The thing that surprised me most about the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor was my own reaction to it. I was never against the idea of a female Doctor but I pretty much 100% believed that the BBC wouldn’t go down that route at this time. It’s a brave decision to make such a big change at a time when Doctor Who’s casual audience is wavering, but I can’t help applauding the BBC for making it.
The announcement trailer completely sold me on the idea of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. I never really liked the kind of studio-based reveal that they did for Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi, because it tells you nothing about how they might play the character. In fact, I couldn’t picture Matt as the Doctor until I saw him acting the part in The Eleventh Hour. Jodie’s trailer, wordless as it was, nonetheless gave me a clear indication of how she might play the part – and I felt that the Doctor was in safe hands.
My hope now is that the casting will be part of a bigger change for the series. It might not be a popular view amongst Doctor Who Fans, but I think the series’ format needs a bit of a tweak. In our modern multi-platform TV world, it needs a bigger hook to bring back viewers week after week and it’s my belief that Chris Chibnall will go for an ongoing storyline, rather than the traditional ‘monster of the week’, to bring it in line with the likes of Game of Thrones. As I said, a lot of fans won’t like it, but it’s the modern way and I think Doctor Who has to adapt to survive.
