She may be playing an interplanetary Time Lord as Doctor Who but the real Jodie Whittaker is a regular Yorkshire lass who enjoys a good curry.
Jodie, who will appear as the 13th Doctor Who on BBC1 on Sunday 7 October, enjoys dining with her family at Solo's Indian restaurant in Skelmanthorpe.
Last year, shortly before it was announced that Jodie would be the first woman to play Doctor Who, she was pictured at the restaurant with staff Mo Hussain and Terry Hussain.
Mo said: “She comes in with her mum and dad and is very down to Earth; she is a lovely girl and very chirpy. She’s always smiling and says she misses village life.”
Mo is expecting Jodie to do a great job as the new Doctor Who.
“She is a really good actress and will play the role well. I have not seen much of Doctor Who but I will definitely be watching it now.”
Terry added: “It is fantastic for a local girl to get the role. I am proud and happy and I am sure she will do a fantastic job.”
Although Skelmanthorpe locals will vouch for Jodie’s credentials as an ‘ordinary lass’ it remains to be seen whether she will play Doctor Who with a Huddersfield accent.
Danny Nichol, professor of public law at the University of Westminster, has written a blog post which suggests there ought not to be objections if Jodie gives the Doctor a Yorkshire twang.
The academic says three Doctors have previously “bucked the trend” by not speaking in “the Queen’s English” - Sylvester McCoy, Peter Capaldi and Christopher Eccleston.
Meet the new Dr Who from Huddersfield
“It was Christopher Eccleston’s Northern accent which proved particularly controversial.
Not only did the Doctor have to explain to a sceptical companion-to-be Rose Tyler that he really was an alien because ‘lots of planets have a North!’ but behind the scenes the actor’s insistence on playing the Doctor with a Northern accent caused a rift with the Doctor Who production team, contributing to his leaving the role after only one series.”
Prof Nicol says much of Doctor Who is still set in London and the south east.
“This needs to change. And if Doctor Who is to be a programme which reflects the whole of Britain there should be no objection in continuing to reflect this in the Doctor’s richly diverse identity - including her accent.”
