Former Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker has opened up about the backlash to her casting as the 13th Doctor. The actress made TV history in 2017 when she became the first woman to play The Doctor. While many Doctor Who fans and all of Whittaker's successors were publicly supportive,

In Toxic Town – which also stars Aimee Lou Wood, Robert Carlyle and Rory Kinnear – Whittaker plays real-life campaigner Susan McIntyre, who led the fight to bring the Corby toxic waste case in front of a court.

Whittaker also balked at the idea that her casting meant the character was no longer a role model for boys. “It’s never been questioned that I had to look up to men,” she said. “So it was fascinating that for some, we [women] could not be role models. The Doctor is still the Doctor. But also, I was playing an alien! My gender was not the issue.”

Jodie Whittaker has said that boys did not look up to her when she was cast as the first female Doctor...