Doctor Who gender question ‘going away’

DOCTOR WHO star Jodie Whittaker has said that the “gender question” is finally going away.

The actress, 37, took over the Tardis in October 2018 as the first female Doctor.

She told The Big Issue magazine that she felt “pressure” upon taking the role.

However, she said viewers had come to accept her as the first female Time Lord in the show’s five-decade history.

She told the magazine: “What’s so incredible about playing the Doctor is that fearlessness.

“Knowing the outcome could be devastating but doing it anyway, swimming out and not saving anything for the swim back. That is really extraordinary...

“I feel like I’ve been accepted as the Doctor. 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.”

The 12th series of Doctor Who returns to screens on January 1 with a two-part episode. Guest stars in the forthcoming series include Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry.

The Big Issue, sold by vendors to lift themselves out of poverty, is available to buy now.