Let’s be honest, a lot of Doctor Who fans have been calling for a female Doctor for years now. After all, there’s no reason the character shouldn’t be female sometimes, aside from ‘tradition’ – every transformation in the show since it began in 1963 has delivered a new male face. But now, with Peter Capaldi stepping away from the iconic role, and Steven Moffat stepping away from producing the show, a fresh approach has been revealed. The Doctor will now be played by Jodie Whittaker – and this has predictably drawn some criticism.
Former Doctor Who showrunner, Russell T. Davies – also known as the man who made this new era of the series possible, having rebooted it back in 2005 – has no time for such criticisms, though. He’s done with the vocal objections of a tiny minority of sexists – as he explained to Frank Skinner on the Absolute Radio podcast.
“I am really tired of the objections. It’s outrageous to me, you meet these fans and they are very, very happy that this is happening. Maybe 10 people online with different aliases are spouting saying you’ve ruining the programme and it’s all that gets reported.”
Davies certainly has a point. Positive response to the announcement of the new Doctor has indeed outweighed those who claim Time-Lords can’t be ladies. He’s also right to highlight the role played by the popular media in the public perception of feedback to this new Doctor.
In the relentless pursuit of controversy and conflict, many reports have indeed focused on the negative response with disproportionate intensity. The bottom line is, of course, the casting choice has been made, and the future of Doctor Who is officially female. The only question is, why did it take this long in the first place?
Doctor Who returns on December 25th for its annual Christmas Special – an episode that will mark the departure of Peter Capaldi after 46 episodes at the helm of the T.A.R.D.I.S.
