Jodie Whittaker will star in her second series of Doctor Who in 2020. The series also starring Mandip Gill will be a highlight of BBC One’s New Year’s Day schedule.
In a recent interview with the Big Issue magazine, Whittaker has spoken about the pressures of portraying the 13th Doctor.
“I feel like I’ve been accepted as the Doctor,” she said. “There was a pressure. If I’d have been a guy in this role I’d have only been representing my own casting as an individual. But it felt like I could hold people back if nobody liked what I brought to the Doctor.
“The gender question is now going away. Hopefully it won’t make the news next time.”
Whittaker replaced Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in 2018, where she played grieving mother Beth Latimer.
Whittaker was interviewed by the Radio Times before the new series. “Being a woman is who I am,” she said. “And with this part, being a woman has less relevance than any other part I’ve played, except for that monumental historical moment of being the first woman Doctor.
“It fascinates me that my natural traits are deemed masculine and so they’re complimented. You know: ‘Well done, you’re not very girly.’ Yes, I am. It’s massive to have a first woman Doctor, but I won’t let it be used as an excluding technique.”
In her Big Issue interview Whittaker talks about being inspired by young people, especially climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The new series will include the return of companions Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) and feature Stephen Fry and Lenny Henry as guest stars.
