Seventh Doctor actor, Sylvester McCoy has revealed that he was initially nervous about the Doctor’s gender change when Jodie Whittaker was announced as the thirteenth incarnation of the Time Lord – but that he was soon won round to the idea.

At the London Comic Con Spring, held earlier this month, he said:

“I thought, ‘Hmm I wonder if that will work’, but then I started to get used to it and then when Jodie arrived I sent a message to her saying, ‘One small step for woman, and one giant step for womankind’. Because that’s what it was. When I watched, I was still slightly apprehensive and I thought, ‘Oh, I hope I like this’. And I did.”

It’s nice to hear McCoy step up and admit that he was uncertain at first: after all, Peter Davison was driven off Twitter after he said he was apprehensive about the notion of the Doctor being played by a woman for the first time. Fortunately, fandom hasn’t turned against Sylvester for this, and neither should it (but you never know these days).

McCoy continued:

“There aren’t any rules and what a brilliant idea for whoever came up with it.”

Jodie Whittaker returns as the Doctor in Series 12, due to air in early 2020.