who Christmas Special premieres.
Bringing together the likes of Pearl Mackie, David Bradley and Mark Gatiss, it’ll be on our screens in the latter stages of December and will give us our first look at Whittaker in action, however brief it may be. It’ll also herald Peter Capaldi’s last hurrah along with Steven Moffat’s, who’s poised to hand over the keys to showrunner Chris Chibnall for season 11. To get a taste of what’s to come, be sure to check out the preview below.