Well, in news unrelated to ecological collapse and the
crisis of civilization, Jodie Whittaker has been announced as the latest
regeneration of Doctor Who. Now I daresay that there are many who may be viewing
this little cultural event as the end of their
worlds (and/or a sign of the destruction of British values, the triumph of
liberalism, ‘political correctness gone mad’ etc., etc.), but as a long-time
Whovian, it seems a pretty solid choice to me. My seven year-old son, who can
identify any type of Cyberman at a glance (and can categorise people’s year of
birth by whichever doctor was in role at the time), is fine with it; and so is
my daughter. Admittedly this doctor will be the shortest and is also from West
Yorkshire, and clearly such physical and social/cultural factors can make a
difference. But there have been quite a few Northerners in the role, and, come on,
Sylvester McCoy was only one cm taller. So there aren’t any major issues here.
I just hope Jodie is made of stern stuff. The forthcoming social media, vitriol-fest
will likely be a truly depressing sight to behold. I wonder if poor Peter
Davidson could have withstood the Twitterstorm that would have followed his
replacement of Tom Baker. Personally, I just hope the scripts and stories are
good.
