In the 24 hours since it was announced that Jodie Whittaker will be the next star to take the lead in ‘Doctor Who’, most fans have shared their excitement online but you simply can’t please everyone.
While many people are delighted by the news, a number of keyboard warrior critics simply cannot get over the fact the new Doctor is going to be a woman, and they didn’t waste anytime before letting the world know what a travesty it is.
Now, the perfect response to Jodie’s naysayers has arrived, courtesy of the Girlguiding Advocate Panel.
In a statement issued to HuffPost UK, they said: “To those who have reacted negatively to the casting, we will simply say this, you are watching a Sci-Fi show about metal men who shoot lasers out of their heads and yet the Doctor being a woman is unrealistic?
“Give Jodie a chance, we won’t see her in action until Christmas and already people are writing her off, which is unfair and wrong.”
Well... You can’t really argue with that can you?
“The casting of Jodie Whittaker as the thirteenth Doctor sends out a message to girls and young women that they can be whatever and whoever they want to be,” they continued. “It gives them a positive female role model from one of the biggest and most influential TV shows in Britain.
“It’s so exciting to see Jodie become The Doctor, it marks a new chapter in the show and for the Doctor herself.”
The panel, which is made up of eight girls aged between 14 and 25, also have stern words for media outlets who have focussed on previous roles that have seen Jodie strip off.
They said: “With regards to sexist media coverage, which has highlighted the fact that Jodie’s work in the past has included nudity, it is sad that in this day and age some publications sink to such lows.
“They feel that by objectifying and sexualising Jodie that they will somehow achieve something – they haven’t.
“On a final note, we wish Jodie all the best as the Doctor and Christmas can’t come soon enough!”
Jodie herself preemptively addressed critics in a statement that accompanied the BBC’s announcement, urging them “not [to] be scared by my gender”.
“This is a really exciting time, and ‘Doctor Who’ represents everything that’s exciting about change,” she said. “The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one.”
Jodie will make her first appearance as the Time Lord in the Christmas 2017 episode, which will see Peter Capaldi’s Doctor regenerate.
Her first full series will then air in 2018.
