Jodie wrote a fantastic essay. Also watch the video here where she surprises fans.
https://au.ign.com/articles/2018/09/...o-me-ign-first
https://au.ign.com/articles/2018/09/...o-me-ign-first
It means everything.
Doctor Who celebrates change, it celebrates inclusivity, inclusiveness, and all versions of that. It celebrates the past, the future, humanity, and species that you can’t even get your head around even existing. And I think as an actor, as a human, I am excited by all the possibilities of what playing the Doctor opens your eyes to.
This show is for everyone. It’s an action-adventure, it’s emotional, it’s funny, it’s epic, it’s scary. It’s something that you, as a family, can sit and watch together, and it doesn’t exclude anyone -- and I think that is a pretty unique show in that sense. The Doctor I play is a hopeful Doctor that is ready to embrace every new experience with a glass full of light, and I couldn’t be more excited to play the role. We’re so lucky; we’re part of a show that’s fan-based. It’s been very well-earned by our predecessors, and the fanbase stretches all corners of the world, which I think is extraordinary, and really apparent when you go to Comic-Con, and you see how far people have traveled, and you hear everyone’s stories.
I think the fans are what make the show, but what’s exciting for us as well is to potentially make new Whovians from this series, and to see, potentially, people being at Comic-Con next year that have never been before, and go because of their love of this. [Comic-Con], it’s an extraordinary event that you can’t quite describe to people. For meeting the fans, surprising the fans, to doing the [Her] Universe surprise -- all those were wonderful, as well as obviously being on-stage with the other guys for the panel. And what an honor to see people in your costume, who’ve not even seen you play the role yet for more than twenty seconds, and they have embraced that change so wonderfully.
We met a young girl, she was 16. I won’t give any details about her, just because, obviously for her privacy. But she was not very well, and had been a real survivor of a not very nice illness. She’d come all the way from, I think, the Midwest, and had flown with her family. We were lucky enough to sit for 45 minutes with her and have a catch-up with someone who’s a huge fan of the show, but then also was just a really fascinating person to be in the company of, for me.
In a weird way, I think I got more out of it than her. I just was kind of monologuing and asking her questions. She was absolutely fascinating, and knew so much about the show, asked really fascinating questions, and was just a really inspiring young woman. And I think, it was just great to see this wonderful, 55-year history of a show is relevant to a 16-year-old girl in America, and that it touches her in a way that she’s become a true Whovian.
That’s the power of this show, and this is what we want to carry forward, and to honor everything that’s gone. But also to also take it, and to hopefully reach a new, wider audience -- if it’s possible to reach a wider audience for Doctor Who.
The Doctor regenerates. The Doctor changes. With that comes a celebration of change, but [for] some people, there’s also a fear of the change. I think what my casting does is just embrace the fact that the Doctor can and will reappear in any form, and that that is absolutely a part of the fabric of the show.
I look up to men and women all my life. Young boys have many women in their lives that they look up to as well as men. My heroes don’t all look the same, and therefore, the heroes on television shouldn’t all look the same. The show wouldn’t be the success that it is without embracing progression and change. And I think that that’s what this is fundamentally about -- why it has a fan base from all over the world, from all different cultures, and why it speaks to people from everywhere. I know from every single time there’s a new Doctor, there’s always going to be people that are maybe disappointed that their previous Doctor is not returning, but that’s why this show is so exciting, is because you can never predict what’s going to happen, so therefore it’s never boring.
I’m a new Whovian, so this season is essentially targeted at someone like me, who’s seen bits of it, but was not brought up with it. I found it incredibly engaging, and inclusive, and representative of the world I live in today, in what is happening in the world today, and using that and taking the story forward.
My main experience of the Doctor was being friends, really good friends with David Tennant. Previous to me auditioning or ever having a conversation about the job, if anyone said "Doctor Who" or the "Doctor," my brain immediately goes to David Tennant. It’s fascinating to now have my own identity with it, and [have] it not take away from anyone else’s. But it does so quickly become your own identity, and the rhythm, and everything to do with [showrunner] Chris [Chibnall]’s writing, which is energetic and hopeful and full of electricity and full of light and all the things that are just so wonderful to play, and require a hell of a lot of caffeine. So now, it’s odd, because when someone says Doctor Who or the Doctor now, I think I’d probably think of myself!
