Sonic Screwdrivers at the ready!
Welcome to WatchMojo UK and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 5 things
you may not know about the thirteenth Doctor Who, Jodie Whittaker!
For this list, we’ve gathered the finest facts to give you the lowdown on the latest
regeneration of everyone’s favourite Time Lord.
She’s stepping into one of the most coveted and exclusive roles in British TV, landing
a landmark moment for female actors in the process, but Jodie Whittaker usually works
away from the spotlight if she can help it.
She’s not on Instagram, she doesn’t have a Facebook account and she has previously
challenged Twitter to take down fake profiles pretending to be her.
Keen to keep her family and work lives separate, the actress is reportedly happy to be able
to walk down the street unrecognised.
However, with the TARDIS keys jangling in her back pocket, that could all be about to
change.
The BBC’s reveal trailer was broadcast to millions shortly after the 2017 Wimbledon
men’s final, before it was beamed across the internet for Whovians everywhere.
Born and raised in Skelmanthorpe, a small village in West Yorkshire, acting has always
been one of Whitttaker’s chief goals.
Her lofty ambitions sent her down south to London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama,
where she graduated with the prestigious Gold Medal and met her future husband, the US actor
Christian Contreras.
TV audiences will also associate her with the West Country, following her role as Beth
Latimer in “Broadchurch”, while an itching for worldwide travel took Whittaker backpacking
along the west coast of America when she was eighteen, as well as the Cook Islands, Australia
and Singapore.
The urge to explore should only serve her well for a part as TV’s most prolific planet-hopper,
although we doubt she’s ever encountered anything close to a Dalek or Cyberman before.
Life as the Doctor is rarely routine, but Whittaker is used to a little variety.
While she’s best known for film and TV roles, she has tried her hand at other things too,
and successfully so.
In 2008 she played Joanna in the Radio 4 adaptation of Stephen Poliakoff’s “Blinded by the
Sun” and she debuted on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2005, when she played Ampolisca in
Peter Oswald’s “The Storm”.
The soon-to-be-Time Lord has seen a smidge of Oscar buzz as well, having starred in “Wish
143”, a 24-minute drama which scored a nomination for Live Action Short Film at the 2011 Academy
Awards.
But not even Hollywood can match the grandeur of Gallifrey.
Since 2006, Whittaker has steadily built one of the UK’s most impressive film and TV
resumes, making her one of Britain’s most in demand actresses, even before becoming
the latest custodian of DW’s legendary blue box.
A role in “Venus” in 2006 earned a wealth of Best Newcomer nominations, before a spot
in “St. Trinian’s” and parts in “The Kid” and “One Day”.
2015’s “Adult Life Skills” saw Whittaker break stereotypes, starring as an awkward
29-year old who rarely leaves the solitude of her mother’s shed; “Women are not a
genre”, said the actress in a promo interview.
Arguably, she’s best known for TV work however, with a starring role in the first season finale
of “Black Mirror” and a haunting performance as the grieving mother in “Broadchurch”.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
And she has a history with aliens.
Amongst all of Whittaker’s other acting credits, there are two which fly closer to
the Doctor Who brief than others; both from 2011.
In “Attack the Block”, the new Who stars alongside John Boyega – who’s also a pretty
big name in sci-fi circles nowadays – for a sci-fi/horror/comedy set in a council estate
under siege by extra-terrestrials.
Six months later and “A Thousand Kisses Deep” premiered at the Raindance Film Festival
with Whittaker as Mia, a woman who travels back in time to try and prevent a death she’s
just witnessed.
Of course, Who fans know that not even the Doctor can change the course of history (time’s
much more wibbly-wobbly than that), but the part does serve as a sort of work experience
for one
of TV’s greatest adventures.