Jodie Whittaker reportedly quits Doctor Who

Doctor Who aka Jodie Whittaker is reportedly quitting the sci-fi TV show, leaving producers to find another Time Lord.

Doctor Who aka Jodie Whittaker is reportedly quitting the sci-fi TV show, leaving producers to find another Time Lord.

According to The Mirror newspaper in the UK, a source said she will leave after the next series which airs later this year.

“Her departure is top secret but at some point over the coming months the arrival of the 14th Doctor will need to be filmed. It’s very exciting,” a source told The Mirror.

The show’s production has been delayed due to the spread of COVID-19 across the UK.

The last time we saw Whittaker’s Doctor Who, she was locked up in a high-security alien prison, separated from her gang and pretty much completely alone.

“At that point, who knew we were being kind of method,” laughs Whittaker via video call from London, where she’s back in real-life lockdown with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

“She’s in total isolation and she’s learning to survive without her gang. Sounds familiar.”

But there was light at the end of the tunnel for the Doctor who returned to our screens in an action-packed, highly anticipated special – Revolution of the Daleks.

“The interesting thing – and something we haven’t explored before – is that the gang has to figure out how to survive without her,” muses Whittaker. “Because they don’t know how long she’ll be gone.”

Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor in Revolution Of the Daleks.

Add to that the ever-present threat of the Daleks and the return of fan favourite John Barrowman, who reprises his role as Captain Jack, and Chris Noth returning as dodgy businessman Jack Robertson and fans, Whittaker says, “are in for a rollercoaster of a festive special”.

Reports out of the UK hinted the Daleks have received a bit of a makeover – “I’m not allowed to say anything – I can’t even give you a thumb’s up,” Whittaker laughs, until fans watch it themselves.

What we do know, though, is that the special marks the last time we’ll see Bradley Walsh’s Graham (also known to Aussie audiences as host of the UK’s The Chase) and Tosin Cole’s Ryan.

Whittaker, who started her Whovian tenure alongside both of the actors when she stepped into the role in 2018, says that she still sheds a few tears every time she thinks of shooting Walsh and Cole’s final scenes on the show.

“We shot those last scenes and that was it – I just started sobbing. I was rubbish – I’m still rubbish,” she laughs.

“We had a group What’s App call the other day and I was crying again.”

But Whittaker says being “incredibly sentimental and nostalgic” helped when stepping into the Doctor’s formidable shoes.

Doctor Who’s most fearsome foes, The Daleks, are rumoured to be getting a makeover in Revolution Of The Daleks.

“I’m involved in something that’s so rich in history and emotion for so many people and nostalgia and sentiment and relevance in a way that is nothing to do with me,” she says. “But on a completely narcissistic level, this is my time now and, for me, this whole thing has been an absolute pleasure so any kind of changes, I can’t cope with, which makes me rubbish in this job because everything changes all the time.”

The 38-year-old Whittaker, who grew up “a movie-obsessed ’80s kid”, is the 13th incarnation of the Doctor and, famously, the first woman to play the role.

“It’s such a weird thing to step into because you’re famous before you’ve even said any of the lines because they announce it before you’ve done anything.”

She also hit up two former Doctors – and friends – Matt Smith and David Tennant (who starred opposite Whittaker in Broadchurch) for advice. “They just said it’s going to go so quick and it’s such a rollercoaster, just enjoy it, and also, it’s really hard to learn the lines, and it is.”

Depressingly, she’s been targeted by Twitter trolls apoplectic that their beloved Doctor is currently a woman.

Jodie Whittaker says she that despite online abuse, she has only taken positives from being the first woman to play Doctor Who.

Whittaker says she can’t take any of the negativity on board. “Playing [Doctor Who] is nothing but positive for me,” she says with a shrug. “I can’t see what the negative is for me. No matter what, I had an opportunity to step into a role that as an individual I could have only dreamt of but, as a woman, it was such a moment for myself and in the casting of this historic role, and so I am dining out on that.”

But the show, which films for up to nine months of the year, leaves Whittaker with little room to even contemplate other roles right now. She told news Corp in a recent interview she’s been happy to stay safely in the Tardis.

“I am so lucky to be working; there are businesses and industries that can’t come back and we can, so we’ve got to treat that as this precious stone that needs protecting because we’re f---ing lucky,” she says.

“On [Doctor Who] we all feel that because our industry has definitely had the rug pulled out of it but [this year] has given me a real appreciation that I’m really f---ing lucky to be in my job because I really f---ing like it.”

The Yorkshire-born Whittaker, who lives in London with her husband and daughter, says lockdown has given her an unexpected perspective.

“As quite an anxious, paranoid, crowd-loving person, certain things were put in perspective for me, like, ‘I like a crowd’,” she laughs. “Also, I do border on ‘worst-case scenario’ in my life, which is why I always read apocalyptic novels,” she laughs. “So when the world has a worst-case scenario, straightaway I’m thinking, this doesn’t end well.

“I mean, I’m currently reading The Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t think I can do popcorn right now. I feel like that kind of contradicts with where I’m at.”

Doctor Who, Revolution of the Daleks is now on ABC iview.