The longest running ever sci-fi show, Doctor Who, has gone through many changes in the last fifty-seven years. The show is about a Time

Lord called ‘The Doctor’ who travels through time and space to save civilisations and stopping mainly alien adversaries in their invasion

attempts or plans to destroy a certain planet or the universe. They do this by travelling in a time machine called the TARDIS that looks like a

1960s London police box which is bigger on the inside. Through the adventures the Doctor is usually joined by their numerous amounts of

companions.

If the Doctor is about to die, they have the ability to change their appearance internally. This is a great way to keep the show fresh and

new. If the actor wants to leave the role, the writers can just hire a completely new actor in that role. The actors are not pretending to be

the same Doctor, they add their own take of the character, so each Doctor have different personalities and traits. From 1963 to 2017, the

Doctor has always been a male but that changed. After the men’s Wimbledon Championship on the 14th July 2017, Jodie Whittaker was

revealed as the Thirteenth Doctor.

Many have expressed their joy with the announcement including a lot of the actors who have played previous Doctors and companions. Colin

Baker who played the Sixth Doctor from 1984 to 1986 said “Change my dears and not a moment too soon – she IS the Doctor whether you like it or not!” which was a quote his own Doctor said in his introductory stories and jokingly, "My goodness I've aged well".

A group of ‘fans’ have decided that having a female Doctor has ruined the show and criticised the casting as an exercise in political

correctness. The group called the NMD, NotMyDoctors, who were named by the fans who support the change have claimed that the show

now is too political, even though from the 60s and onwards, there have been many instances where there were political elements in episodes.

During the months after Jodie Whittaker was announced, they have even set up petitions to have the Doctor recast to a man which

unsurprisingly no one signed. Over the years, the group is still protesting about it and their methods have got worse. If a fan says

something they like about the past two seasons, the NMDs will target them and spread outrageous rumours about them and then eventually

they would send death threats to them all over them supporting a female Doctor.

For the first fifty-four years of the show, young male fans have had a role model in the Doctor. Now that a female Doctor has been cast, young female fans can now look up to Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor. When she was announced, there were videos circulating around the internet of young girls getting excited over the announcement and comments from parents saying that it’s a wonderful thing. Personally, I think that it is a much needed change because it keeps the show fresh and fun.

The Doctor changing gender isn’t a storyline detail and not mentioned much. Doctor Who is a fictional show where the main character can change their form. Why can’t the Doctor be a woman? The only time the Doctor’s gender is mentioned is when the Doctor tells her companions when they first met that she was “a white-haired Scotsman” last time which was hilarious to see their reactions. The other time is when she accused of witchcraft and then dunked by King James in a river for being a witch. The Doctor says, “Honestly, if I was a bloke, I could get on with the job and not have to waste time defending myself” while trying to defend herself from King James which was also highlighting how difficult it was to be a woman in the 17th century during the witch trials.

Especially since 2005, there’s a lot of diversity in the show now.  Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor had a companion who was openly

omnisexual and then David Tennant’s Doctor travelled with the first black companion. Then Peter Capaldi had the first bisexual and the first

gay companions. Finally, recently Jodie Whittaker is travelling with the first Muslim companion. So, change is necessary to accept all

communities and show anyone can save the universe.

Most recently in the last season, Jo Martin was introduced as the first black Doctor. After the positive reaction to Jo’s surprise announcement in the episode, all the fans who supported Jodie have also fully accepted Jo as the Doctor. So overall, change is absolutely needed in a series like Doctor Who to keep it new and exciting every few years.



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