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Jul 14, 2017 Doctor Who By Christopher Roberts

BBC and BBC America have announced that this Sunday they will be revealing who is taking over the iconic role of The Doctor on Doctor Who. The new Doctor will be announced after the Wimbledon Men’s Final on Sunday. The news was revealed via a tweet showing the key to the TARDIS (The Doctor and time and space machine). 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 the 13th Doctor during this year’s Christmas special.

There has been speculation that the Doctor will switch genders this time and become a woman. It’s already been established that Time Lords can do this, with The Doctor’s adversary The Master becoming Missy. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the star and creator of Amazon’s Fleabag, has been mentioned as a potential female Doctor (although her representatives have denied this to be the case), as has Broadchurch star Olivia Coleman and even Tilda Swinton. Or it could just be another white male, and if the actor is good and the right fit for the part (as the last four actors to play it have been), then so be it. We will find out on Sunday.

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. Capaldi is the twelfth actor to play the role and the fourth one since the show came back in 2005 after a 19-year break from the screen. It’s not a huge surprise that Capaldi is leaving, as the previous Doctor, Matt Smith, also lasted three seasons.

This was also Steven Moffat‘s final season as the showrunner and head writer on Doctor Who. 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).

Exclusive News: It’s Almost Time. #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/XyF6KPaf0b

— BBC America (@BBCAMERICA) July 14, 2017

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