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Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker reveals the best lesson she learned as she became the Doctor (and who was her first champion on the show)

"Be a team player."

Image of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, with her companions behind her
Image credit: BBC

Playing the Doctor in Doctor Who is a hard job to get, especially if you're not the obvious choice, like Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker. This past month, Popverse had a chance to chat with Jodie Whittaker at Emerald City Comic Con about her road to Doctor Who. In response, Whittaker had some advice from her own experience to share.

Whittaker told her fans, "I think one of the best lessons I could ever learn was: be a team player. Because I was on an amazing team on Broadchurch, and I had a really good time. And if I’d have been badly behaved or just a bit above my station, thought I was more important than anyone else, I would have missed out on this. Because no one would have wanted to work with me, and the showrunner certainly wouldn’t have wanted me to audition. So I think that the journey is, and should always be, don’t be that guy. Because you just cant imagine what other opportunities you’re gonna miss out on."

Whittaker continued on to say that it was her behavior on Broadchurch, working with series showrunner Chris Chibnall (who later became the Doctor Who showrunner) that directly led to her casting, saying, "I would never have got the Doctor without Chris, because you never would have watched Beth Latimer and gone, 'Do you know who should audition for the Doctor? Her.'”

Become a Popverse member and watch the full Jodie Whittaker spotlight panel from Emerald City Comic Con starting March 28 here.


If you want to start watching Doctor Who and don't know where to start, check out our handy Doctor Who watch guide. Or maybe you're already finished with the show - We've got the perfect Ten shows to watch when you're done watching Doctor Who guide for you too. If you're already heads over heels for the Fifteenth Doctor and want to learn more about the actor playing him, check out what he's been in before here. Or maybe you just need to figure out how the new series numbering is going to work (Are there really gonna be two series 1s? Yes.) - if so, this is the explainer you want.

Tiffany Babb

Tiffany Babb: Tiffany Babb is a professional lurker (aka critic) who once served as Popverse’s deputy editor and resident Sondheim enthusiast.

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