Steven Moffat Hints Once Again That The Next Doctor Could Be Female

Date: Aug 27, 2012 | Author: David Wharton | Category: Sci-Fi

As if there wasn’t already enough Doctor Who buzz on the interwebs, what with the show returning for a seventh season this Saturday, now showrunner Steven Moffat has found a way to stir up the ant’s nest even further. Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Moffat once again tossed fuel on the fire of the long-gestating rumor that when current Doctor Matt Smith finally regenerates…he might not be sporting a Y chromosome any more. That’s right, we might finally get a female Doctor.

Like this, but better.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Moffat said that, while nothing is confirmed at this point, he’s been toying with the idea for a while, and even laid the groundwork in an earlier episode. Moffat explains, “It is a part of Time Lord law that it can happen. I put the reference in the episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ to the fact that a Time Lord could potentially turn into a woman … Who knows, the more often it is talked about the more likely it is to happen some day, I suppose.”

Like we said, not exactly a smoking gun or anything. Still, the idea has been floating around for quite some time in Who fandom, and I can’t help but think it’s inevitable that we’ll get the adventures of a Time Lady eventually. If nothing else, it would provide a different chemistry between the Doctor and his/her companions.

So what say you, Who-dom? Should the Doctor eventually regenerate as a woman? And if so, who would be a good fit for the role? Maybe these Time Ladies will sell you on the idea…

Comments

http://twitter.com/TTheBlackParade will kent

i feel Doctor Who is a love story between a Boy and his Time Toy, i feel like its so solidly set that the Doctors Male that the change wouldn’t be good but in fairness, its
Stephen Moffit so i must have some faith
Clark

Ruth Wilson. A Time Lady with a Creepy Deadly Edge!!
http://twitter.com/trustn011 Micheal

Not really, it’s supposed to be a silly old man and his blue box not some chick goig through a midlife crisis #betterbeoriginal
- Mr. Obnoxious
  
  Wow, I don’t even know where to start, here…
http://www.facebook.com/nathan.hook.31 Nathan Hook

In most mythologies the trickster archetype is represented by a male figure – Loki, Pan, Satan, Cayote, the africian rabbit, etc. That is deeply engrained in our psyche.

Adventures of a Time Lady? Sure, we’ve had that already, Remember Romana? Especially Romana 2 when she would face down foes and outperform the doctor. But not a female doctor – not a trickster.
- timhog765
  
  Just because something is quite consistent in our past mythologies, does not mean it’s “engrained in our psyche”.
  
  Femme Fatale figures are ludicrously popular in fiction, and nearly always act as a trickster of a kind, deceiving men to gain what they want.
Dan

No. For Christ’s sake no.
James McGowan

I can see why people would bitch about the idea but I still like it, I could see ‘The Doctors Daughter’ popping back in and calling a female Doctor ‘Dad’ for giggles. Besides didn’t Dame Judy Dench say she’d love the role? She would be an amazing Female Doctor.
- http://twitter.com/Calpurnius William T. Tripp
  
  I think Dame Judi Dench is retiring from acting due to an eye condition.
- Mr. Obnoxious
  
  It was Helen Mirren.
http://www.facebook.com/kane.lusk Kane Lusk

I guess I’d be wiilling to give it a try if they do this, but I know a lot of people who absolutely despise the idea. And I do have to admit, it could seem like they were doing something different just to do something different. It could work, but only if done really well.
http://www.facebook.com/beth.m.macfarlane Beth Mel MacFarlane

No – enough with political correctness. The only way it would work is if a mature English actress would do it – but I don’t want to see some 20 something chickipoo from the USA bouncing around in a tight top. Torchwood has been ruined – please oh please don’t ruin Doctor Who.
http://www.facebook.com/dustymedic Bob Hess

Alex Kingston would make a good doctor. Too bad she’s already been in the series..
- Alison
  
  See, I think Catherine Tate could have been a FANTASTIC Doctor. AND she’s ginger, haha. Loved her as Donna though.
TW

OH HELL NO! It would be a bad bad BAD idea… and to take a bit from Nathan’s comment and playing with it/expanding it… a female Doctor wouldn’t be “the trickster” she’d be “the crazy cat lady” picking up strays(companions) as she travels through time… Seriously where would the fun be in that?

Making the Doctor a woman would be the final death knell of the series.
TW

Hm… I had a thought. So here’s an analogy.

