Long farewell: Jodie Whittaker will be hanging up her sonic screwdriver at the end of 2021
(Picture: BBC Studios/Zoe McConnell)Calling all Doctor Who fans: Jodie Whittaker may have found her own replacement when the time comes to hand over the keys to the Tardis this autumn.
Speaking to Radio Times, Whittaker admitted that It’s A Sin star Lydia West was her favourite for the role.
"Who do I think will take over from me as the Doctor? Lydia West would absolutely smash it. But I don’t know,” she explained.
"I think the joy of the role is that you don’t really know until it’s announced. And then you think, ‘Yeah, of course!’"
This isn’t the first time that West’s name has been mentioned. At Christmas, Whittaker told BBC Radio 1 that “an actress who I think is really exciting and I think would be phenomenal [in the role] is Lydia West. If I had the power!"
28-year-old West only made her debut three years ago, but since then she has notched up some of the biggest shows on television, starring in It’s a Sin, Years and Years and Apple TV+’s upcoming thriller Suspicion.
She has also worked with returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies on multiple occasions – which would make her a frontrunner for the role when the writer steps back into the role next year, on the show’s 60th anniversary.
West has also addressed the rumours herself.
“The fact I’ve been named as one of the favourites is quite special. So I mean, it would be an honour to be the Doctor. I’m glad people think I could do it," she told Radio Times last year.
Other favourites to take on the role include Hugh Grant (who personally nixed the rumours earlier this year), Richard Ayoade and West’s former It’s a Sin colleague, singer Olly Alexander.
Whittaker became the first-ever female Doctor when she assumed the role in 2017 – which would make West a potential second.
Whittaker is currently in the middle of her last year as Doctor. Instead of a conventional season, the show is releasing three feature-length specials marking her departure, the second of which – The Legend of the Sea Devils – was released on Easter Sunday.
She is due to regenerate in the third special, which will be released this autumn.
