Doctor Who is known as the longest running sci-fi show to date. It first aired in 1963 and is still going strong with a 16-year break between 1989 and 2005. From the very first Doctor, played by William Hartnell, all the way to the twelfth, portrayed by Peter Capaldi, we have had males in the leading role – that is until now. The first episode of season eleven aired on October 7th and portrayed the very first female Doctor. Actress Jodie Whittaker is the lucky lady to play the character everyone loves. She has a lot to live up to by taking on the role of the famous character known as The Doctor. She has been praised so far with the first five episodes being aired. 

Personally, I am already taken away with her portrayal of The Doctor. Doctor Who has been my favorite show since I began watching it back in 2005. I began the show with the ninth Doctor who was played by Christopher Eccleston and since then I have devoted my time to this show, so I am very judgmental and picky about new actors taking on the role. But, after watching the first five episodes of this season, I can say I am very happy with the show’s pick of Jodie Whittaker. I cannot think of anyone better to play the role of the Doctor especially since this is the show’s first time with a female playing the lead role. I have known Jodie Whittaker from only one other show named Broadchurch. Broadchurch’s lead role was played by David Tennant who played the Tenth Doctor. Having Whittaker playing the Doctor after working so closely with a former actor of the Doctor gives me hope that she will continue to do very well.

Doctor Who has also recently changed writers from Steven Moffat to Chris Chibnall. Chibnall was the writer for shows such as Broadchurch and Torchwood. Torchwood is a spin-off show of Doctor Who, so Chibnall has some experience with writing for something similar to Doctor Who and has experience with actress Jodie Whittaker. He has even written a few episodes of Doctor Who already. Some fans of the popular show are not fond of Whittaker portraying the Doctor as they believe that the Doctor should continue to be played by a man like it has been in the past. I don’t see the problem because the Doctor is an alien in a sci-fi television show known for regenerating and other Time-lords (the Doctor’s people) have regenerated into females before, most notably being the Master. The Master is a character in the show who was the Doctor’s childhood friend but grew to be the Doctor’s enemy. The Master, like the Doctor, has been played by male actors in the past, but during the twelfth Doctor’s 8th season, it was revealed that the Master had regenerated into Missy, a woman. The show has been hinting at a female Doctor for a while and I am glad that they have finally made it a reality. The companions of the Doctor have mainly been female with a few males scattered and I am happy to see that the roles have been reversed. Now, with a female Doctor, it seems her companions are going to be two males and one female.

I am also excited to see how this new Doctor will take control of situations now that she is a female. When the Doctor time travels to the past, they have never had any problems with people taking them as an authority figure. The problem is that that was when the Doctor was a male. The third episode that aired, “Rosa,” was about Rosa Parks and the Doctor and her companions traveled back in time to 1955 in Alabama. It seemed that nobody really questioned her authority, but that was only one episode in the past and I want to see how the Doctor manages in future episodes. 

Jodie Whittaker’s first appearance as the Doctor received 8.2 million views worldwide. It was the series’ biggest launch in over a decade. I am glad that audiences have taken to her because I can already see all the girls dressing up as the Doctor on Halloween, which is fast approaching. In the past, if girls wanted to cosplay as the Doctor, they had to buy men’s clothes for the job. Now, it gives us ladies an outfit we can dress up in that is accurate to the show. I myself have even bought the 13th Doctors’ new coat and rainbow shirt for Halloween.

I am excited to see where the show takes the series after Jodie Whittaker and hope that she will be the first female Doctor, but definitely not the last.