Think of the Doctor as a building… lets’ make him a nice brownstone tenement house with a small neighborhood pub in the basement level.

Now regeneration is remodeling that building. The basic structure is left intact and everything else is changed around. Some new paint, repairs to the plumbing, new light fixtures, different shutters, the pub gets new management and becomes a biker bar, etc… A total change of look and personality but that brownstone tenement house with a bar in the basement is still a brownstone tenement house with a bar in the basement. It still serves the same basic function but the feel, the personality of the place has changed.

Now regeneration as the opposite gender however:
Now this time why don’t you gut the interior and rip down the walls leaving nothing but the frame of the building. Well most of the frame of the building, why don’t you chop off the top floor. Now put up new walls of steel and glass, put a health spa in the basement complete with an indoor swimming pool, rebuild the remaining upper floors and fill them with offices, and maybe a daycare center. Now you don’t have much of anything left of the original building. You’ve taken away what it was and made it different. Oh sure it’s still a building but more than it’s personality has changed… you’ve changed it’s structure and it’s purpose. It’s not really the same building anymore.

So how does this relate to the Doctor? Simple, look at the brain. A normal regeneration is just redecorating and a bit of remodeling for the Doctor neurologically speaking. However men and women have different neurological structures. Men and women think different in part because they are biologically structured that way. If you make the Doctor a woman you have to restructure the brain, not just remodel and redecorate.

So in effect to make the Doctor a woman… realistically speaking one would have to destroy(kill) the inner core of the man we call the Doctor and replace him with someone else…
- Douglas
  
  While I agree with you, I have to point out that it would be as plausible for his brain core to change as it is for the rest of his body to change. The doctor has had different heads, different sizes of brain – this would change his brain too! Hehe.
- Alison
  
  To be fair, the Doctor is not human, so all this human sex biology doesn’t really apply.
http://twitter.com/SallyStrange Sally Strange

Yes! If only to piss of the PC-haters.
http://falynes.blogspot.com Falyne

Gender essentialism much, commenters? Seriously, if your reaction to the same personality emanating from a female form would differ THAT much, the issue’s not with the show…
ibyea

That sounds interesting. I think it could be a great idea!
Rey Fox

Oh noes! The slimey gurls are trying to get in our clubhouse again!
http://profiles.google.com/eldonmariesiemens Eldon & Marie Siemens

A female Doctor? Most definitely not! A female time lord, sure, but not the doctor. Call me anti-PC, call me sexist even, but never change the gender of the Doctor, it just wouldn’t be him anymore and I would have to stop watching (I would, however, spend that time attempting to catch up on 26 years of the original doctor who)
- Alassea Riddle
  
  I don’t think it’s sexist to think that. I completely agree with you!
- Mr. Obnoxious
  
  Ok, you’re sexist. With all the wildly different people playing the Doctor, a female one would ruin it? Yes, by all means, catch up…
  - mrelegos
    
    I don’t think that a female doctor would ruin it, though I have concerns that the writing of a female doctor might. I find it to be a concept that I have no issues with in principle, but rather fear the potential for mistakes. A lot.
jchaish

If he becomes a woman, it negates his entire relationship with river, rose, any of his loves, and it changes the entire dynamic of his relationship with the others. this would ruin it for me. and to those screaming YEA let him be a woman still in love with rose or river yadda yadda. Im all for gay rights, but dr who has stayed out of the limelight of political and social trending topics and i like it that way.
- Nippy
  
  While I am against the idea of a female doctor, I have to say that that River, Rose and any of his loves seem to be only in love with that specific regeneration. And even so, Rose and River and his other loves might not be put off by the fact that his male bits are now female bits – to fall in love with the doctor for the sake of his body and not his personality seems quite absurd in the doctor who universe.
Deadatomic

As a lifelong Whovian i thoroughly hate the entire idea of the Doctor becoming a female Doctor Who. Though it has been raised that Timelords can sometimes change gender, for this character it would be the fastest way to kill the franchise and not because of any Inpolitically correct ideals. Doctor Who is a Male timelord end of, and if Moffat (Brilliant guy and i thank him for everything he has done for this franchise) does decide to go down this road then he can go and inseminate himself.
R’lyeh Athletic

Do this and you may as well also have the Dr climb onto a motorcycle and jump a shark. Moffat’s done great work with Dr Who but this smacks of ego trumping all else. I’d much rather see the Dr as Black or Asian etc. which I think would actually be a good idea rather than this which seems too much a rather empty “gimmick.”
Mrelegos

See, personally, I can’t see them doing it, just on the grounds that it would change an awful lot of the status quo that the show relies upon. It could, potentially, work but you would need a very, very, very sensible script, a truly brilliant actress to pull it off, and more then anything, it raises some very serious questions about gender identity, whether each doctor is the same man with many faces, or many men with the same mind, and while that could be fascinating, could easily alienate large amounts of the core audience due to the shift in tone.

