Former Doctor Who Tom Baker says he is 'thrilled' that Huddersfield actress Jodie Whittaker will play the Doctor.

But Baker, who played the fourth incarnation of the Time Lord, says he had comedian and screenwriter Dawn French in mind for the 13th Doctor.

Jodie, originally from Skelmanthorpe, will appear as the Doctor in a new series of the long-running sci-fi series which begins on Sunday 7 October at 6.45pm.

Baker, 84, told GQ Magazine he was thrilled that Jodie, a former Shelley College student, had been picked for the role.

He said: “Maybe they’ll invite me back as her assistant in one scene or another. It would be very nice, wouldn’t it? In a sequence where she found me somewhere in some old people’s home, where actually perhaps there were several old Doctors.”

But he said he would have cast Dawn French as the 13th Doctor.

He told GQ magazine: “I would have thought Dawn French would have been a good Doctor Who because she’s got such a wry sense of humour and also has a way with her that faintly suggests she’s got secrets.”

Dawn French
Dawn French
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Actor David Bradley, who took over the part of the first Doctor from late actor William Hartnell, previously worked with Jodie on Broadchurch and said he was “delighted” when he heard she had been cast as the first female Doctor.

He said: “I have to say, as we saw in Broadchurch, she’s got this emotional reserve that is kind of like, there’s no limit to it, she just tells it like it is.

Jodie Whittaker will be the first female star of Doctor Who
Jodie Whittaker will be the first female star of Doctor Who

“She’s capable of great emotion and passion and, at the same time, anybody who has hung out with her for a while, which I did, knows that she’s also got a wicked sense of humour and she’s just got that kind of playfulness.

“I think she’s got all the skills that are needed.”

He added: “Because I think the Doctor basically, he’s got this child-like quality, curiosity about the universe and everything in it, and that sense of fun, and playfulness. And he gets it wrong sometimes, he’s not perfect, sometimes he gets them into deep water and nearly kills himself and everybody else with him, so he’s not the lone ranger, he’s not perfect, which makes him very vulnerable, and to me that makes him human.

“I think Jodie will be fantastic.”