But both of those are recent 'inventions'

For the first 48 years of the TV what I said remained true for the Doctor Who universe as depicted on TV and in the books.

Then a script writer decided to just stick it in a script because it suited them to ignore all the years of 'Whoniverse' material that was already out there.

I don't think anyone has given skin colour as a reason though. I'm a feminist, and I'm certainly not racist, but I would find it strange to have a woman or a non-white (not just black) actor as the Doctor. Certain basic aspects of the Doctor's appearance have been consistent since the series began, and I see no reason to change just because racism and misogyny are bad things.

And if it would only be one change from the norm - one black Doctor, or one female Doctor, then back to the usual formula of slightly bumbling white Englishman then it was only a politically correct statement. We would have to accept that the character was completely fluid and could regenerate as female and/or a different ethnicity each time. And it hasn't happened in the last 11 regenerations so why would it start happening now?

I'm an 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' person. I would rather see Vastra and Jenny get a series, or see a black actor get his own family sci-fi franchise.

I think the question is not "what's so bad about a female Doctor?", but "what's so good about a female Doctor?".

Why on earth would we want a female Doctor? In what possible way could it improve the show? It would just be change for change's sake. A gimmick or novelty. What would be the point really?

This would be stupid and pointless and done entirely for smug writers to show off how "evolved" they are. I don't have a problem with the Corsair switching between sexes--the Time Lords have the equivalent of sex/gender ambiguity, and when they regenerate they might regenerate as either sex. I'm sure if we'd ever seen the Corsair we'd have found him a very likable character, perhaps even an instant classic. But the Doctor is a male character, and males who aren't sexually ambiguous do exist (in great number, actually), and what's wrong with the Doctor remaining one of them?

Hell, bring back a Time Lady somehow. I'd love to see Jenny return, or Romana, or Susan. Give one her own show even--I'd watch it. But leave this PC nonsense out of Who, if you please.

Plenty of little girls do those things too, despite the fact the Dr has always been played by a male actor. Amazing, eh? Kids not caring what gender their hero is, as long as he/she is a great, exciting, interesting hero that comes with a cool range of toys. If little boys wouldn't do those things because the part was played by a female, well, that says more about our society and the expectations we place on our children than it does about the casting on a major Beeb programme.

That is basically it. Although River would make a brilliant Doctor, just saying ...

The Doctor will probably be a white male for a long time because of the audience it reaches and caters for, and what is the problem with that?

Doctor who actually is one of tv's widest ranging audience since its aimed at both kids and adult alike or are you saying it only caters for a white male audience?

I actually think it's more important these days that every last show on TV isn't made to feel forced to bow to pressure relating to feminist/racist/whatever-ist agendas. Should football become a mixed sport, for instance, merely to keep certain people happy?

These issues have been significantly addressed in this country over the last 50 years and while there is still a certain undercurrent of racism and feminism, making a science fiction show suddenly deviate from the course it has followed for 50 years just to please the equality campaigners is frivolous and unnecessary.

So The Doctor lied; he does it all of the time. A one-off line on a single episode does not make it true. Otherwise, The Doctor would be half-human. And a _lot_ of _other_crap_ that he has said would be canon, but, thankfully, it is not.

It comes down to this: who cares about audience demographics, who cares about what's socially constructive, who even cares about perfectly equal ownership of/participation in one of the UK's most significant pop-cultural institutions--what's best for the character?

If you can convince me that the Doctor's story is best told by having him go through the process of becoming a woman, than I'd implore Moffat to by all means, have at it! But why do you think the character and his story would be served by that? If your reasoning is not about the character, then you're after something else, and that something has nothing to do show's best interest.

I come from a point where the doctor was a father and grandfather, would be too odd to suddenly change the sex of the doctor. I can accept many things with the doctor but that would be a step too far for me.

No reason why they couldn't introduce another time lord who was female though, perhaps to work along side this doctor, we have seen them work against him but never any who have worked with him for the common good.

Romana...?

There is absolutely no reason why the Doctor could not be played by a woman. But what compelling reason is there for it? Or does it risk being perceived as a politically correct gimmick, which will alienate many?