Doctor Who celebrates change, it celebrates inclusivity, inclusiveness, and all versions of that. It celebrates the past, the future, humanity, and species that you can’t even get your head around even existing. And I think as an actor, as a human, I am excited by all the possibilities of what playing the Doctor opens your eyes to.
This show is for everyone. It’s an action-adventure, it’s emotional, it’s funny, it’s epic, it’s scary. It’s something that you, as a family, can sit and watch together, and it doesn’t exclude anyone -- and I think that is a pretty unique show in that sense. The Doctor I play is a hopeful Doctor that is ready to embrace every new experience with a glass full of light, and I couldn’t be more excited to play the role. We’re so lucky; we’re part of a show that’s fan-based. It’s been very well-earned by our predecessors, and the fanbase stretches all corners of the world, which I think is extraordinary, and really apparent when you go to Comic-Con, and you see how far people have traveled, and you hear everyone’s stories.
I think the fans are what make the show, but what’s exciting for us as well is to potentially make new Whovians from this series, and to see, potentially, people being at Comic-Con next year that have never been before, and go because of their love of this. [Comic-Con], it’s an extraordinary event that you can’t quite describe to people. For meeting the fans, surprising the fans, to doing the [Her] Universe surprise -- all those were wonderful, as well as obviously being on-stage with the other guys for the panel. And what an honor to see people in your costume, who’ve not even seen you play the role yet for more than twenty seconds, and they have embraced that change so wonderfully.
We met a young girl, she was 16. I won’t give any details about her, just because, obviously for her privacy. But she was not very well, and had been a real survivor of a not very nice illness. She’d come all the way from, I think, the Midwest, and had flown with her family. We were lucky enough to sit for 45 minutes with her and have a catch-up with someone who’s a huge fan of the show, but then also was just a really fascinating person to be in the company of, for me.
In a weird way, I think I got more out of it than her. I just was kind of monologuing and asking her questions. She was absolutely fascinating, and knew so much about the show, asked really fascinating questions, and was just a really inspiring young woman. And I think, it was just great to see this wonderful, 55-year history of a show is relevant to a 16-year-old girl in America, and that it touches her in a way that she’s become a true Whovian.
That’s the power of this show, and this is what we want to carry forward, and to honor everything that’s gone. But also to also take it, and to hopefully reach a new, wider audience -- if it’s possible to reach a wider audience for Doctor Who.
The Doctor regenerates. The Doctor changes. With that comes a celebration of change, but [for] some people, there’s also a fear of the change. I think what my casting does is just embrace the fact that the Doctor can and will reappear in any form, and that that is absolutely a part of the fabric of the show.
I look up to men and women all my life. Young boys have many women in their lives that they look up to as well as men. My heroes don’t all look the same, and therefore, the heroes on television shouldn’t all look the same. The show wouldn’t be the success that it is without embracing progression and change. And I think that that’s what this is fundamentally about -- why it has a fan base from all over the world, from all different cultures, and why it speaks to people from everywhere. I know from every single time there’s a new Doctor, there’s always going to be people that are maybe disappointed that their previous Doctor is not returning, but that’s why this show is so exciting, is because you can never predict what’s going to happen, so therefore it’s never boring.
I’m a new Whovian, so this season is essentially targeted at someone like me, who’s seen bits of it, but was not brought up with it. I found it incredibly engaging, and inclusive, and representative of the world I live in today, in what is happening in the world today, and using that and taking the story forward.
My main experience of the Doctor was being friends, really good friends with David Tennant. Previous to me auditioning or ever having a conversation about the job, if anyone said "Doctor Who" or the "Doctor," my brain immediately goes to David Tennant. It’s fascinating to now have my own identity with it, and [have] it not take away from anyone else’s. But it does so quickly become your own identity, and the rhythm, and everything to do with [showrunner] Chris [Chibnall]’s writing, which is energetic and hopeful and full of electricity and full of light and all the things that are just so wonderful to play, and require a hell of a lot of caffeine. So now, it’s odd, because when someone says Doctor Who or the Doctor now, I think I’d probably think of myself!
We must be mostly British still, after all.
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