Geek Force - Television

You Have Come a Long Way, Doctor

As I have stated multiple times, I have been a Whovian for a long time. I was a Whovian long, long, long before it was cool to be one! We have seen many iterations of Doctors in the past 55 years. Old ones, young ones, English ones, Scottish ones, Scots passing themselves off as English, you get the point! We are now witnessing a new era in Gallifrey history, a lady Doctor.

About two years ago, Peter Capaldi was in his third year, and was likely ready to transform, but who was the heir apparent? I had a dream early that year in which the new Doctor was revealed to me. It was a woman, and she had a name, Saroise Ronan. Could this really be? A woman Doctor? Talk about breaking the glass ceiling! And she was even younger than Matt Smith. Double whammy! I shared this dream with just a few people. I had great trepidation, would they think I was looney? Would they take me seriously? Well they didn’t think I was looney. That is a good start. They, however, did not think it would happen.

I stood by my dream. Fast forward to 2017, for the big reveal. It was Jodie Whittaker. I was absolutely elated! I was so wrong about the actress in my dream, but I was at least half right!

As a Canadian back in the 70s / early 80s, we had limited access to British programming, and so I did not know many British TV acrors. Obviously we had Doctor Who, but we did have the likes of Coronation Street and a few others. I remember watching “All Creatures Great and Small” with my grandmother back in the day. While I did not much enjoy the show at the time (mental note, try watch it again) it did introduce me to Peter Davison, Doctor Five, so at least an actor I had seen before became the Doctor. Now fast forward to the 21st century, I have Netflix and a myriad of other streaming services in which I can now get British programming. At the recommendation of many, I was told that I would like Broadchurch. Since it had David Tennant, I gave it a go. Yay for Netflix, I binge watched two seasons in two nights. I was totally drawn in! Tennant was the initial draw, there was other familiar actors from the Who Universe, notably Mr Amy Pond himself, Arthur Darvill. The ensemble cast was amazing. At this stage of the story telling, you probably see where this is going. The character that truly sold the story to me was, you guessed it, Jodie Whittaker. It was like I felt her angst, the pain seemed so very real! She sold me on the weeping mother.

So when the announcement was made, I embraced the new direction, I knew she could immerse herself in the role of the Doctor! It was with additional anticipation that I tuned in Christmas night, to the recorded episode and awaited the transformation. Leading up to this, the interwebs was a buzz, Christopher Eccleston kept his Lancaster accent, Tennant on the other hand, altered his Scottish accent. Would Whittaker keep her Yorkshire accent? Would it be from another region? She spoke one word. “Brilliant”, it was hard to ascertain, sounded like her natural accent! The trailers I have seen so far seem to keep that notion alive.

This next chapter of the Doctor Who is about to begin, and I will be there as a true Whovian, supporting my new Doctor has she takes the TARDIS through time and space.

Brilliant!