For me a female Doctor could work - although personally I'd prefer a stoic, mysterious female doctor. If they went down the flirty, bubbly, hype-active route I'd struggle watching.

I've voted that I wouldn't watch the show if they cast a female Doctor. Nothing sexist about my reasoning though it's all about the intent behind the change. Why change the gender of the lead character? One option is gender rebalancing. Gender rebalancing is perfectly legimate in shows and has been done to great effect previous in shows like the new version of Battlestar Galactica. Does Doctor Who suffer from a lack of female characters? I'd suggest not. So what other reasons would there be to make this change? Perhaps it could be to generate new storylines and character dynamics? Again, a legimate argument but if you need to do that in a show where you can go anywhere and meet anyone and where the lead cast change completely every 3 years then there's way bigger issues for concern.

Ultimately I see just one reason why this would be done and that's to generate publicity and headlines. When the chase for ratings overtakes the chase for storytelling then that's the point where I jump ship.

As I've said, I'm not necessarily for (or against) the idea. I sort of like the phrase "A strong preference for the status quo", but then again isn't that just a benign way of saying "Afraid of change"?

I'm not a proponent of change for change's sake, and the techie in me says "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Change is only good when there's some benefit to it. In this case, why risk Doctor Who by making a change that isn't necessary and when there's nothing to be gained?

What fascinates me is why such a large minority are so fundamentally opposed.

There are, on average, differences between the sexes. It would be foolish to deny it, but that doesn't mean any given individual man or woman can't be bigger, stronger, more empathic, more aggressive, etc, etc than that average or when compared to another individual of the opposite gender. There are plenty of women who are taller or stronger than me. That kind of argument is why, for example, the British Army is reconsidering its position on women in combat roles. Why exclude them if they meet the requirements of the role?

As far as I can see, the only thing about the Doctor that's definitively masculine is his appearance.

Maybe that's a good place to start. An older actress with a Thrid/Twelth Doctor demeanour. Maybe Julie Andrews (or is that almost too obvious a choice).

But I reckon after that, they should try for a young enthusiastic adventurer. Sort of an "Amelia Earheart" type character. A mix between the youthful Eighth and the snarkier Ninth Doctors.

You obviously didn't read my previous post where I demonstrated the maths. Yes it presently stands at 28% would stop watching. The second group are against the idea but would give it a go. They are against the idea so would be biased against it, so it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that after giving it a go half of them would stop watching. That brings us up to over 50%. OVER 50%. I don't wish to see the programme I love cancelled due to extremely poor viewing figures just to pander to a few peoples views.

You are right in one respect, it is inscientific. However reality is probably even worse. If 50% of diehard fans would stop watching what would the large number of casual viewers do? Probably laugh and turn it off. How damaging do you want to be.

It could definitely be done for the wrong reasons, sure.
My concern is the common-repeated line that 'the wrong reason' is the only possible reason, and that no explanation given would ever be enough to convince these people that it's not a gimmick.

Then there are those of us that don't see how changing gender is any different from casting a Doctor with a Scottish accent, and provides as many character moments and dynamics as that does.

This.
Casual viewers are even more likely to stop watching because they would be confused with such change. And they wouldn't try to understand it (like fans would). They would just switch the channel and watch something else.

Also, what about fans from other countries. They are more conservative than the UK audience. Think about this as well.

You've hit upon my exact problem with the idea. There's no reason I can think of that would convince me that it's anything other than a gimmick. What other reason could be given?

I did (read your posts). Your maths is fine, but the reasoning behind it I find flawed.

Your maths is based on assumptions that can't be proven unless this is ever tested. People say they'll vote a certain way in a poll, but when it comes down it behave in a different way. People vote tactically. I am willing to allow where there are unknowns. You seem to assume that most agree with you, with little or no evidence to support that. None of us know how it would turn out. The fact is, none of us know how the mainstream (the bulk of the audience) would react. This poll only gets responses from fans who frequent this forum.

The only counter argument that makes sense to me is that such a change puts the show at risk.

For reasons I find incomprehensible, a sizeable minority hate the notion of a female Doctor so much that it puts the audience figures at risk.

That's... sad.

I voted for 'give it a chance' (was that there?)
I am totally AGAINST a female Doctor! But after seeing The Master become The Mistress I am beginning to wonder! The Master was a clever change......but The Doctor? Hmm methinks not! HE has always been the Grandfather, father and playboy (Tennant!) hasn't he? He has always been the James Bond of Sci-Fi BBC TV?
But if the worse came to the worst (which I hope will NEVER happen) and he became a woman - I pray that 'she' will be something like Sue Perkins, Sandi Toksvig or Jo Brand....and not someone like Sarah Michelle Geller or Angelina Jolie!!!
Can you imagine the amount of money spent on make-up and costumes???