So that’s not to say that a female Doctor couldn’t, potentially, work, but it would be incredibly difficult to get done RIGHT, and frankly, I don’t see the BBC taking that kind of gamble with a property like Doctor Who.

On the other hand, we are desperately short decent spin-off Who, what with the tragic loss of Elisabeth Sladen and the tragic mess that was Miracle Day. So here’s what I want to see: Let’s get a planet hopping, earth removed show following the adventures of Jenny, the Doctors daughter, (assuming Georgia Moffet will come back) as she finds herself a ship, a ragtag bunch of misfits and becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to track down some ancient gallifreyan superweapon.
- Mr. Obnoxious
  
  I’d watch that…Jenny is just hanging out there like a loose end now, and I don’t think Moffat likes loose ends. Your show idea is a bit too Blake’s 7/Farscape/Firefly, though…
  - mrelegos
    
    What’s wrong with that? Theres a serious gap in the market for that sort of television right now, and it would make for an episodic series with a full continuity running through it. Also, I LIKE farscape and firefly.
Mr. Obnoxious

Come on people! River Song is a great female version of a Time Lord, the Rani was the equal to the Master, and Romana (the first–I can’t stand Lalla Ward) could’ve had a whole show of her own! And, if you feel the need for a more mature woman, Helen Mirren already volunteered. Let’s do this thing!
Rj28

God please no… Enough of this political correctness rubbish! The Doctor is male and should really remain so. I’m sorry to any out there who are wishing for a female time lord but I’m sorry but NO! If we get a Doctor who suddenly changes gender what’s next? I’m sorry but the Doctor is male and should remain that way.
http://www.facebook.com/marhsall Jack Greystone

The Doctor I have grown to love is a man. Or our version of a man. If he were to regenerate into a female, while totally plausible as time lord regenerations go, I would not like to see it on the series. # 12 should still be a man. Why did sexy pick our Doctor if she is a woman and fell for him too. She knows his whole life form birth to death. dont;t you think she would have known. or is she also into female time lords? If the Moffman really wanted to change the Dr. then why was Sexy introduced. No, the Doctor is, was and always will be a man. Maybe the next Time lord will be, “The Nurse”. Even though woman are Doctors too. I think that idea is way off. Remember that Dr. Who was originally educational. Put a little more education into the show and a lot less sex changing. I do have a brain and love to use it.
- Alison
  
  The TARDIS, or Sexy, as it was briefly named, is not human and is genderless. “She” (referred to as female because she was transplanted into a female body, but could easily have been put into a male body for that episode) did not pick the Doctor because she wanted to screw him. She picked him because, as she is quoted to have said, “I wanted to see the Universe so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.” That’s all. There’s nothing about attraction there.
  
  And the thing about the Doctor calling the TARDIS “Sexy” is like anyone calling their boat, car, or xbox, etc. “sexy”. It does not imply hordes of people wanting to have sex with machinery.
  
  Also, one more thing, saying the only acceptable way to change the current Doctor’s sex would be to call the next Time Lord “The Nurse” is equivalent to saying the current Time Lord is “The Boss” and a female version would be “The Secretary”. See it now?
MrRocking

You’re citing the Daily Mail. It’s not even a newspaper. Better quoting the National Enquirer.
jrod

SI!!
Brian Gannaway

Personally I think it would work, though I’m not in favor of it. It smacks of Dax on STDS9 a bit too much with Sisco calling her ‘old man’ Leave the Doctor male, if they want to go that direction after his last regeneration have Jenny (in maybe a new incarnation if Georgia Moffet isn´t available) take over the TARDIS, and put an addition to the name of the show ‘Doctor Who:The Daughters Files” or something like that.
heronymo

I don’t really like this idea. The only reason is that I think a male Time Lord should always regenerate into a male, and a female should always regenerate into a female. I think that just makes sense.
barbie1637

I am sick and tired of people saying the US messed up TW Beth Mel Macfarlane..TW was ruined before it ever got the US..and Americans can act as well as anyone from the UK..So why don’t you take your racism and put it someplace safe and dark..
- R’lyeh Athletic
  
  The States DOES have a tendency to ruin British properties – not always it has to be said (The Office) but often enough to be noticed. Just look at the (thankfully putative) versions they produced of the IT Crowd and Red Dwarf or the unfortunate Judge Dredd movie and that horrible version of Life on Mars. I could go on. This has nothing to do with the quality of American actors available but rather with the suits in charge.
  
