Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker totally missed the broflake backlash to the first female Doctor
Shaun Keaveny and Jodie Whittaker (BBC)
After a run of men playing the lead character in Doctor Who, Jodie Whittaker was last month announced as the first woman to play The Doctor.
The star will reunite with her former Broadchurch showrunner Chris Chibnall next year when he picks up the reins from Steven Moffat, who is departing with the current Doctor Peter Capaldi after Christmas.
The decision to cast a woman as The Doctor was welcomed by many, though there was predictable disquiet from various broflakes on social media, with some claiming that it would ruin or kill off the show.
Jodie Whittaker is The Doctor (BBC)
Not being on social media, Whittaker herself managed to skip all – or at least most – of the backlash to her casting.
“I’ve missed a lot of the fun stuff and probably the bad stuff because I’m not on any type of social media and never have been,” Whittaker told BBC Radio 6 Music in her first broadcast interview, which you can listen to in full below.
“So if I get sent something it’s a mate screengrabbing something and sending it to me. And they obviously edit!
“Actually, some of them don’t… there’s been quite a few [laughs] – oh okay, confidence is on the floor.”
She continued: “There’s an amazing video of a young girl watching it and finding out that it’s being played by a girl.
My daughter watching the #DoctorWho announcement. #doctor13 #DoctorWho13 pic.twitter.com/eX0w1rW4E9
— Jenny Trout (@Jenny_Trout) July 16, 2017
“Seeing things like that are really exciting, but I need to go on Twitter search and be like, ‘Is anyone tweeting about me’.”
Whittaker said of winning the role: “If you go up watching adventure films and TV shows and anything that caters to that, that belief that anything is possible, this is the job to do and I get to do it.
“That was not in the realms of possibility ever growing up, when you think ‘What’s your dream part?’
“I’ve been asked so many times, ‘What’s your dream part?’ and I always try and articulate something that’s outside of what people have told me can and only play – now it’s like, ‘See! I told you!’.”
Jodie Whittaker (Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
During the interview, Whittaker also admitted that she “cried” on learning that she had been cast, adding: “The fans are the most creative and enthusiastic people and it’s so exciting to be a part of it.
“I know quite a few of the people who have been in it… there are only a few people who know what it’s like.”
Doctor Who returns this Christmas for Peter Capaldi’s farewell as The Doctor, with David Bradley seemingly playing The First Doctor.
Bradley previously played William Hartnell, the original First Doctor actor, in 2013 BBC docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time.
The special will also see the final appearance for Bill – the lesbian companion played by Pearl Mackie.
Listen to Jodie Whittaker’s BBC 6 Music interview in full below:
