SHHH! Can you keep a secret? No? Neither can I! However, new Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, can… and she kept the news of her casting a secret from everyone. Even her dad!
The Mirror carried an article recently in which Whittaker revealed that she only told her husband and her mum – she couldn’t trust her dad not to “accidentally blab to his pals”. He was furious when he found out, apparently! I’m sure he soon got over it
The article goes on, as they so often do, to give a brief career resumé and also notes that being on Broadchurch gave her good training in keeping secrets. A useful skill, indeed!
When Chibbers got the job of Whorunner (Doctor Who Show Runner – I’ve just made up a new compound word, I think) she spoke with him on the phone…
“I’m friends with him. I was like ‘Are you excited about your new job? Are you nervous?’ At that point it was announced he was the show runner for Doctor Who.
“And then it was a conversation of ‘This is a direction I want it to go in – as in female. Would you consider auditioning?’ ”
She goes on to explain that she had to fight for the role and it certainly wasn’t handed to her on a platter. She fought hard and auditioned like everyone else, but later found out she was Chibbers’ first choice, anyway. She just had to show him that there was more to her acting skills than Beth Latimer – her character from Broadchurch.
After quoting Davison’s comment about boys losing a role model (I wish they’d quoted him in full…) and Tennant’s quote about the show “lucking out” to have cast her, the article finishes on a plus point saying that Whittaker shuns social media and keeps her family out of the spotlight. Good! That’ll help her to stay grounded and concentrate on the job at hand… being the most kick-ass Doctor yet!