Jodie Whittaker with Mandip Gill and John Bishop in Doctor Who’s upcoming season (Picture: BBC)
It’s been confirmed that Jodie Whittaker’s time as The Doctor will end in 2022 with a trio of specials, culminating in an ‘epic blockbuster’ that will air next autumn.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall’s time on Doctor Who will also come to an end, five years on from his selecting Whittaker to be the first female Doctor in 2017.
Speculation is already swirling over who will replace her in the Tardis, with Olly Alexander, Michaela Coel and Richard Ayoade ranked among the favourites.
Before that tearful goodbye, though, we still have lots more adventures to look forward to – and some new faces as well.
When is Series 13 coming out?
The next series of Doctor Who – the third to star Whittaker as the Doctor and the 13th since the show’s 2005 reboot – will be broadcast this autumn.
The exact date has yet to be confirmed, though some time in September is a pretty safe bet as that’s when the last series to launch in the autumn – series 9 in 2015 – began to be shown.
How many episodes will there be in Series 13?
There’ll be six episodes in Series 13, and they will all form part of a single, over-arching narrative.
‘It’s definitely the most ambitious thing we’ve done,’ showrunner Chris Chibnall recently revealed. ‘It’s epic and ambitious and we do go to a lot of places.’
Whittaker, pictured with Gill and Bishop, made her Doctor Who debut in 2017 (Picture: BBC)
Comedian John Bishop will make his Doctor Who debut in the series as a man called Dan, while Mandip Gill will return as the Doctor’s companion Yaz.
The three specials will then follow in 2022.
How long has Jodie Whittaker been The Doctor?
Whittaker became the 13th Doctor when she took over the Tardis from Peter Capaldi in 2017.
Since then she has been seen in two full series as well as two New Year’s Day specials.
‘In 2017 I opened my glorious gift box of size 13 shoes,’ said the 39-year-old. ‘I could not have guessed the brilliant adventures, worlds and wonders I was to see in them.
‘My heart is so full of love for this show, for the team who make it, for the fans who watch it and for what it has brought to my life.’
Why are Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall leaving Doctor Who?
According to Chris Chibnall, he and Whittaker made a ‘three series and out’ pact when they first took over the show from previous showrunner Steven Moffat.
The announcement they are moving on follows months of speculation about their future on the show.
Who will take over the Tardis?
Thursday’s announcement is sure to spark feverish anticipation on who will be the next person to be cast as TV’s most well-travelled time traveller.
Kris Marshall, Michael Sheen and Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge are some of the many names that have been bandied about in the past.
Whittaker’s departure also opens the door for a non-white actor to be cast as the Doctor for the very first time.
Paterson Joseph auditioned for the role when David Tennant stepped down, only for it to go to Matt Smith instead.
‘I pretty much knew that I hadn’t got it, and weirdly wasn’t disappointed,’ he told The Independent in 2014.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.