Late last month, Doctor Who fans new and old all erupted with hype when the beloved 10th Doctor, David Tennant, returned after Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor regenerated. Except, he’s not the 10th Doctor anymore, he’s now the 14th. Even though he’s taken the same form. What?
Tennant will be starring in a series of special 60th anniversary episodes airing in November 2023 (so quite a wait ahead, then), before regenerating again into the 15th Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education). It’s all very exciting stuff.
Take a look at Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration scene (and David Tennant’s return) in the clip below.
However, one detail in the most recent regeneration scene stuck out to fans, and that’s the fact that the Doctor’s clothes also changed this time. As Radio Times writes, the Doctor normally keeps whatever clothes they were wearing in their last form when they take on a new one, but showrunner Russell T Davies has given good reason why this wasn’t the case on this occasion.
"I was very certain that I didn’t want David to appear in Jodie’s costume,” Davies told Doctor Who Magazine (via Radio Times). “I think the notion of men dressing in ‘women’s clothes’, the notion of drag, is very delicate. I’m a huge fan of that culture and the dignity of that, it’s truly a valuable thing.
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"But it has to be done with immense thought and respect. With respect to Jodie and her Doctor, I think it can look like mockery when a straight man wears her clothes. To put a great big six-foot Scotsman into them looks like we’re taking the mickey."
He explained that he was concerned that if Tennant had regenerated in Whittaker’s clothing, the outfit would have been pictured in newspapers "for the rest of time". He said: "If they can play with gender in a sarcastic or critical way, they will. We could have the Doctor dressed as a knight, or dressed as God, or dressed as William Hartnell, and the only photo they’d print would be of David in what they considered to be women’s clothes."
Doctor Who will return next year, when the series will also be added to Disney+.
Topics: TV And Film