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Nov 09, 2017 Doctor Who By Christopher Roberts

Back in July the BBC announced British actress Jodie Whittaker will be taking over the iconic role of The Doctor on Doctor Who, making her the first ever female Doctor (and the Thirteenth Doctor overall). At the time a teaser trailer/announcement video was shared, but it didn’t feature Whittaker in her main costume (every Doctor has a different look/dress sense, an outfit they wear in most episodes). Now the BBC has shared the first photo of Whittaker in costume, which you can see above.

Peter Capaldi took over as time- and space-traveling alien The Doctor in 2013, but he previously announced that his recently completed third season in the iconic role will be his last. He is expected to regenerate into Whittaker during this year’s Christmas special, which sees him team up with the very first Doctor, who will be played by David Bradley (Harry Potter, The Strain). Whittaker’s first full season of Doctor Who is expected to air in the fall of 2018.

Whittaker is best known for playing Beth Latimer for three seasons on Broadchurch. Other notable credits include “The Entire History of You” episode of Black Mirror and the film Attack the Block, among others.

Doctor Who first aired in 1963. The writers worked out a clever way to keep going when its original lead actor, William Hartnell, needed to leave the show in 1966-as The Doctor is an alien, instead of dying, when he is mortally wounded he “regenerates” into a new body and personality, allowing them to cast a new actor every few years while retaining the same continuity. Whittaker is the thirteenth actor to play the role (if you don’t count John Hurt’s the War Doctor and the fact that the First Doctor has been played by two other actors since Hartnell’s death) and the fifth one since the show came back in 2005 after a 19-year break from the screen.

Last season was also Steven Moffat‘s final season as the showrunner and head writer on Doctor Who, this year’s Christmas special will be his final episode as showrunner. His replacement will be Chris Chibnall, who has already written several episodes of Doctor Who and its spinoff series Torchwood and is also known for creating and writing the acclaimed British detective drama Broadchurch (which stars David Tennant, who used to star as the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who). Chibnall obviously was instrumental in bringing Broadchurch‘s Whittaker on board.

Whittaker had this to say in a previous press release when she was announced: “I’m beyond excited to begin this epic journey - with Chris and with every Whovian on this planet. It’s more than an honor to play the Doctor. It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope. I can’t wait.”

Below is the announcement video again.

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