For those that haven’t yet heard, the BBC have cast Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor. She will take over from Peter Capaldi in December’s Christmas special which also stars David Bradley.

Whittaker (note the double “tt”‘s for all you Christopher Ecclestone or Peter Davidson fans out there) is a 35 year old actress best known for starring in Broadchurch as Beth Latimer for three seasons, where she worked with both previous Doctor David Tennant and incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall (who indicated that he was only going to cast a woman in the role of the 13th Doctor).

A few less obvious facts than the fact that she’s the first woman to be cast in the role (canonically speaking before all the Joanna Lumley fans bash me). Whittaker is the fourth youngest actor or actress to be cast in the role (only Matt Smith, Peter Davison, and David Tennant - who was about to turn 35 when he was announced as having landed the role). She also takes over from Sylvester McCoy as the shortest person to play the part as she is 5 foot 4 (McCoy is 5 foot 5). She is also first mother to play the role of the Doctor on television as this picture attests.

We wish both Jodie and the franchise the best of luck and hope that this is a success.