  Given all this it isn’t “racist” to fear what American TV Execs will do to beloved British series (IMHO TW was going down hill by the time the Americans got involved though I don’t think ruined until then).
  
  Added to which Americans are not a “race.” It’s a nationality so the correct word then would be “bigotry” not “racism.” (I know a bit pedantic but still…)
madmanc

i swear moffet if u do this i will move back to england and fucking kill you
is it not enough to ruin the current stories with needless overly emotional crap EVERY episode…..seriously i will kill you
Yootha

No. Next they’ll be making Sherlock Holmes female. The character is what it is. Changing the Doctor to a woman will kill the show. I forsee a disaster if Steven Muppet gets his way…
Robin

Oh god yes! With the right actress this would be absolutely phenomenal!

I can’t help but be offended (though unsurprised) by all the naysayers. What, pray, is so disastrous about a uterus? Why can’t a woman do all the things the Doctor does? All this doubt and misguided anger is the result of habitual sexism in society. Because there is no reason a female Doctor would be any lesser than her predecessors. Yeah, perhaps she’d be more feminine. I sure hope so. There is nothing bad about femininity, only bigots who believe otherwise. Matt Smith’s version seems pretty genderless already (apart from that macho bow tie) – why would the same person in a female body be any different? Because of prejudice, that’s why. Eccentric and charming becomes hysterical and unnerving! Because a woman can’t be quirky and clever! (Better get her back in the kitchen.) Of course, a bubblehead with a duckface and giant tits would be an awful choice. Just like, you know, any other Jersey Shore cast member. But I trust they’d be able to pick somebody who fits the role a teensy bit better. Probably.
I also agree that political correctness does get old sometimes, and Moffat’s intentions are not always the purest or most unbiased no matter what he may think, but I hope most of you will be able to let go of your (perhaps unwitting) bigotry and watch the show without bias. Because, in the end, were you not brainwashed to think otherwise, such a casting choice should have been the natural course of action to begin with.

Finally, for those who are offended by being called sexist just for having an opinion or an overwhelming sense of doom, calm your shit. You may be a bigoted asshole, but it’s OK. Most people are. (Women too.) All you have to do is open your mind to the possibility that society tells you dirty lies about women. It’s a pretty scary world view once you get into it, but you’ll come out a better person in the end.
- R’lyeh Athletic
  
  Wow – people don’t like a character who has been long established as male being replaced by a female one and that’s all down to gynophobia is it? Well that’s not an insulting cliche of SF/F fans is it, no not at all.
  
  So none of us who dislike this idea liked Buffy, Xena the rebooted Starbuck or Wonder Woman? All of whom had fully funtional uteri (what IS the plural there?). Well nice of you to let us know. I’d better go clear out my DVDs.
  
  It couldn’t be by any chance be that we just think changing something that’s worked so well for so long JUST so Moffat can display his “progressive creds” is a bad idea and risks destroying something we all care for?
  - Robin
    
    The problem isn’t that you don’t like women, it’s that you think they are so different from men that they couldn’t possibly portray the same character. A character that always changes substantially with every regeneration. And why? Because you view women differently. “It just wouldn’t be the same” isn’t a real argument. The only reason the Doctor has been white and male for so long is because that’s what sells. If you look closely at TV, film and literature you’ll notice this is the standard. And why? Because a white man is seen as the neutral, the one everyone can relate to, male or female, and anything else is a deviation that exists only in small numbers and somehow relates only to the minorities it portrays.
    Again, I don’t always agree with Moffat’s choices or intentions, but there really isn’t any reason he shouldn’t be able to do this. His reasons don’t matter. It’s not JUST for his giant ego, it’s for the sake of development and growth. Every time the Doctor regenerates there is a risk that the new version will be a disaster. Some people will always hate it. But more people will hate a woman. Because she’s a woman. It shouldn’t even be an issue, her gender shouldn’t be the focus of attention. If there is a female Doctor, she should be judged by her performance when the time comes rather than dismissed before she’s even had a chance.
    I’m sorry you feel that changing a working pattern is undoubtedly a bad idea, rather than progress.
    - R’lyeh Athletic
      
      Are you a sociology student by any chance? Haven’t seen many selling “Socialist Worker” recently. Or is something else the “oh yah we absolutely have to show we’re socially aware of the lesser people” release these days?
      
