From the outside, Doctor Who has never been anything but strange. The BBC’s long-celebrated protagonist is a time-bending, space-traveling alien, whose adventures can, and have, taken him anywhere and anytime in the universe. He can also regenerate into a new body when he dies, a plot trick which has gifted the show a much longer than average life-span. For the past fifty years now, the doctor has been portrayed by no less than eleven, white, British men. Matt Smith, who plays the current incarnation of the Doctor, has announced that he plans to leave the series this winter. The question many Whovians are now asking is: should the next Doctor Who be played by a woman?
Mac Rogers is a Brooklyn based playwright and culture writer, who contributes to Slate’s “Doctor Who TV Club”. He spoke with Word of Mouth’s Zach Nugent about gender-bending the BBC series Doctor Who.
