Thirteenth Doctor actress, Jodie Whittaker, has said she “wouldn’t hesitate” to return to Doctor Who if offered the chance, calling the job and the series “absolute joy”.

The actress enthused:

“It’s just my absolute happiness, Doctor Who. If someone said to me in 20 years, ‘I’ve written an episode and the Thirteenth comes back,’ I just wouldn’t hesitate. It’s absolute joy.”

That explains why she returned for The Reality War, Ncuti Gatwa’s last episode as the Fifteenth Doctor!

Her scene, set inside the TARDIS, was filmed in secret, so few knew we’d see the Thirteenth Doctor again just a few years after she left the Ship. Jodie went on:

“I was just delighted I still fitted in my costume. The second I got to Cardiff, I felt like I was home, even though it’s a different studio, a different TARDIS.”

Doctors do, of course, come back quite regularly these days — David Tennant has notably come back, playing another incarnation of the Time Lord for the show’s 60th anniversary specials.

And while the Thirteenth Doctor era divided fans, it’s pretty wonderful that she looks back on that time with such fondness, her overwhelming memory being of happiness. You can see why she’s now doing Big Finish audios with Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan).

It’s a wonder that she left the job at all, really, considering she speaks of it in glowing terms. Then again, maybe she felt it was the end of an era, with Chris Chibnall stepping back from showrunning duties.