The Thirteenth Doctor | |
---|---|
Doctor Who character | |
First regular appearance | "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" (2018) |
Portrayed by | Jodie Whittaker |
Preceded by | Peter Capaldi |
Information | |
Tenure | 25 December 2017 – present |
No of series | 1 |
Appearances | 9 stories (9 episodes) |
Companions | |
Chronology | Series 11 (2018) |
The Thirteenth Doctor is the current incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character in the series. In the show's narrative, the Doctor is a time travelling, humanoid alien from a race known as "the Time Lords". To account for actors' departure from the series, the programme introduced the narrative concept of regeneration, a means for a Time Lord to gain a new appearance and a distinct new personality when the Doctor approaches the end of the current incarnation.
Whittaker appeared for the first time as the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of the 2017 Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time", and stars as the Doctor from 2018, starting with the programme's eleventh series.
In January 2016, Steven Moffat announced that he would leave the show after the tenth series; he is set to be replaced by new showrunner Chris Chibnall. Peter Capaldi confirmed a year later that the tenth series would be his last, too. Following this news, several media reports and bookmakers had speculated as to who would replace Capaldi as the Thirteenth Doctor. Bookmakers' favourites included Ben Whishaw,[1][2][3] Phoebe Waller-Bridge,[4] Kris Marshall,[5] and Tilda Swinton.[6]
The concept of a female Doctor was first mentioned in 1981, when Tom Baker suggested his successor might be female, after announcing the end of his tenure as the Fourth Doctor.[7][8] Producer John Nathan-Turner later discussed the possibility of casting a woman as the Sixth Doctor to replace the departing Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor, claiming it was feasible but not something he was considering at the moment.[9] In October 1986, during the transmission of Colin Baker's final season as the Sixth Doctor, series creator Sydney Newman wrote to BBC Controller Michael Grade, with a suggestion that "at a later stage Doctor Who should be metamorphosed into a woman". Dawn French, Joanna Lumley, and Frances de la Tour were suggested by Newman in 1986 for the role, but were dismissed by the BBC.[10][11][12] Lumley later appeared as a satirical version of the Thirteenth Doctor in the 1999 Comic Relief special The Curse of Fatal Death. Arabella Weir also played an alternate Third Doctor in the Doctor Who Unbound Big Finish episode Exile. Neither portrayal is typically considered to be within the show's main continuity.[13] Producer Jane Tranter also considered casting Judi Dench as the Ninth Doctor.[14][15] Helen Mirren was suggested for the role of the Twelfth Doctor.[16][16][15]
The concept of Time Lords changing sex upon regeneration was seeded throughout Moffat's tenure as showrunner. In the 2011 episode "The Doctor's Wife", the Doctor recalls a Time Lord acquaintance known as the Corsair, who had at least two female incarnations.[17] In the 2013 short "The Night of the Doctor", the Sisterhood of Karn offer a dying Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) control over his inevitable regeneration, with "man or woman" being touted as possibilities.[18] The first on-screen cross-gender regeneration was shown in the 2015 episode "Hell Bent", in which a white male Gallifreyan general (Ken Bones) regenerates into a black woman (T'Nia Miller), who states that her previous incarnation was the only time she had been a man.[19]
The most notable Time Lord to have appeared in both male and female forms prior to Whittaker's casting is the Doctor's nemesis, The Master, portrayed from 2014 to 2017 by Scottish actress Michelle Gomez. This character was known as Missy, short for "Mistress".[20] The tenth series finale, "World Enough and Time" / "The Doctor Falls", addresses cross-gender regeneration several times; the Doctor tells his companion Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) that Missy was "his first man-crush," and adds that he is only "fairly sure" he himself was male at the time, although the remark may have been flippant.[21]
When referring to whether the new Doctor would be a woman, incoming Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall originally was quoted in February 2017, as saying, "Nothing is ruled out but I don't want the casting to be a gimmick and that's all I can say".[22] On 14 July 2017, the BBC announced that the portrayer of the Thirteenth Doctor would be revealed after the 2017 Wimbledon Championships men's finals on 16 July 2017. Immediately after the announcement, Death in Paradise actor Kris Marshall was the bookmakers' favourite at 4/6,[23] although twenty-four hours later, Jodie Whittaker, notable for her role as Beth Latimer in Chibnall's crime drama Broadchurch, had become the favourite at 5/4.[24] Whittaker was introduced as the Thirteenth Doctor on 16 July and subsequently made her debut in the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time".[25][26] On Whittaker's casting, Chibnall said, "I always knew I wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to be a woman and we're thrilled to have secured our number one choice. Her audition for The Doctor simply blew us all away." Later on in his statement, Chibnall called Whittaker "an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature" and said that she "will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role."[27]
In November 2018, BBC confirmed that Whittaker's second series began production in November 2018, and that it is scheduled to air in late 2019.[28]
Interviewed by Radio Times, Chibnall described the Thirteenth Doctor as "absolutely the Doctor, but there's a new calibration, a new mixture of Doctorishness. The Thirteenth Doctor is incredibly lively, warm, funny, energetic, inclusive – she's the greatest friend you could wish to have as your guide around the universe." In the same article, Whittaker also added that her Doctor "speak(s) at a hundred miles an hour," while actress Mandip Gill who plays companion Yasmin Khan, commented that Whittaker's Doctor "has a similar energy to Matt Smith's Doctor ... Very high energy. Jodie has that about her Doctor."[29]
