In summer 2017, history was made when Jodie Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor. After 50 plus years, Doctor Who‘s latest lead was finally a woman. The idea of the Time Lord regenerating into a new gender had been discussed for a long time before that, though, and it turns out that a very famous actress once pitched herself as a contender for the part before Whittaker broke the mold.
Speaking with the former Tenth Doctor on David Tennant Does A Podcast With – Tennant’s new podcast in which he chats with his celebrity friends for an hour – Whoopi Goldberg revealed that she asked the BBC to cast her as the Doctor. As a big fan of the show, the star made it known to the corporation that she was interested in the coveted part but they just weren’t interested.
“The idea of that just so made me happy. But they were like, ‘Um, no,'” said Goldberg.
Back in 2017. Goldberg spoke to The Sun (via RadioTimes.com) about how she was “dying” to turn up on Doctor Who. “I always hope when I come to England the BBC will say, ‘Hey we want you to do something.’ I would love that,” she told the paper. After explaining her admiration for British TV, Goldberg added: “I like the idea of doing things the way y’all do them, you do some really fun stuff like Black Mirror or, you know, I’m still dying to do Doctor Who.”
Doctor Who has never been a show to shy away from casting the odd famous name, so if we were showrunner Chris Chibnall, we’d definitely find a role for Goldberg in season 12. That is, if she’s not too hurt at the BBC for turning her down as the Doctor. Maybe appearing opposite the actual first female Time Lord would be the next best thing?