Doctor Who

Premiering in 1963, Doctor Who has been a sci-fi institution of British television for more than 50 years.  It is still one of BBC Worldwide's best selling shows worldwide.  But when Jodie Whittaker debuts as the 13th iconic Time Lord in this year's Christmas Special, it will be as the first ever female Doctor.  Taking over for retiring Peter Capaldi, Whittaker is best known for her role on the hit TV show, Broadchurch.  The shape-shifting, time traveling Doctor has taken female form before, but Whittaker’s Doctor - the 13th in the series - will be the first to be played by a woman for a whole series.

The show has been building up to this point after years of portraying strong female characters-- from Michelle Gomez's The Master and Alex Kingston's River Song to companions like Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rose (Billie Piper).  But still - a woman has never portrayed the title character until now.  The departing show runner, Steven Moffat,  has been setting the stage and dropping hints for the better part of a year - ever since Capaldi announced he wouldn't be returning after this season.  But even with efforts to "soften the blow," a quick read of the comments on social media shows that not all fans are warm to the idea.  From the message boards..."Changing the nature of an iconic character (changing the gender couldn't be a greater example of this) never ends well. No disrespect to Ms. Whittaker; she may be a fine actor but she will never be the Doctor for me."

The ambivalence among the passionate Doctor Who tribe may be best summed up by responses from two former Doctors.

Peter Davison, who played Doctor Who in the 1980s, told the Press Association, "If I feel any doubts, it's the loss of a role model for boys, who I think Doctor Who is vitally important for. So I feel a bit sad about that, but I understand the argument that you need to open it up ... As a viewer, I kind of like the idea of the Doctor as a boy but then maybe I'm an old fashioned dinosaur – who knows?"

But another Doctor Who, Colin Baker, hit back and said, "They've had 50 years of having a role model. So, sorry Peter, you're talking rubbish there – absolute rubbish. You don't have to be of a gender of someone to be a role model. Can't you be a role model as people?"

But Whittaker has consistently sent a message of calm reassurance and optimism to help the few diehard fans who may be feeling some sense of disorientation at having a female Doctor.  "I want to tell the fans not to be scared by my gender. Because this is a really exciting time, and Doctor Who represents everything that's exciting about change," Whittaker added. "The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one."

So another milestone achieved, another bastion breached, another barrier broken - this time in the form of a female Doctor traveling through time in a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space).  My guess is that many of us have felt recently that we have traveled back in time...