Doctor Who showrunner says a woman will play the Time Lord - eventually

Steven Moffat says a woman will eventually play 'Doctor Who'.

Doctor Who showrunner says a woman will play the Time Lord - eventually

Steven Moffat says a woman will eventually play 'Doctor Who'.

The lead writer and executive producer of the BBC sci-fi series would cast a female as the titular Time Lord if the right actress came along to play the character.

Speaking to reporters at the Sky Women in Television and Film Awards in London today, he said: "We've been laying in the possibility for an awfully long time, but you don't cast that way. I know I'm going to get in trouble for saying that - you cast a person, you don't cast the gender."

The 53-year-old showrunner is adamant the Doctor - who is currently played by Peter Capaldi - does not have to be a male, and he proved this by making villainous Time Lord The Master a woman - renamed as The Mistress and played by Michelle Gomez - for the first time.

He continued: "But we did just make the female Master, she turns up and the Doctor doesn't say anything about it, he doesn't react at all, he thinks that's perfectly normal. It's not impossible no, it is entirely down to who the best person is."

Even though a female has never played the Doctor, more women have been hired to work behind the scenes on the programme in recent years.

He said: "We've had two female directors last year and I can honestly say that Rachel Talalay gave us the most macho 'Doctor Who' we had ever had. There was a load of explosions and soldiers and shouting. They bring their brilliance whatever their individual brilliance is."

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