Ten Questions with Jodie Whittaker
- Publication: Radio Times
- Date: 2023-11-25
- Author: Craig McLean
- Page: 8
- Language: English
The first female Time Lord on life after the Tardis, dodgy accents, feeling scared — and why she will always be the Doctor
Jodie Whittaker left the Tardis a year ago, but she seems to have clung on to the Doctor's ability to bend time. The light had barely dimmed on her last appearance as the Time Lord before the 41-year was having her second baby. Then the London-based Yorkshire-woman was jetting to Australia for the two-season-long shoot of drama series One Night. Then she was back home to film the second series of Jimmy McGovern's BBC drama Time. After that it was on to Toxic Town, Jack Thorne's Netflix series about a real-life industrial waste scandal in Northamptonshire.
That's a hectic 12 months, Jodie. How have you squeezed it all in?
The good thing about Doctor Who is that, because the show needs all the special effects, and it schedules for holidays and specials, my re-gen [into David Tennant's 14th Doctor] came out a year after we'd wrapped. So by the time One Night came around, I'd been able to grieve the Doctor and let someone else fill those shoes.
After playing a lighter character for four years, was it a conscious move into more intense roles?
Those roles are more typical of my journey up to playing the Doctor. There was the odd bit of lightness thrown in but apart from that it was all Broadchurch and [Paddy Considine boxing film] Journeyman. So, the joy of the Doctor is this playfulness that was completely out of my comfort zone.
In One Night you play Tess, who's returning to Australia from London 20 years after a brutal incident. What attracted you to the part?
Emily Ballou's writing was absolute poetry. The use of our younger versions within scenes, of flashbacks and memory; the celebration and complication of friendship; the exploration of trauma... I found that intoxicating. Horrific sexual assaults against women are shown on television all the time, but this point of view hasn't been explored before in anything I'd seen.
Was there a freedom with this being an Australia production? I would never be offered this in England. There's no way you'd look at my CV and think Tess. As we meet her, she's super-business, incredibly still... like a shark. I was like: "Me, really? Also: have you heard my voice?"
Well, you've done accents before. Did Australian come easy? Thank God Tess had lived in England for 20 years! I came in with what my idea of an Australian accent was. It was clear it'd be like someone going "This is what people oop nawth talk lak."
After three hard-hitting dramas, are you considering something lighter next - or more sci-fi? I don't think that far ahead. I just go: "Oh, s***, I'm unemployed in a few weeks!" After the pandemic, we've all lived through the apocalypse. So I just feel that work is a very precious thing. I always want to be scared by a job. I'd want to feel like it was a challenge and I needed to really work my arse off to earn the right to play it.
Do you think loyal Whovians will follow you to dramas they might not otherwise have watched?
I don't think of it like that. I hope every job is judged on its merit as a whole, and not as an individual contribution either. Because the jobs that I've done post-Doctor Who are hugely ensemble. Doctor Who's also an ensemble. But obviously if you're the Doctor, you are the face of that show and you essentially are the driving force within this sea of talent.
Have you been able to stay in touch with your Doctor Who mates? Poor Mandip [Gill] probably gets a WhatsApp monologue from me every other day. We've got our group chat - with Brad [Walsh] and Tos [Cole], we get to hear about all the cool things they're doing. But Mandip 's essentially my sister.
How are you feeling about the prospect of Ncuti Gatwa being the new Time Lord?
He's an incredible actor and his pre-Doctor CV speaks for itself. It's definitely in safe hands. But you knew it was safe anyway with David Tennant coming back!
One Night is available to watch in the UK the day after Doctor Who's 60th anniversary. It's a huge moment and the show is moving on without you. Is that bittersweet?
Not at all. What a thing to be part of and, you know, I'm never fired from it. I'm always the Doctor. Now I get to see the joy in someone else's eyes. I can't wait. I'm new to this as well, because I didn't really watch it before. So now I get to be a proper audience member and I get all the references! Now I understand it!
One Night is available to watch on Paramount+ from 24 November
Caption: DOING TIME From left: Tosin Cole, Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh and Mandip Gill
Caption: HIGH-FLYER Whittaker plays businesswoman Tess in One Night
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- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Ten Questions with Jodie Whittaker | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Ten_Questions_with_Jodie_Whittaker | work=Radio Times | pages=8 | date=2023-11-25 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=1 May 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Ten Questions with Jodie Whittaker | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Ten_Questions_with_Jodie_Whittaker | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=1 May 2025}}</ref>
