The Doctor Who Companion

Get your daily fix of news, reviews, and features with the Doctor Who Companion!

Whoopi Goldberg Wanted to be the First Female Doctor Who

David Tennant’s new podcast, simply titled David Tennant Does a Podcast With… has certainly been very interesting for the revelations it has heralded.

Not only have we learnt more about how fame has affected the lives of Olivia Colman and Thirteenth Doctor, but the second episode saw Tennant talking to one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars, Whoopi Goldberg. And in this interview, Goldberg revealed that she wanted to be the first female Doctor.

She said that she had spoken to the BBC as to whether she could possibly play the part but was turned down:

“I wanted to be the first female Doctor Who. The American version of Doctor Who ends up in New York and it’s me.”


And Goldberg is no stranger to sci-fi either, having featured alongside Patrick Stewart in six seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and two feature films based on the series, the most notable being Generations which saw Picard teaming up with Captain Kirk to stop a madman from opening up a rift that would endanger the whole universe. Goldberg’s Guinan was an important character not only in Generations but also several notable and fan-favourite episodes of TNG, including the introduction of the Borg, one of the most prolific baddies in the Star Trek canon.

Goldberg went on to explain that the reasons she wanted to play the Doctor:

“We don’t have a Doctor Who – we don’t have that character who is travelling through dimension and time, being an observer – sometimes a hindrance, sometimes a help. The idea of that just made me happy.”

Alas it was to never happen as the BBC turned her down and we will never see how Goldberg’s might-have-been era of the show would have panned out.

But Goldberg’s hope of there being a female Doctor has certainly come to fruition with Jodie Whittaker now in the title role.

Tennant’s podcast comes out weekly and so far has featured the famous faces of Oliva Colman, Whoopi Goldberg, Jodie Whittaker, and Ian McKellen. Future stars include the likes of Jon Hamm, Gordon Brown, and Michael Sheen, amongst others.

Jordan Shortman

Whoopi Goldberg Wanted to be the First Female Doctor Who

by Jordan Shortman time to read: 1 min
0
%d bloggers like this: