Even if you don’t watch Doctor Who, watch this 5 minute clip of the regeneration of Peter Capaldi into Jodie Whitaker for a few reasons:
- It’s a popular culture breakthrough moment where an iconic hero character will now be a female
- It’s a writer saying goodbye to probably the coolest job he will ever have – in the form of the monologue he gives the character of The Doctor to perform as he regenerates – so when the character says things like “It’s a treadmill” and “Yes, yes I know, they’ll get it all wrong without me” he is, of course, speaking for himself.
- It’s also a writer using his podium to shout out his philosophy of life (which makes a nice New Years Eve kind of message: “Never be cruel. Never be cowardly. Hate is always foolish and love is always wise.” THAT’s why we all want to be writers – to teach empathy whenever we can.
- It’s an actor at the top of his game getting the kind of Shakespearean death few actors have the chance to perform
- It’s the moment the character switches from Capaldi to Whitaker and her first line upon seeing a female face is “Ah, brilliant” – which is one writer (Steven Moffat) complimenting another (Chris Chibnall) who had the creativity and hutzpah to finally make a choice that had been in discussions for 40 years.
Finally, If you follow Moffat’s writing at all, you’ll have noticed that throughout his tenure as the showrunner he continually focused on the importance of fairy tales to a society – even naming this episode “Twice Upon a Time”.
Check it out!
