Jodie Whittaker is well known as the first woman to play the Doctor in the long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who, making her debut in 2017. But what many don’t realize is that she almost wasn’t the first female to take on the role.
In fact, the idea of a female Doctor was floated more than 30 years before Whittaker’s casting, with several well-known women considered for the part back in the 1980s.
When Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor, it marked a historic moment for the show, which had been running for over 50 years without a female lead. She stepped in after Peter Capaldi’s departure, with Steven Moffat also leaving as showrunner. Whittaker’s casting broke new ground by being the first on-screen female incarnation of the Doctor, but interestingly, this change had almost happened decades earlier.
Back in 1986, the show was struggling. Colin Baker’s...
In fact, the idea of a female Doctor was floated more than 30 years before Whittaker’s casting, with several well-known women considered for the part back in the 1980s.
When Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor, it marked a historic moment for the show, which had been running for over 50 years without a female lead. She stepped in after Peter Capaldi’s departure, with Steven Moffat also leaving as showrunner. Whittaker’s casting broke new ground by being the first on-screen female incarnation of the Doctor, but interestingly, this change had almost happened decades earlier.
Back in 1986, the show was struggling. Colin Baker’s...
- 7/14/2025
- by Hrvoje Milakovic
- Fiction Horizon
Jodie Whittaker made history in 2017 when she became the first woman to play the Doctor in the long-running British TV show Doctor Who. However, many people don’t know that she almost wasn’t the first female Doctor.
In fact, several women were considered for the role more than 30 years before Whittaker took the part.
The show first introduced the Doctor as a male character and kept it that way for decades. It wasn’t until Whittaker’s casting that fans saw the Time Lord as a woman on screen for the very first time. Even though recent storylines, like the reveal of the Timeless Child, hinted that the Doctor might have been female before, Whittaker’s role was the first real on-screen example. But before 2017, the idea of a female Doctor had already come up several times.
Back in the mid-1980s, after Colin Baker’s troubled run as the Sixth Doctor,...
In fact, several women were considered for the role more than 30 years before Whittaker took the part.
The show first introduced the Doctor as a male character and kept it that way for decades. It wasn’t until Whittaker’s casting that fans saw the Time Lord as a woman on screen for the very first time. Even though recent storylines, like the reveal of the Timeless Child, hinted that the Doctor might have been female before, Whittaker’s role was the first real on-screen example. But before 2017, the idea of a female Doctor had already come up several times.
Back in the mid-1980s, after Colin Baker’s troubled run as the Sixth Doctor,...
- 7/14/2025
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Comic Basics
Comedian and ventriloquist Nina Conti makes her directorial debut with Sunlight, it will premiere in Edinburgh in August.
Nina Conti comes from a showbiz family, her father being noted actor Tom Conti. Nina trained with theatre director Ken Campbell, which is explored in the documentary Her Master’s Voice. Conti is best known for her ventriloquism, performing with a variety of characters, the best known of which is the sardonic Monkey.
Conti has now made her feature directorial debut with Sunlight.
The plot “follows two people on the edge of life who find purpose and romance through an unlikely connection, escaping the darkness in search of some sunlight. Disappearing into a monkey costume and creating a new persona, Jane strives to break free from a toxic relationship when she encounters a suicidal radio show host, Roy, who presents a path to freedom. After hitting the open road in Roy’s Airstream,...
Nina Conti comes from a showbiz family, her father being noted actor Tom Conti. Nina trained with theatre director Ken Campbell, which is explored in the documentary Her Master’s Voice. Conti is best known for her ventriloquism, performing with a variety of characters, the best known of which is the sardonic Monkey.
Conti has now made her feature directorial debut with Sunlight.
The plot “follows two people on the edge of life who find purpose and romance through an unlikely connection, escaping the darkness in search of some sunlight. Disappearing into a monkey costume and creating a new persona, Jane strives to break free from a toxic relationship when she encounters a suicidal radio show host, Roy, who presents a path to freedom. After hitting the open road in Roy’s Airstream,...
- 7/12/2024
- by Jake Godfrey
- Film Stories
Actor Ken Hudson Campbell, known for his iconic role of Santa in the classic holiday movie Home Alone, was recently diagnosed with cancer and launched a GoFundMe to pay for the surgery.
Campbell, 61, who was diagnosed on October 27, is preparing for a lengthy surgery and recovery.
Last week, Campbell posted to Instagram to share his diagnosis and GoFundMe page, and told his followers, “Never thought I’d be posting this.”
On GoFundMe, Campbell’s daughter Michaela wrote, “We need the world’s help to save Ken,” and revealed, “A tumor had elusively grown on the bottom of his mouth and it began encroaching on his teeth.”
She explained, “On December 7th, he is scheduled for a 10-hour surgery, during which a large part of his jawbone will be removed, along with his lymph nodes, and part of his leg bone. Surgeons plan to reconstruct a new jaw for Ken from this leg bone,...
Campbell, 61, who was diagnosed on October 27, is preparing for a lengthy surgery and recovery.
Last week, Campbell posted to Instagram to share his diagnosis and GoFundMe page, and told his followers, “Never thought I’d be posting this.”
On GoFundMe, Campbell’s daughter Michaela wrote, “We need the world’s help to save Ken,” and revealed, “A tumor had elusively grown on the bottom of his mouth and it began encroaching on his teeth.”
She explained, “On December 7th, he is scheduled for a 10-hour surgery, during which a large part of his jawbone will be removed, along with his lymph nodes, and part of his leg bone. Surgeons plan to reconstruct a new jaw for Ken from this leg bone,...
- 12/10/2023
- by Baila Eve Zisman
- Uinterview
Feature Alex Westthorp 16 Apr 2014 - 07:00
Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...
Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.
In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.
The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...
Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...
Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.
In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.
The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...
- 4/15/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Comedian and actor best known for the satirical television show Bremner, Bird and Fortune
John Fortune, who has died aged 74 after a long illness, was a distinguished member of the Oxbridge generation of brainy comedians who turned British entertainment inside out in the early 1960s, along with his friend, college contemporary and writing partner, John Bird, as well as Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and John Wells.
From his earliest days on Ned Sherrin's Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, the successor in 1964-65 to the satirical television magazine That Was the Week That Was, through to the comedy shows with Rory Bremner in the 1990s and beyond, he was a fixture of barely surprised indifference, with a wonderful line in deflationary, logical understatement. Tall and gangly, with a warm and ready smile but a performance default mode of aghast,...
John Fortune, who has died aged 74 after a long illness, was a distinguished member of the Oxbridge generation of brainy comedians who turned British entertainment inside out in the early 1960s, along with his friend, college contemporary and writing partner, John Bird, as well as Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and John Wells.
From his earliest days on Ned Sherrin's Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, the successor in 1964-65 to the satirical television magazine That Was the Week That Was, through to the comedy shows with Rory Bremner in the 1990s and beyond, he was a fixture of barely surprised indifference, with a wonderful line in deflationary, logical understatement. Tall and gangly, with a warm and ready smile but a performance default mode of aghast,...
- 1/2/2014
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Rachel Weisz's Insane Advice
Rachel Weisz credits a drama teacher for her acting abilities - even though he was "absolutely bananas". The 30-year old beauty admits she learned most of what she knows from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts-trained maverick Ken Campbell, when she spent a summer in London with him at the age of 18. Of her one time mentor she says, "He was absolutely bananas, but also a visionary. He's always saying the most ridiculous things about aliens or time. And when you say, 'Do you really believe that?' he replies, 'No, but I can suppose.'"...
- 8/8/2001
- WENN
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