After five decades,Doctor Whohas its first female Doctor.
What took so long?
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Thats a little more complicated.
Three new companions have joined her in the TARDIS, too, for maximum mischief.
(It feels great, thanks for asking.)
This woman knows her trousers!
How shrouded in secrecy was your audition process?
He said,Dont say anything,and I wasnt gonna.
From my own paranoia I wasnt saying anything!
Every other person on the list was a woman.
Id seen a few episodes, but hadnt followed a particular Doctor or watched a full season in total.
Did I need to go home and watch every single episode?
Chris said,Come in with fresh eyes.
Not knowing was a bit fearful.
When I read it, I realized how incredibly engaging and inclusive it was.
You get everything you need from the scenes.
I didnt need to watch 100 previous episodes to learn that.
I didnt know how funny it was going to be.
I thought it would just be really fucking hard, but I had an ace time.
You know what wasnt easy?
How long the audition was.
I couldnt even get a friend to self-tape me because they didnt know they were auditioning.
The whole thing was complicated, but rightly so, because the ambition of the reveal was incredible.
I had to pretend to be unemployed!What are you doing at the moment?Nothing.
I also gave some really crap reasons for turning down other auditions.
So when the reveal happened, it was like a massive weight lifted.
What was actually in your audition pages?Im not allowed to tell you that.
But it was four or five scenes, and they all covered different energy.
It was in-depth as you could imagine.
The grown-ups needed to be sure of me.
Not social media, because Im not on it, so all of that went over my head.
Sure, there were concerns or strange interpretations from fans.
I think the negative responses were relatively small.
If they understood the world, they know that Matt and David arent aliens.
Peter isnt an alien!
Their gender is as irrelevant as mine as.
As a political moment, or as a moment as a woman in the industry, itisrelevant.
But within the world ofDoctor Who,it really isnt.
Its hard because for some people, Peter was their only Doctor.
They havent lived through a regeneration before.
Its like youre letting go of something.
But the wonderful thing about the show is a celebration of change and evolution.
Theres no point in making changes if youre not going to do new things.
I think the biggest misconception right now is that a woman has ruined the show.
Why was it important to start totally anew?Hes been a Whovian since he was a kid.
Hes been probably bubbling up these ideas for his entire career!
Its not the Doctors response, its other peoples response.
I had the same thought after watching the premiere.
Modern-day Britain is one thing, but what if the Doctor materializes in the European Dark Ages?Exactly.
Very often, were only seeing stories being told through the white male gaze.
Thats whatDoctor Whoalways celebrated.
The backlash is always the thing that gets focused on, but really, its so small.
And also, for a true fan, they know its not warranted.
I dont think it was a true reflection of what he was trying to say.
But men have looked up to women their entire lives.
Some people are capable of change, but it isnt worth engaging with, necessarily.
Lets talk about your grand entrance!
I was like,Are you fucking kidding me?
You bastards!That hero speech is when I remember who I am.
Watching it back, its the most extraordinary entrance Ive ever had to do.
In the premiere, the Stenza warrior mockingly tells the Doctor that she has a tiny mind.
Like you said, were potentially going to times when women werent able to have a voice.
The tiny mind thing was definitely character-to-character, not men-to-women.
I dont think gender played a role in the warriors motivation.
Are there motivations in future episodes when gender becomes more prevalent?They do.
But its irrelevant with the Doctor.
The Doctor is the Doctor.
The character isnt lost because its in a female form.
I need stuff to be kept private.
I wouldnt have necessarily shut down my Twitter feed, but I never joined in the first place.
For some people, social media suits them.
It doesnt suit me.
Theres no reason to do it.
You got bots that arent even human trolling people.
Im going to stick with text messages for now.
Were you involved in creatingthe Doctors new costume?
Basically, I bullied Chris into giving me the job.
But these references made a great mood board for the costume.
The use of color was very important to me, because I love color.
Even though in todays society, Ive started to just wear black.
Theres this social thing of not standing out too much or not wanting to be attention-seeking.
What I love about the Doctor is that those rules dont apply.
I wanted that to be represented with what I wear, however small or subtle it was.
The use of color is inspired by this social and charity club called House of Saint Barnabas.
I was there one day with a member, and I was like,This wallpaper color!
This is it!We found a material that matched it.
I love the use of the blue.
I wanted the coat to represent where the Doctor came from.
The lining of the cuffs, the seams, the stitching, every single item has meaning.
And, of course, my costume has pockets.
Can you imagine not having pockets?
It fits, in a way that it shouldnt work, but it does.
It could fit a boy.
But mainly, I can move in it and Im not restricted.
I can put it on in five minutes.
I dont get the point of latex.
Hes slim, but it was still massive on me.
Rose was a brilliant character.
I love what she brought to that role it was engaging and strong and vulnerable and dynamic.
Id like to meet Rose.
Theres load of brilliant creatures and monsters, too.
Can you imagine me meeting my first Dalek?
How do you thinkDoctor Whofits into the grander scheme of superhero culture?
Do you consider the Doctor to be a superhero?Doctor Whois about hope and adventure.
Whether you think youre a fan of sci-fi or not, youll fall for one of those themes.
Theyre not these extraordinary gorgeous, god-like figures.Its not a typical superhero that has an unattainable beauty.
Its a hero for everyone because they look like everyone.
You might as well not make it at all.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
