Presented without comment
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So, detractors, lemme see if I’ve got this straight. Patrick Troughton wanted this. Peter Davison wants this. Colin Baker wants this. Carole Ann Ford wants this. Louise Jameson wants this. Freema Agyeman wants this. Matt Smith wants this. Karen Gillan wants this. And now we have word that Sydney Newman, attributed with giving the show its lead’s name and basic mode of transport—the same man, I remind you, who hired a female showrunner in nineteen sixty-fucking-three—wanted this.
And somehow demanding a female Doctor is appropriation.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
—Wack’d
Here’s the original source for that fun fact. What I find most interesting is not just that Sydney Newman wanted the Doctor to be a woman, but that he wasn’t interested in making the female Doctor a gimmick. His letter says:
At a later stage Doctor Who should be metamorphosed into a woman. This requires some considerable thought – mainly because I want to avoid a flashy, Hollywood Wonder Women because this kind of heroine with no flaws is a bore. Given more time than I have now, I can create such a character.
Newman wanted a strong female character in every sense. He wanted her to be interesting, he wanted her to be complex, and he wanted her to be flawed.
So for all of you naysayers who think that a female Doctor would never be more than a ratings gimmick:
