The New Doctor is...a woman??

So today we just had the reveal that Jodie Whittaker is going to be the 13th Doctor and my initial reaction was...hmmm. I'd seen the shortlist and no one on it jumped out as being particularly favorable but then I had no particular opinion about Eccleston, Tennant, Smith or Capaldi when they were cast because I'd not seen them in anything else. Whittaker is a regular in Broadchurch but I avoid crime series like the plague so I have no preconceived idea of just what she is like. Fundamentally anyone playing the Doctor has to have good stories and I'm hoping that Whittaker has the Matt Smith effect of immediately winning me over before the last episode was over.

In universe the idea that the Doctor could be a woman has obviously been touched on before. The Corsair had female regenerations, Missy was the last iteration of the Master and Romana effectively got to "try on" here regeneration before settling on the one she stayed with. My take is that when the 12th Doctor said at the end of episode 10 that if he couldn't be himself he didn't want to be anyone he effectively let go and allowed for the significant change as if starting again from scratch.

In the real world we have a bigger problem, anyone not liking the casting is immediately framed as being sexist or worse still misogynistic when maybe all they thought was that they didn't like her in Broadchurch. Women viewers are being told that they should be grateful that finally they have a female Doctor in some bizarre reverse sexism that just because she's a woman it guarantees that the show will be any good. I'm sure the argument that all women should like Theresa May or Thatcher just because she's a woman would work just as well.

What Whittaker needs is some bloody good stories that can prove that the show can be great whether the Doctor is male or female because if that's not there and viewing figures drop off the BBC are going to get he "I told you it wouldn't work" message when her casting may not be anything to do with the problem.

So here it is. I'm going to stay as balanced as I can be. If you've decided that the Doctor being a woman is not for you then I'm not going to rant, you have every right to have that opinion just as the casting of Capaldi or whoever may have put some people off. Just as I'm going to say that just because the Doctor is now a woman that the series is going to be the best thing ever,  because for as much as I've liked ever Doctor there have been some horse shit episodes in there that makes their runs imperfect.

All I know is that I'm as willing to give Whittaker a try as much as I did Tennant, Smith and Capaldi and I hope that the show flourishes and we get some great sci-fi tv out of it.