'Doctor Who' Season 11 Air Date, Cast News: Jodie Whittaker Reveals She Has a Support Group of Former Doctors
Jodie Whittaker has the distinction of playing the first female Doctor on "Doctor Who." In making sure that she gets the role right, the actress revealed that she has a support group composed of former Doctors.
The actress dished that she usually gets advice from former Time Lords David Tennant ("Jessica Jones"), Matt Smith ("The Crown") and the last doctor, Peter Capaldi. Tennant confirmed that he chats with Whittaker about the show and he's aware that the actress also discusses playing the Doctor with Smith and Capaldi.
"It is quite a unique job, because it's a show that has so much history to it," Tennant said. "And it has a reach that's quite unlike other things."
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Whittaker will officially kick off the titular role in "Doctor Who" season 11 in the fall season with 10 hour-long episodes. BBC will eventually announce the actual premiere date but for now, fans had a taste Whitaker's take as the new Time Lord in the Christmas special that aired in December 2017. In it, Capaldi said goodbye to his character and regenerated to Whittaker.
Meanwhile, a minor controversy erupted over the Christmas special when one of the characters, Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, apparently appeared without permission from the estate of Mervyn Haisman. The latter authored some of the "Doctor Who" book series that the show is based on.
The Haisman estate's creative director Andy Frankham-Allen denied there were problems and BBC made no copyright breach. The estate and the network agreed to a solution to use the character before the Christmas special aired.
The British sci-fi series "Doctor Who" debuted on the BBC in 1963 and thus gained a cult following. William Hartnell played the first doctor, while Tom Baker (fourth doctor) and Tennant (10th doctor) played the role for more than three years. Outside the U.K., the series is also popular in New Zealand and Australia.
