Who's next: End of an era as 'Doctor Who' gets a new star

Can't wait. I'm sorry to see Capaldi go as he has been one of the best Doctors, but I'm looking forward to Whittaker.

Note to writer - the Doctor is a Timelord, it's gender neutral.

I’m in agreement with Luddite here, except for one thing, the gender neutral business.

Why were Mary Tamm, and later Lalla Ward, who both played Romana, referred to as Time Ladies, or does the show only matter since 2005?

saying that though, I wish Jodie Whitaker all the best, can’t wait to see how she does in the show.

or does the show only matter since 2005?

How very dare you. I doubt very much if your Who memories are older than mine.

It may have been Timelady back in the 70's but not now. A lot of things, language included, has changed since the 70's. Those involved with the programme have been referring to the next Doctor as a Timelord. To quote a line from The Day of the Doctor "The software's the same, it's just the outer casing that's changed".

Capaldi was, on reflection, my favorite Doctor since Tom Baker back in the day. I had the opportunity to meet the great man when he was doing a book signing session but chickened out. It's the only time I ever was phased by meeting someone in the public eye.

Capaldi I'd been a fan of for donkeys years and more recently, his Malcolm Tucker from "The Thick of It" is one of television's greatest creations. A pity the scripts didn't always serve him until his final season.

Hopefully Netflix will not keep us in suspense too long before his swan song today.

So excited for the Christmas special and the new series! Even though I have no idea where to watch it in Japan. Haha.

I might just watch this just to see the sex change!

I haven't taken Dr who seriously since the days of Tom Baker.

For a young Peter Capaldi, I'd recommend the film Local Hero (1983).

I hope see fixes the Tardis -it's been too long for its shape changing ability to be on the blink..

I was hoping that they'd turn the Clara character into Romana III but to no avail. Capaldi didn't work for me but given that I've watched DW since I was a kid I get that there's enough change in the show that you might find another Doctor that you do like

LudditeDec. 25  09:40 am JST

It may have been Timelady back in the 70's but not now. A lot of things, language included, has changed since the 70's. 

Missy was referring to herself as a Time Lady in Series 8 and 9:

Dalek: YOU ARE A TIME LORD!

Missy: Time Lady. Some of us can afford the upgrade.

Pukey2Dec. 25  04:10 pm JST

I haven't taken Dr who seriously since the days of Tom Baker.

I find it pretty hard to take Underworld, The Invasion of Time or The Horns of Nimon seriously. In my view the later Tom Baker period around 1977-9 really isn't all that good.

I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a wishy-washy girlie thing now just for the sake of putting a Woman into the picture as that would ruin the show, plus look bad upon the whole Women thing that's the current fad.

Twice Upon a Time was absolutely fantastic. You could hear a pin drop in our full and usually noisy home, we were all choked up at the end. Bradley was great, Capaldi was fantastic as always, we will miss you Peter. Jodie's brief introduction was 'brilliant'.

I hope see fixes the Tardis -it's been too long for its shape changing ability to be on the blink..

Nah. It was tried in the Colin Baker era and quickly abandoned. The TARDIS gets makeovers but it's iconic retro shell is just too ingrained to ditch. IMHO, natch.

Loving this tweet:

Absolutely overwhelmed and can't quite put into words how happy this makes me seeing how far we've come as a society and progressive we are at last.

Finally we can now say...

THE DOCTOR IS FROM YORKSHIRE

Caught the last 5 minutes. Maybe it's because I haven't watched it in years, but it just wasn't my cuppa tea. Too much soliloquy. I only know the next doctor because of her appearance in Black Mirror.

Simon:

I never really took Dr Who seriously. As a kid, I just enjoyed it. I don't know the names of any of the stories, but I do remember being freaked out by the stereotypical Fu Manchu-like character and a story involving spiders. But by the mid-eighties, it really did become embarrassing, with the likes of Sylvestor and Bonnie.

Pukey2Today  06:59 pm JST

I never really took Dr Who seriously. As a kid, I just enjoyed it. I don't know the names of any of the stories, but I do remember being freaked out by the stereotypical Fu Manchu-like character...

That sounds like Talons of Weng-Chiang, which is generally held up to be pretty good.

... and a story involving spiders.

Possibly Planet of the Spiders, which I saw recently and found utterly awful.

But by the mid-eighties, it really did become embarrassing, with the likes of Sylvestor and Bonnie.

The Controller of BBC1 and the Head of Drama thought so too and deliberately let it become more embarrassing as a pre-text for cancelling it. To quote Jonathan Powell, the aforementioned Head of Drama:

"The only way of resuscitating [Doctor Who] would have been to put a new producer on it – but we didn't want to resuscitate it."

Perhaps I am one of the few, who have watched the whole Doctor Who Series from start to present....

The "Twice upon a time Christmas" special was itself a good blend of Characters from past and present, however the transformation of the main character to a Woman puts the program into the dangerous realm of killing the current series - just like the re-rmake of Ghost Busters did.

A spin-off would perhaps have been safer, though this branch is going to be monumental... if it fails, then take heed other similar remakes... and if it succeeds, then a benchmark will have been set against all will be judged.

Only... Time will Tell.

mmwkdwToday  12:06 am JST

The "Twice upon a time Christmas" special was itself a good blend of Characters from past and present, however the transformation of the main character to a Woman puts the program into the dangerous realm of killing the current series - just like the re-rmake of Ghost Busters did.

The Ghostbusters remake was a radical re-imaging, as opposed to the kind of sequel with the same cast that I suspect a lot of people would have preferred. What they have done with Doctor Who is quite different - over the past few years the idea that human notions of gender are meaningless in alien civilisations like the Doctor's has been worked into the cosmology of a continuation of the original series, and with various other Time Lords being seen to change genders I think they have been trying to get viewers comfortable with the idea that it could happen to the Doctor. It could all backfire, of course.

The Doctor is an alien that can change their body when the old one wears out. Ghostbusters are human.

Change, my dear. And it seems not a moment too soon...