First images of Whittaker's costume as the Doctor were released to the media on 9 November 2017. Her costume features blue high-waisted culottes with yellow braces, a navy blue shirt with a rainbow stripe across it, a lilac-blue[30] coat, brown lace-up boots, blue socks and piercings on her left ear.[31] Some fans noted that the outfit had similarities to earlier Doctors' costumes, with others comparing it to Robin Williams' costume in the American sitcom Mork & Mindy.[32] Whittaker stated that she worked with the show's costume designer Ray Holman (who had also worked before with Whittaker on Broadchurch) to come up with her outfit, inspired by a photograph that she had found online. The photograph had been published in a 1988 issue of Sassy showing a number of female models in mens' clothing, with the specific photo of a woman in trousers, suspenders and a t-shirt, walking with a purpose. Whittaker said she "just love[d] the androgyny of it, without it being masculine", and that "felt intriguing and kind of open to interpretation and I really love that".[33][34] Additional elements drew out from the photograph. Whittaker wanted a coat that flowed with her actions and gave her pockets but otherwise did not have any fasteners, and she wanted some color within the outfit but without going too "cartoonish".[33] Holman added violet to the inside of the coat's sleeves, a reference to the violet-and-green colors of the Suffragettes.[35] In the minute-long clip in which Jodie Whittaker is first introduced as the Thirteenth Doctor, she wears a more conservative grey overcoat over a black hoodie.
[36]
The Thirteenth Doctor makes her debut in the closing moments of 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time".[2] The Doctor crashes her TARDIS in the moments following regeneration and, in series premiere "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" (2018), lands in modern day Sheffield, where she befriends retired bus driver Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), his wife's grandson Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), and police officer Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill), with whom she successfully repels an alien hunter from the warlike Stenza race. The Doctor builds a device to return her to her TARDIS, but accidentally teleports her new friends with her; the group help retrieve her TARDIS on an alien world in "The Ghost Monument". After a trip to segregation-era Alabama in "Rosa", Graham, Ryan, and Yas agree to being full-time companions in "Arachnids in the UK".
New Series Adventures released three novels starring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan in October/November 2018: The Good Doctor, Molten Heart, and Combat Magicks.[37]
Fan reaction to Whittaker's casting was largely positive, although a minority were unhappy.[38] Some said that a female Doctor would be a good role model for young girls, while others felt the Doctor was only ever meant to be male, or criticised the casting as an exercise in political correctness.[39][40][41] During the Doctor Who panel at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat denied there had been a "backlash" over Whittaker's casting, and said there was "80% approval on social media". Moffat commented, "It strikes me that Doctor Who fans are more excited about the idea of a brilliant actress playing the part, than the fact she's a woman. It's been incredibly progressive and enlightened".[42]
Guardian journalist Zoe Williams described Whittaker's casting as "the revolutionary feminist we need right now", lauding the decision as "the difference between tolerating modernity and embodying it". Williams compared the casting of a female Doctor to other examples of the show breaking "cultural taboo[s]", mentioning companions Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) as examples of the show's diversity.[43]
The world we live in has a history of male domination, of stereotyping, of resistance to change, of playing it safe. Doctor Who has never been about that. The Doctor in all his incarnations has always been a passionate defender of justice, equality, fairness and resisted those who seek to dominate or destroy.
—Colin Baker, 17 July 2017[44]
Reaction among former Doctor Who actors was positive. Colin Baker, who portrayed the Sixth Doctor, quoting his own character in his introductory stories The Caves of Androzani and The Twin Dilemma, tweeted "Change my dears and not a moment too soon—she IS the Doctor whether you like it or not!".[39] In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Baker wrote that he had "never been able to think of any logical reason" why the Doctor could not be a woman, and described himself as "shocked" that some fans of the show were vowing not to watch again due to Whittaker's casting.[44] Conversely, Peter Davison, who portrayed the Fifth Doctor, stated that the casting could mean "loss of a role model for boys". Nevertheless, he noted that Whittaker is a "terrific actress" and would do "a wonderful job" in the role.[45][46] Tom Baker, who portrayed the Fourth Doctor, reacted positively to the news. However, he warned that if the audience loses interest, then Whittaker should be replaced. He said "I think it might be quite nice to have a woman. But you just test it. If the audience don't like it then just kill her off. Nobody has ever failed by the way, nobody has, it's just how it is."[47] Freema Agyeman, who played the character Martha Jones between 2007 and 2010, said she was "astounded" by the negative reception from some fans and that the show's history of change was key to its strength and longevity.[48] Former cast members Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Billie Piper, Karen Gillan and John Barrowman reacted positively to the news.[49][50]