I have no intention of commenting on the various misogynistic assholes screaming about the fact that an extraterrestrial alien who has the ability to change themselves entirely in a process called “Regeneration” and is over 2000 years old, as the main character in a science-fantasy television show, is now being played by a woman. Except perhaps a sort of perplexed lack of understanding of the women who aren’t happy about it. (In fact, over on Gallifrey Base, it seems more men are excited about the change than women are… why would that be?)

I do have a bit to say though.

To start, I will admit that I am seriously sad that Peter Capaldi is leaving. He is my Doctor, and I had really wanted him to be the Tom Baker of the new era (that is, stay on for at least five seasons, if not more). I will grant that many of Capaldi’s stories were… not great. But even in the worst stories of his run, he was beyond phenomenal. His acting, his poise… everything about him was exactly what I’ve always seen as the Doctor. So yeah, I will be ugly crying during the Christmas special, because… well… I don’t want him to go.

That said…

First, I don’t really know Jodie Whittaker. I never watched Broadchurch, and I haven’t seen Attack the Block, nor have I seen anything else with her. So, I genuinely cannot say anything about her as an actor. And, to be entirely honest, I’m quite happy with that. I was also equally ignorant about Peter Capaldi, and I consider him to be my Doctor. So I’m very excited to see what Jodie does with the role through fresh eyes.

Second, if I have any reservations, they’re all on how she’ll be written. I also don’t know anything about Chris Chibnall (except that he wrote some episodes of Doctor Who that I apparently forgot about… I’ll need to watch them again; oh, and he also was the showrunner for Broadchurch which, again, I’ve never seen), so I don’t feel comfortable enough predicting what kind of showrunner he’ll be for Doctor Who.

What I want is for them to continue writing The Doctor. In “World Enough and Time”, the Doctor said the following about Time Lords to Bill:

“We’re the most civilized civilization in the universe. We’re billions of years beyond your petty human obsession with gender and its associated stereotypes.”

(To which Bill hilariously responded “but you still call yourselves Time Lords“.)

I really want them to keep it in that vain. But I worry that they’ll end up writing in sexist stories and bits like has often happened, but this time with the Doctor as the target. And that won’t be good.

Third… well… this isn’t a recent idea. In fact, back in the 80’s, when Doctor Who (with the Doctor then being played by Colin Baker) was on the verge of being cancelled, the BBC called back Sydney Newman, the original creator (along with Verity Lambert), to get his advice.

What was it?

Cast a woman in the role:

Sydney Newman, who devised the long-running science-fiction show when he was head of BBC drama in the 1960s, was asked to help after the show suffered a slump in ratings in the 1980s and was taken off air temporarily.

He told Michael Grade, then the controller of BBC One, that the ailing series could only be saved by regenerating the Time Lord into a Time Lady.

Mr Newman criticised the direction the show had taken, but insisted that it could be revived by turning the lead character into a heroine.

…

In a written pitch dated Oct 6, 1986, the Canadian-born television executive delivered a scathing verdict on the show’s populist, dumbed-down drift and called on Mr Grade to “engage the concerns, fears and curiosity” of young viewers.

He implored: “Don’t you agree that this is considerably more worthy of the BBC than Doctor Who’s presently largely socially valueless, escapist schlock!”

Mr Newman urged the controller to temporarily reintroduce Patrick Troughton, a former Time Lord, to steady the TARDIS and pave the way for the most radical change in the show’s 23-year history.

He wrote: “At a later stage Doctor Who should be metamorphosed into a woman.