The Yorkshire accent has been characterised as wise, trustworthy, honest and straightforward – qualities that the Doctor almost certainly possesses – so perhaps it’s no surprise that when it came time for Jodie Whittaker, an actress who is proficient in a whole range of accents, chose to keep her native voice.
Of course, when she made her debut this Christmas in Twice Upon a Time, the question was definitively answer but, as it wasn’t a given that she would speak with her own accent, so how was the decision made?
Well, as it turns out, it kind of wasn’t…
Speaking to DWM (via Radio Times), Whittaker said:
“All the Doctors’ voices have been different. There have been various dialects, and I knew coming into it that there wasn’t a rule that you had to speak a certain way. I auditioned in my accent, and at no point did anyone say to do anything different. In fact they said, ‘Use your own voice.’”

While she said she would have been happy to have adopted another accent, like David Tennant did for the Tenth Doctor and she herself did in Broadchurch, the production team seemed happy with what she was doing and the accent stayed.
“Obviously anyone who’s seen me knows that this isn’t the only voice I’m comfortable doing.
“If it hadn’t worked during the scenes in the audition process I’m sure they would have picked up on that immediately. So in a strange way I don’t know how much of an actual decision it was…I think it happened before I was even cast.”
So, it turns out that lots of planets have a north again…
The issue also included this alternative angle of the Thirteenth Doctors costume, which gives us a better look at her earring and the apparently blue coat too – who knew?

Looking to the future…#DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/ftcNmOYeK8

— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) 11 January 2018

DWM #521 is available to buy now.