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Page 8 Street Roots • Sept. 21-27, 2018 Culture Jodie Whittaker knows ‘Doctor Who’ fans have high expectations, but she never hesitated to become the first woman to play the legendary lead BY CHRISTIAN LISSEMAN WHO'S NEXT will give you everything you need to know and hopefully be exciting enough for you to tune in again and again and again.” Born in the village of Skelmanthorpe, England, the here aren’t many roles on British television that 36-year-old actress has retained her broad Yorkshire accent. garner the kind of media attention that Jodie Her biggest role on television to date was playing distraught Whittaker received last year, when it was announced mother Beth Latimer in ITV’s “Broadchurch” crime drama. that she would replace Peter Capaldi to play the time That was written by Chris Chibnall, who is now the head traveling alien called the Doctor in BBC’s long-running writer and executive producer of “Doctor Who.” Chibnall science fiction show “Doctor Who.” replaces Steven Moffat, who has been the showrunner for It’s been more than a year since that .. v j - ■ the past eight years. announcement, and Whittaker has been on a “I’m an incredibly ambitious person,” nine-month shoot that has taken her from WATCH I Whittaker said. “I have always wanted to take Sheffield to South Africa, and no doubt to all on roles that are challenging and that went What: “Doctor Who” corners of time and space, shooting the 10-part against the grain and which excited me. It’s the series. The show begins Sunday, Oct 7, on When: Sunday nights right place, right time, moment for me, in the BBC America, relocating from its traditional beginning Oct. 7 sense that Chris Chibnall knew me and felt my Saturday night slot. (time TBA) energy was right to audition. If this had come Whittaker is looking forward to the unveiling to me younger, I might not have been at the of the show. Where: BBC America right place in my mind to take it on, whereas “After putting all this hard work into now, I feel like it’s perfect Episode to episode, something,” she said, speaking from London in it’s like nothing I’ve ever done before, and it the middle of a busy day promoting the series, “it feels really feels like a huge roller-coaster ride to be a part of.” exciting to be able to now share it with fans and hopefully One reason “Doctor Who” endures is undoubtedly its gain some new fans.” ability to change the lead actor when required, a tradition Ah, yes. The fans. Now approaching its 55th birthday, that began when the first person to play the Doctor (William “Doctor Who” has amassed a number of hard-core fans over Hartnell) retired from the show in 1966. Whittaker will be the years, many of whom are old enough to remember the the 13th Doctor, and the first woman to take on the role. show before it was canceled in 1989 and brought back with There was a media storm at the time in certain sections of much fanfare in 2005. “Whovians,” as they are known, are an the press, declaring fans’ outrage at the change, but despite opinionated bunch. But despite the weight of their the headlines, many fens were pleased at the expectations, Whittaker said she never hesitated when casting. That’s hot to say there wasn’t any offered the role. negative reaction to the news. The “There wasn’t a second when I didn’t want to do it,” she Amazon pre-order page for the DVD said, “but it is a huge responsibility. The hard work of gaining of the new series reveals a a fan base has already been done, but now it’s the hard work number of one-star reviews of maintaining i t ” from fans who have And Whittaker hopes she’ll attract some new fans, too. written Whittaker off “I think sometimes the mystique of “Doctor Who” is that despite not having seen you need to have this previous knowledge about everything her in action. that has gone before to watch it, but that’s not the case. I’m a “It doesn’t affect me new Whovian and I’ve been welcomed and included. If episode turning up and working one or episode four (of the new series) is the first one you really hard,” Whittaker have ever seen, it’s a starting-off point because the episodes said. “As long as I do the C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R T work and honor what has gone before and take it in a new direction, then I’m doing my job.” And after all, she said, “I’m playing an alien! To suggest that I’m not qualified to do that (because of my gender) is hilarious. I mean, find me an actor who is qualified to play an alien out there. I challenge you!” As well as having a female lead, this year’s series will feature more female writers than the series has ever known. Three women, including author Malorie Blackman, will join the series, meaning half the writer’s room will be female. Whittaker credits Chibnall for this. “(He) created a writer’s room that reflected what he sees when he looks out of his window,” she said. “You can only tell current, exciting stories that are from different points of view, if you create a room that has those different points of view in i t ” She recognizes that there is still inequality behind the camera, as well as in front of it, however. “It’s obvious in the industry there is a huge difference between the percentage of male writers and directors, and female ones - and it’s certainly not due to lack of talent,” she said. “There are extraordinary female writers and directors out there, and that should be reflected in every writer’s room.” When Whittaker made her debut as the Doctor, in the closing m in u tes of la st y e a r’s C h ristin as episode; “Twice Upon a Time,” another thing that stood out was the Doctor’s dialect. Her first line as the new Doctor, “Oh, brilliant!” was spoken in her native northern accent Whittaker, who has played many roles not using her own accent, most notably in “Broadchurch,” says the use of her own accent doesn’t mean the Doctor is suddenly from Yorkshire, however. “Chris (Chibnall) just said use