      Taking an established character, one that has always been male in regeneration after regeneration, and changing their sex is a ridiculous idea predicated not on – “oh it’s progress”, but “we can so we should.” Where is the dramatic necessity for this? Where is the (prior to Moffat) idea that time-lords can change sex during regeneration – and no, not in books or audio plays but in the television series because most people don’t consume everything Dr Who. Including myself. As you say yourself – “it SELLS” and if stops selling – bye bye Dr Who. Something most of us would kind of like to avoid.
      
      The fact is that after 11 regenerations it’s a bit hard to swallow for anyone that “oh yeah Time Lords can change sex when they regenerate.” And no it’s not just old fans who object based on continuity (strange concept I know whatever you do don’t ask DC or Marvel what it means) because many new fans ALSO are aware of the history. I recently met an 11 yr old girl – her favourite Dr was Tom Baker (which gave me some hope for the future of the human race to be honest).
      
      For all your attempts this is not, believe it or not, a gender issue, unless you think everyone who’s saying “good lord NO!” also objected to Starbuck as a woman or Lucy Liu’s Watson. This is a problem of change for changes sake and that, as bitter experience has proved time and time again, is rarely a good thing. Most here objecting to this would no doubt also object if Dr Who suddenly regenerated as a Sontaran or a Martian. Likewise if Romana reappeared as a man. There is simply too much established continuity that shows the Dr as male human. 39 years of it! Tweaking great (if you’d bothered to look you’d have seen I was already suggesting a different ethnicity a while back) but changing gender (and for most people there are only 2 options there) is a bit more than a tweak.
      
      There’s a saying engineers used to have, it looks like you’ve never heard it, it goes :- “if it aint broke DON’T FIX IT!”
      
      You’d like to see more women on the box? Fine so would I – I’d love a good Wonder Woman movie (she’s awesome in the New 52) or a production of the Tain Bo Cuailgne showing Maebh kicking Ulster posterior. Heck how about a Zatana miniseries? More LGBT characters in genre fiction as well for that matter. But Dr Who changing sex for no better reason than it can be done? No thanks.
      
      And btw – progress isn’t just “changing a working pattern”, it’s supposed to be change FOR THE BETTER.
      - Alison
        
        Just a small piece of input. The Doctor could not regenerate as a Sontaran or other alien race, because Time Lords look human. Or, as The Doctor always says, “Humans look Time Lord”.
        
        And the phrase “if it aint broke DON’T FIX IT!” is just a lazy way of saying “I hate change”.
Joshua

Personally, I can’t say I wouldn’t watch the show with a female Doctor, but I think they should make him a ginger before they make him a her. I also love the idea of Jenny getting a series and/or finding a way to bring River back from that Library. River is certainly an interesting and complex enough character to carry her own series, and the Jenny concept has a lot of room to explore.
superhamzah85

If one wants to play around with the idea of a female Doctor character, the best thing to do would be to use the Doctor’s daughter character in a special 2-parter, and then the novelty fix would be met. If that works exceptionally well, she should have her own series. But as for Doctor Who – why mess around too much? It makes as much sense as female Daleks or Cyberwomen, just silly.
- Alison
  
  Daleks have no gender, and for “Cybermen”, well, I’ve always taken as a play on the word “human”. Because both men and women become Cybermen. It has nothing to do with sex. We’ve SEEN women turned into Cybermen.
http://www.facebook.com/Rob.Burch.333 Rob Burch

If handled properly, it wouldn’t be that big a jump. We’re used to the Doctor completely changing his face, physique and personality with every regeneration, so making him a her, even just for one Regeneration, wouldn’t be that bad.
Lunatic Wholockian

NO GOD NO!!!! Moffat himself criticized CBS’s Elementary for changing Watson’s gender! I think he’s just screwing with us, that’d be more likely.
Willow

They wouldn’t have the change the Doctor completely. Even if his brain did change to that of a female’s, then he would still be him, because chances are, we would get a spunky, tomboyish girl in a box.

Giant Freakin Robot