Doctor Who fans really want Jodie Whittaker's Doctor to keep her Northern accent
Lots of planets have a north and fans think Thirteen's should be no exception
“Lots of planets have a North” said Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor when his companion, Rose Tyler, asked him why an alien would sound as though they were from the North of England.
And now Doctor Who fans are echoing his sentiments, saying they'd like Jodie Whittaker to keep her Yorkshire accent when she takes over the Tardis as the Thirteenth Doctor.
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Doctors of old have often opted to keep their natural accents, but Scottish actor David Tennant was asked to adopt the estuary English style he’d used in Russell T Davies’ Casanova when he was cast in the role.
“Russell said we’d like to not go for another obvious regional accent, because I suppose they’d done that”, Tennant said in an interview with SFX. “Not that, I hasten to add, a slightly off-London accent isn’t a regional accent, because it is, but it reads slightly more generically than a Scottish accent does.”
We asked more than 2,500 Whovians for their thoughts on what Jodie Whittaker should do with her own accent when it came to the role and a whopping 84% said she should keep it.
"If Sylvester McCoy and Peter Capaldi can keep their Scottish accents (I'm sure Gallifrey has a Scotland somewhere) and Tom Baker, Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston can keep their northern accents, why not?" asked Daniel Hughes on Facebook.
"Yes, yes. It will be brilliant hearing that accent!' said Gavy Lad. "If Capaldi's Scottish accent can help him complain, Whittakers accent will help her in ways unthought of."
Ryan Price-Stephens was 100% in favour of Whittaker keeping her natural voice for the role, but he wouldn't mind if she tried out a different accent either. "Why not a different accent each episode?" suggested Stephen McConnell.
And Tony Lewis is keen to hear her deliver her lines in the same way she delivered her response to her casting. "I thought the way she described seeing herself being announced as the next Doctor on TV in her natural accent was really lovely, warm, and funny," he wrote.
"Yes, that's the first thing I thought," agreed Simon Keith Bromley. "Those first press interviews she gave, she just sounded so joyful. It's brilliant! She must keep it!"
"We need a feisty Yorkshire accent" Julie Macklin added.
Will we get one? Well, we'll have to wait until Christmas and the much-hyped regeneration to find out.
Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this Christmas