your own voice when I started to audition. It didn’t feel wrong in any way. And I think if I used a different accent (for the role), then you’ye got to discover why, why is that the choice? When it’s just using your own voice, it’s not a ’ statement of any kind, you know, why not?” Plus, she said, what with playing a verbose alien who has a penchant for talking about time travel, she has plenty to do in the role already, without having to speak in DOCTOR WHO’ THROUGH TIME First broadcast Nov. 23,1963, “Doctor Who” was intended to be a family show with an educational emphasis on scientific ideas, and famous people and civilizations from history, such as Marco Polo and the Aztecs. It was no coincidence that two of the first companions to join the Doctor, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, were teachers. However, the pepper pot-shaped Daleks, the first real monsters to appear on the show, became the real stars and ensured the program’s survival after the first series. The first Doctor is a pretty unlikeable character. He’s patronizing and hoped this would lead to a new series, but it never materialized. However, McGann did get to revive his Doctor in a number of Big Finish audio plays and in a couple of mini cantankerous, and he effectively kidnaps teachers lan and Barbara, whisking them away against their will to the Stone Age and immediately putting them in mortal danger. His character mellows over the course of the series, however, and he soon becomes the kindly heroic figure that we know and love today. The longest-serving Doctor is Tom Baker, who played the fourth incarnation of the character from 1974 until 1981. He's still regarded as one of the best Doctors and made a cameo appearance in the 50th anniversary episode of the show. The award for shortest-lived Doctor goes to Street Roots • Sept. 21-27, 2018 episodes shown as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations. After an unbroken run of 26 years, Doctor Who was effectively canceled in 1989 due to dwindling viewing figures. Michael Grade, BBC director general at the time, defended his decision, calling the show “ghastly” and “pathetic.’ The show lived on in numerous books, comics and audio Paul McGann. He played the Doctor in the 1996 television film, a co-production between BBC and American studios. It was plays, however, while avid “Doctor Who” fan Russell T Davies - whose previous credits included “Queer as Folk, which features a central character who is himself a different accent “As acting jobs go, it’s not the hardest job to do in every case; it’s just the amount of lines you have to learn because the Doctor speaks more than anyone, and in a way that I have never had to do in any other show, arid that’s challenging,” she said. Everything is changing in the series this year. New Doctor; new showrunner; there’s even a new composer taking over from Murray Gold, who was the musical director since the series was first reborn. And there are new people joining the Doctor aboard her Tardis. Three, in fact Actor, comedian and quiz show host Bradley Walsh will join relative newcomers Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole, who both have had stints in teen-soap “Hollyoaks” (although - fan fact - Cole also landed a small part in “Star Wars: Force Awakens”). Whittaker clearly loves having them on board. “I have made three of the best friends I could ever have dreamed of,” she said. “I am so excited for the world to meet their characters. It’s a wonderful dynamic.” As the weeks count down toward the new series, Whittaker is as excited as any Whovian to see the show. She hasn’t seen any of the episodes herself in their finished form, once the CGI and other special effects have been added, for example, but she’s already “really proud” of the show. “I feel like for Whovians that this is the show that they love, but it’s also not regurgitating the stuff that’s gone before, because why keep making it if you’re not going to use what’s happening day- to-day around you? It’s got to be current. “It’s a show for any age,” she said. “It’s scary, it’s funny, it’s epic, it’s emotional, and it’s all the things that I want from something. And all the things that I know that my niece, who is 14, would want from something.” Doctor Who remains for many a slice of event television, much discussed, much dissected and certainly eagerly awaited. Whittaker laughed. “No pressure then!” Culture Page 9 1 > "It's obvious in the industry there is a huge difference between the percentage of male writers and directors, and female ones — and it's certainly not due to lack of talent. There are extraordi nary female writers and directors out there, and that should be reflected in every writer's room." JODIE WHITTAKER Jodie Whittaker is the 13th person to play the Doctor on “Doctor Who” - and the first Courtesy o f B ig Issue North / INSP.ngo a Whovian - spent years campaigning to get the show back on TV. He was rewarded for his efforts in 2005 when he was made executive producer and head writer of the newly revived series. Steven Moffat won a BAFTA for the episode Blink in 2007. The story barely features the Doctor and instead focuses on a woman called Sally Sparrow (played by Carey Mulligan), who investigates the disappearance of a friend in a creepy abandoned house. The show introduces new monsters, the Weeping Angels, stone statue-like creatures that can move only when you’re not looking at them, and it’s widely regarded as one of the best episodes of the series. Far left: The Doctor’s space and time-traveling machine is called the TARDIS, an acronym fo r Time and Relative Dimension in Space. The fact that it looks like a police telephone box is because the ship is supposed to disguise itself and blend in with its surroundings, but its “chameleon circuit"got stuck and it’s never been able to change since. It's also because the tight budgets o f the B B C in 1963 m eant the producers wanted something cheap to use fo r the Doctor's ship.
