Peter Capaldi backs a woman as his replacement!
It seems we can count Peter Capaldi in the camp of those who want a woman to replace him on Doctor Who.
The clock is sadly ticking on the Twelfth Doctor era, following the announcement that Capaldi will leave along with long-running Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat at the end of this year.
Talk almost instantly turned to who will replace him as the pilot of the TARDIS, with many calling for the sci-fi institution to finally give us a female Doctor.
Capaldi’s now weighed in on his replacement too, telling The Mirror: “The time felt right to bow out, to let somebody else play this wonderful role and I would like Frances de la Tour to be the first female doctor.”
The 72-year-old Frances de la Tour is a veteran of stage and screen, who famously played the spinster Ruth Jones in Rising Damp. She’s more recently starred in the Harry Potter movies, Vicious and Outlander.
Another major Doctor Who star campaigning for a female Time Lord is Billie Piper. The revival’s first companion has said it will “feel like a snub” if the 13th Doctor isn’t played by a woman.
“I’ve always supported the original format but I don’t know where they can go from here,” she argued. “I think it would be great [to have a female Doctor] given the spirit of the world at the moment. I think it would be timely.”
The concept of gender-fluid Time Lords is certainly not out of the question for Doctor Who, with the show most recently switching The Master to Missy when Michelle Gomez landed the role as The Doctor’s nemesis.
While all of this fancasting is very exciting, we still have a full series with the Twelfth Doctor and his new companion Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) to enjoy before we say goodbye to Capaldi.
These new episodes will include both the return of classic series writer Rona Munro and the hulking alien race known as the Ice Warriors.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US on Saturday, April 15.