As the wise old saying cautions us: If it's not necessary to change, it's necessary not to change.

What's with the ' the Doctor as a black' references?
It's like being back in the 80s.

Not talking about the opinion just the use of sticking a in front like a leper.

As I said in the other thread on this subject, having a female Doctor now, after 50 years and 11 male actors in the role, would disturb the coherency of the series. It would be akin to dropping the TARDIS's police box design.

Also, this might be nitpicking, but if regeneration, which is supposed to be a random process, can cause a change of sex, I would have thought the Doctor would have been a woman several times now.

The Corsair I regard as a rarity.

Mind you I would still watch the programme if a woman were to take the lead role, it would take a lot more than that for me to give up on it. I don't know how many others would though.

The way of getting around this problem is to write into the regeneration story the fact that Time Lords are not supposed to change sex and it is a bit of a taboo amongst Time Lords. So when it happens the person concerned is ostracised from Time Lord society.

The Corsair was unconventional and did his own thing and was able to regenerate as a Woman and did not care what anyone thought.

As for the Doctor. If this was to happen then they should make it a shocking event for The Doctor which causes him/her a lot of problems coming to terms with the change.

The resurgence of Doctor Who in the past 10 years is based on the young handsome man model and this has become pretty much the sole reason for it's international success being the popularity among millions of teenage girls, the merchandise sales, the DVD sales etc etc

Rest assured if the likes of Jon Pertwee were at the helm this would not be the case.

So a Female Doctor would not work in the same way, it wouldn't be able to connect with the massive young Female fanbase.

Yes, that is one way they could get around it.


Teenage boys might like it though.

We know that it could make him a creature with two heads (or no head) and that hasn't happened either. If it could potentially happen, changing into the opposite sex of his own species is a relatively minute change.
Didn't the Master become a monster at some point? I'm not very familiar with pre-2005 DW.

That's ridiculous. Its like saying someone is racist if they say that James Bond shouldn't be an American. The only reason you are saying it is because if their race, so they' must be racist.

It's not, though, unless you happen to have some issue with Americans in general. Not wanting an American for a specific role because you don't think it fits that character is not racist. If someone doesn't think the Doctor should be black on the basis that he has always been a white guy, it isn't racist. Think about it for a second. "I don't think he should be black, because he's white," is not a slur against black people. Its like saying the TARDIS shouldn't be green because its blue.

Same with a female Doctor. Its not sexist to say you think the Doctor should be male because he's been male for ten regenerations. Personally, I feel it would come across as gimmicky if he were to regenerate into a woman now. It would feel out of place.

That doesn't make me sexist, because its a specific reason based on this particular role. Just the same as not wanting a woman to play James Bond. I don't think it would work for the character and that is not sexist.

Calling sexist or racist on this point, without dealing with the reasons people have their opinions, is extremely lazy. There should be a "Godwin's Law" equivalent for this, as its no different to "you are supporting Nazis" in its lazy attempt to win an argument by shaming people into silence.

I didn't say it couldn't happen, I just said it seems odd (from a story point of view) how it hasn't happened already, if it can happen.

Of course, there are ways it could be explained away, as already pointed out.

The real issue lies within the audience, would they accept it? Like I said, The Doctor has always been male in the show's 50 years, so he is very much a male character in the public's consciousness. The above is a moot point in comparison.

And yes, The Master did.

I don't buy into this at all and think it totally underestimates the intelligence of audiences.

If something is done well people will buy into it. I think if any show has proved that Doctor Who is it. It's a show that pretty much has thrown various ideas at the wall to see what sticks. A show that has few rules.

And this idea that young 'females' can't connect to a 'female' lead is unbelievably archaic.

It would make sense, after all somebody has to go back and invent the iron. And the dish-washer.

And "the person" (me) stands by that. As I said, branding everybody who doesn't want a female Doctor sexist is extremely lazy.

So, are the females who don't want a female Doctor sexist too?

However this issue comes around every regeneration and a man is always cast so I can't see it being different this time.