Turning a potential weakness into an asset, Jodie Whittaker was told by new showrunner Chris Chibnall not to watch any Doctor Who before auditioning for the role of the Doctor.
The Thirteenth Doctor told Chibnall that she was worried that she didn’t know the show before she began the audition process, but the showrunner told her to use that lack of knowledge to her advantage.
Speaking to Marie Claire magazine, Jodie Whittaker said:
“Doctor Who wasn’t something that was on TV in my house when I was growing up, so I thought I’d have to cane it before the first audition and watch every single episode.
“Thankfully, Chris [Chibnall] said, “I don’t want you to. I want you to come in with fresh eyes and bring what you would do in this environment.”
Speaking about being cast as the first female Doctor, she added:
“I knew that there would be a huge amount of people it would be a shock for. But this job celebrates change more than any other role – you have a physical regeneration, so casting [a woman] supports that story and doesn’t go against the rules of the show in any way.
“I’m playing a Time Lord who’s essentially an alien and inhabits different bodies and this one is female. The best thing for me though is that, for the first time in my life, I am not playing a stereotypical woman because as much as I approach everything as an actor, I am continually labelled by the female version of that character.
“I recently had someone ask me, ‘Are you playing it [the Doctor] as a girl or a boy?’ I replied, ‘I’m just playing it.’ This is the most freeing role because there are no rules.”
Doctor Who returns Sunday 7th October on BBC One.