Sorry... My world just imploded with the though of Sandi as the Doctor... Hilarious...

"I don't have anything against women, I just DON'T WANT THE DOCTOR TO BE A VAGINA-HAVER, THEY CAN'T DEFEAT DALEKS AS WELL AS MEN CAN, SHUT UP IT'S ADAM AND EVE NOT MADAM AND EVEL KNIEVEL... AND STEVE"

The Doctor's a time lord. Time lords can regenerate male or female. Objecting to the latter is, at the very best, completely arbitrary.

I'm perfectly happy with a time lord of any gender, and I think it'd be weird if he never, ever regenerated female in all of his 26+ lives. If it upsets people, great! Those are the people who deserve to be upset; if you're upset about the Master regenerating female, that's instant karma, you've just been impaled on your own bigotry! Michelle Gomez is amazing, she was clearly the best actor for a job that needn't, shouldn't and doesn't discriminate against gender. Why would they ever cast someone else? Just cos Michelle's got inside genitals and you're still hung up on Roger Delgado's penis? Get with the times, granddad!

Time to take your Flavia tablets Rwebster! Take two every par-sec of a minute! Forget all that you have said - and you'll be OK in a few hours! Trust me - the Lord Zuteck told me it was OK!! xx

Masters gender change in S8 wasn't really the main question. Question was how did he regenerate into a woman in the first place.?. First he would have had to break free of Galifrey where he was trapped in TEOT part 2 . Second he had already been resurrected in a dark ritual. Even said himself "this body was born from death the only thing it can do is die". So how did it have the power /energy whatever to change into a woman ?.

I've not so much 'hit on it' than 'repeated it and shown it to be nonsensical'.

We've had both the Doctor and the Master turned into humans before. Did anyone decry that, and declare it the end of the series and shark jumped and they've destroyed my childhood and blah blah blah? No, because some people seem to think that women are even more alien than Time Lords.

People who say fictional characters can be any race, any gender etc are just justifying the unjustifiable.

Changing a characters sex for the sake of it is just gimmickry and change for changes sake.

However if SM interviewed 100 actors for the part and the best one overall was a woman then that could be seen as proper.

But deciding in advance to have a female Dr Who is just WRONG.

I don't think it really matters if they decide first or choose along the way. As long as the actress was good, what difference would it make?

The doctor should be a man. Thats what.

I'm saying in the context of the Doctor hypothetically becoming female, why would it matter if it was decided before hand, or if they just happened to pick a female actress along the interview process? In either scenario, they wouldn't pick someone who they didn't think was good.

You're contradicting yourself here. You say that changing a character's sex is gimmickry but that if the best actor for the job was female then that would be alright. If the best actor is female then that necessitates the character changing sex.

Nobody would say 'the next Doctor should be female, let's find one', any more than they would say 'the next Doctor should be Scottish, let's only audition Scots'. But you have to open up the process in order for a woman to even be in the running, and that's the barrier that some people have a problem with.

You've shown no such thing. You are trotting out the same old tired line that if you are against changing the Doctor to a woman then you are sexist. That's rubbish and I find it offensive, especially as I've made zero comments in that regard. It's a shame that conversations like this cannot exist on forums without it becoming personal.

Sexist - no. Not unless you're saying that a woman couldn't possibly play the Doctor. Are some people prejudiced? Undoubtedly. Practically by definition alone.

Having someone disagree with your arguments is not an act of oppression or personal attack. Saying that someone holds an opinion that is prejudiced and at odds with the reality of society, gender and drama is not an attack on them personally - just as my failure to grasp economic theory is no-one's fault but me.

If they want to make the Doctor female then by all.means. All I'd ask first is the replace the licence with subscription. I'm not gonna watch it, don't see why I should be forced to.pay for it. Then when it goes pear shaped Moffat can tell us " we just don't get ehat he's doing"

Do you watch every programme produced by the BBC? You must be very busy.

BIB, I disagree. I think it's quite obvious from this thread that the idea of a female Doctor would carry huge ramifications for the future of the show and would not be a decision taken lightly. Either they make the decision to do it or they make the decision not to but I don't think they'd make a decision that momentous simply on the basis of how the auditions went. They would have to decide to do it first and then audition women, not the other way around.