Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat defends not casting female Doctor

When will Doctor Who feature a female Doctor? It is one of the most commonly-asked questions out there, but it is also one without an answer. Maybe it will come in December during the Christmas Special, or at some other point down the timeline.

The ultimate truth here is that this is an almost-impossible question to ask given that it is one without a definite answer. You can claim sexism if you want, or you can claim that the showrunners in power over the years have just cast who they felt was the right person for the role. You can argue that you don’t want to cast a woman just for the sake of doing so, but in the rather-vast pool of contenders you have to believe that there are many worthy women, right?

It’s complicated, and ultimately, we don’t begrudge anyone for feeling the way that they do. It would be great to see a female Doctor someday, so we will leave it at that and leave some of the debates on the subject up to the people in power.

For now, let’s just present some of the latest Steven Moffat comments from his BBC Radio 4 interview, ones where he defends the casting of Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi over possible female choices:

“I didn’t not cast a woman… I cast a man. I didn’t [cast a female Doctor] because I wanted to cast Matt Smith and I wanted to cast Peter Capaldi … I didn’t think it was a terrible idea [to have a female Doctor], I just thought, ‘I want to cast those people’ – that was it.”

You can actually view this statement through the same lens as everything just said. Smith and Capaldi were both brilliant Doctors, and you can argue that Capaldi is a darkhorse Emmy contender at the moment much as he’s been the past year or two. Yet, you can also argue that there were many worthy women who also could have produced the same quality of work.

The purpose of this piece is to not look as though we are intentionally being wishy-washy. Instead, it is more to illuminate that there are many different views on the subject and none of them are necessarily wrong. If the internet actually showed more empathy for alternate points of view, wouldn’t it be a far better place to call home?

Of course, we welcome that you share some further thoughts on this topic below! 

Meanwhile, head over here to get some additional news right now when it comes to Doctor Who. (Photo: BBC.)