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Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker Reveals The Advice She Got From Past Doctors

Taking on a job like the lead in Doctor Who is a life-changing career move, as it's not just a unique acting role but also a world famous TV show that accrues a lot of scrutiny and interest. The part of the immortal Time Lord currently falls on Jodie Whittaker's shoulders and it turns out that, once her casting was finally announced, she looked to some of the past Doctors for pointers on what the whole experience of being a Time Lord is like.

Taking on a job like the lead in Doctor Who is a life-changing career move, as it’s not just a unique acting role but also a world famous TV show that accrues a lot of scrutiny and interest. The part of the immortal Time Lord currently falls on Jodie Whittaker’s shoulders and it turns out that, once her casting was finally announced, she looked to some of the past Doctors for pointers on what the whole experience of being a Time Lord is like.

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Ahead of today’s Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con, Deadline chatted with Whittaker and asked her if she’d spoken about playing the Doctor with her good friend David Tennant, who she’d previously worked with on crime drama Broadchurch. The actress revealed that she had, but not just with David. She’d also briefly crossed paths with Peter Capaldi and Matt Smith, as well.

“(Laughs) I’ve known David for years, but at first, I wasn’t allowed to speak to anyone because I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that I got the job. So, it was the only the weekend before it was officially announced that I was able to speak to, very briefly, Peter, Matt Smith and David.”

Doctor Who fans would no doubt love to have been a fly-on the wall at those multi-Doctor meetings. But what advice did the old Doctors give their future incarnation? Well, Whittaker revealed that the main thing they told her is that playing the Doctor is “the time of your life” and everyone has their own unique, personal experience with it.

“I think the thing that was the overriding message was that you are going to have the time of your life. Also, that this is like no other job, and it’s completely unique for every single person who plays the part.”

As for the other Doctors’ point of view of this chat, Matt Smith has previously recounted his hilarious first words to Whittaker after finding out she got the part: he left her a voicemail message of himself doing an a capella version of the Doctor Who theme song. Presumably, they then went on to have a more in-depth chat once the actress worked out who this crazy caller was and phoned him back.