Jodie Whittaker is opening up about why she believes her role as the Doctor in the beloved British series Doctor Who didn’t work out.
“It was a noisy few [people]. Rage is always really loud — compliments are much quieter,” Whittaker said of fans’ reaction to her being cast in the show in an interview published Sunday, February 23, in The Sunday Times.
“But also, that show doesn’t have a comparison. It’s part of all our vocabularies — the Tardis, Daleks, exterminate! And everyone’s Doctor until then was a white man,” she added. “They are very different actors, but they all fit a specific mold — and I didn’t.”
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Whittaker also worried that the negative response to her performance as the character, which has been played by several actors since the show’s debut in 1963, would have a negative impact on other performers who might get cast in the future.
“If Peter [Capaldi] hadn’t been good as the Doctor, it would only have reflected on him. Whereas I felt that if I wasn’t very good at this, I’ve f–ked it for other actors,” she explained. “I think it’s completely unacceptable if that was the case, but that’s how I felt.”
Whittaker also balked at the idea that her casting meant the character was no longer a role model for boys. “It’s never been questioned that I had to look up to men,” she said. “So it was fascinating that for some, we [women] could not be role models. The Doctor is still the Doctor. But also, I was playing an alien! My gender was not the issue.”
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She went on to add that she believes her gender even helped her be more authentic to the character. “In the very last scene, during the regen episode, I was pregnant. So I’m the first ever Doctor that was Method and had two hearts,” she said.
Both Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall announced their departures from the show in 2021. “In 2017, I opened my glorious gift box of size 13 shoes. I could not have guessed the brilliant adventures, worlds and wonders I was to see in them,” Whittaker told the BBC at the time. “I will carry the Doctor and the lessons I’ve learnt forever.”
Whittaker was the first woman to play the role when she was cast in 2017. “I’m beyond excited to begin this epic journey, with [new showrunner Chris Chibnall] and with every Whovian on this planet,” she said at the time. “It’s more than an honor to play the Doctor. It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: Hope. I can’t wait.”
