One of the best kept secrets in television is the identity of the next Doctor on the BBC’s hit series Doctor Who.So much so, that the actors passing the torch rarely find out who their replacement will be before the announcement comes. Peter Capaldi managed to find out that his replacement wouldn’t be another male actor, but rather a woman, by accident. He deduced the change due to a pair of trousers.
At the Doctor Who panel at the New York Comic Con, Capaldi revealed that he found out the gender change was coming when he visited his tailor for a suit:
I went into Paul Smiths, which is a very wonderful clothes shop in London where I buy my suits, and everybody knows me in there. And they said “we just got a call,” they said, “from the Doctor Who office saying ‘Can we have a pair of [Peter’s] trousers, but with a waist size thirty?’”
And I thought ‘I’m finished, I don’t need any more trousers!’—because Doctor Who wears Paul Smith trousers, for the fashionistas among you—so they they were obviously looking for a pair of trousers for the new Doctor Who to wear. And I thought ‘well, that can’t really be a man with a thirty-inch waist. That must be a lady then!’
A few days later the announcement was made that Jodie Whittaker would become the next Doctor. Capaldi called up Whittaker, who had recently moved to Cardiff. Of course, Whittaker couldn’t say hello without revealing she was his replacement.
Whittaker’s take on the role remains to be seen. Although, fans of the series are torn as to whether the gender swap was necessary. Does this mean that it was a bad choice? Only Whittaker’s performance will determine that.
