Jodie Whittaker reveals ‘strange thing’ about taking on Doctor Who role

Actor Jodie Whittaker has said the fascination with her gender after she was cast in Doctor Who was “strange” for her to experience. The 43-year-old replaced Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in 2017, becoming the 13th actor and first woman to play the iconic Time Lord. Much of the conversation prior to the announcement centred around whether Capaldi’s replacement would be a woman after the series 10 finale, hinting at an all-female future. Whittaker said she “wasn’t worried” about being the first woman to be cast as the Doctor, but found it “strange” to be “playing a role where my gender was the biggest conversation around it”. Speaking on This Morning on Tuesday (19 August), Whittaker added: “I was the first, but I’m no longer the only,” referencing Jo Martin, who played the Fugitive Doctor in the 12th series. The actor’s remarks come after Billie Piper, who previously played sidekick Rose Tyler on the series, appeared to replace Ncuti Gatwa in the show’s titular role in May. Gatwa’s doctor regenerated into Piper but it’s yet to be confirmed whether the actor will actually be playing the Time Lord or not, with fans noting that she wasn’t credited as “The Doctor”. The Telegraph reported that Piper once told Hello magazine in 2009 that she was opposed to the concept. “I don’t think the Doctor should be a woman. Forgive me, I know it’s not a feminist thing to say, but it’s like saying, ‘Let’s make James Bond a woman’. It’s a man’s role.” By 2017, though, Piper had gone through a change of heart. In an interview with the BBC, she said: “I think it would be great given the spirit of the world at the moment. I think it would be timely.” Whittaker stepped down from her role as the Doctor after three series in 2022. “My heart is so full of love for this show, for the team who make it, for the fans who watch it and for what it has brought to my life,” she said in a statement at the time. Speaking to The Independent, she said of her decision to leave the show: “Three seasons was definitely enough. But I will be forever grief-ridden that I’m not playing the Doctor.” The actor has since gone on to star in the Australian drama One Night and Netflix's hit series Toxic Town, which is about the 2009 Corby poisonings and the subsequent environmental court case.