Happy birthday, Jodie Whittaker! The first ever actress to play the role of the Doctor on Doctor Who turns 38 this June 17th.
Jodie Auckland Whittaker was born on this day in 1982 in West Yorkshire. Her career got started in the theater before she received her big screen break in 2008’s Venus, in which she starred opposite Oscar-winning actor Peter O’Toole. Over the next decade, her star rose as she featured in various projects such as Attack the Block, Black Mirror and Broadchurch. It was on that crime drama that she met and became close friends with David Tennant and showrunner Chris Chibnall.
In 2017, Chibnall took over Doctor Who and cast Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. Her debut season, the revived series’ eleventh run, aired in fall 2018. Season 12 then followed earlier this year. Whittaker has confirmed that she’s returning for at least season 13, which is supposed to start filming in September. It remains to be seen if/how it’ll be affected by the pandemic, though.
Last year, Whittaker spent her birthday on set of the show, even dressing up for the occasion, as you can see in the hilarious photo above, where she’s accompanied by co-stars Mandip Gill (Yaz Khan), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair) and Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien). All four will be back for the incoming winter special “Revolution of the Daleks,” which was filmed prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
This may be the last time the foursome are all together, however, as both Cole and Walsh are reportedly set to exit the series in this very special. It’s unknown if that means the Doctor will add some new members to her fam in Doctor Who season 13 or if it’ll just be the Time Lord and Yaz from now on, but we’ll soon find out.
