Peter Davison Rubbishes Female Doctor, Swipes at Michael Grade

Peter Davison has reopened a can of worms and gone on record to give his opinion on the casting of the Doctor

“I’ll probably get into trouble for saying this but I think it sort of has to be a man. To have a female would be like having a female James Bond. It would be a rather odd thing.”

The debate over the possibility of a female Doctor raged anew prior to the casting of Peter Capaldi earlier this year

“If you suddenly make the Doctor a woman, you effectively say, “Well, let’s give him a sex change” and I don’t think that works. I’m very happy for there to be a female Time Lord. I think my daughter is one and she is shooting around the universe now.”

Davison’s daughter Georgia, starred in the 2008 episode The Doctor’s Daughter and later went on to marry Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant. Davison also appears to take a swipe at the old enemy Michael “he who must not be named” Grade

“It went off the air, not because the viewing figures dropped off, but because the powers that be at the time didn’t want it on air. They wanted to get rid of it, they didn’t like it… I think nothing annoyed them more than when it came back as the most prestigious BBC programme at that time – it still is, in fact. Especially as one particular person was there when it came back.”

Grade was famously opposed to the show during his 1980s tenure at the BBC and held the position of BBC Chairman upon its return in 2005. Davison’s comments have certainly not gone down well in certain quarters with Kate Kinninmont, chief executive of Women in Film and TV, saying:

“Peter Davison was a brilliant Doctor Who, but I think his time travel gearstick has got ­horribly stuck in reverse.”

Claire Askew, a feminist commentator, seemed to suggest that the Doctor go beyond regeneration and have gender reassignment surgery: 

“His comments are quite silly. So what if Doctor Who had a sex change? It happens in this day and age. It would be groundbreaking and an ­interesting way to transform the Doctor from a man into a woman.”

Current Doctor Who showrunner Stephen Moffat certainly hasn’t been quiet on the issue before either, saying earlier this year following Peter Capaldi’s casting:

“It didn’t feel right to me, right now. I didn’t feel enough people wanted it. Oddly enough most people who said they were dead against it – and I know I’ll get into trouble for saying this – were women … saying, ‘No, no, don’t make him a woman!’… I like that Helen Mirren has been saying the next doctor should be a woman. I would like to go on record and say that the queen should be played by a man!”