Should the Time Lord become a Time Lady? Join in our Talking Point

WE’RE looking forward even more than usual to the next series of “Doctor Who”, and in particular to the Christmas special. Much as we’ve loved Peter Capaldi in the role of the Twelfth Doctor, the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor is going to take the show in a new direction.

Not everyone is in favour. Twitter was a battlezone for a day or so after the announcement between those who thought that a woman couldn’t possibly play the part of a two-thousand-year-old time traveller, and those who thought it was way past time for equality inside the TARDIS.

Some of us grew up in the era of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee and learned to think of the Doctor as a grandfatherly figure. The new era Doctor, starting with a leather-jacketed Christopher Eccleston

– a northerner, no less! – was a shock for some.

Now we have Jodie, who is not only northern, but female, too.

She’s a terrific actor, with great performances in “Broadchurch” and the recent BBC drama “Trust Me”. But can she take on a role that has been exclusively male for 12 incarnations?

Of course, there’s a long history of men playing female roles, dating from Shakespeare, but we’re less used to it happening the other way round.

Good luck, Jodie, we say!