Is there a secret message inside the new Doctor Who logo?
Jodie Whittaker’s new insignia might include a clever hidden reference to the Thirteenth Doctor
We finally have a new logo for Doctor Who, and it’s fair to say it’s a bit of a departure. Orangey-gold with a burning streak through the centre, it’s a bold new look for a bold new Time Lord – but could it also be concealing a clever nod to Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker?
Just take a look at the last couple of letters in the second word, which include the line of the capital H cutting through the centre of the O (also seen in the new insignia, below).
This streak could be a shooting star or (as suggested in the accompanying launch animation) the Tardis itself, but it also transforms the letters into something that resembles a familiar symbol – the so-called Venus symbol, which represents the female gender.
Not sure what we’re talking about? Well, here’s the end of the Doctor Who logo rotated 90 degrees next to the Venus symbol, an astrological denotation that has come to be commonly used to represent women in popular culture. Spot the similarities?
While they’re far from an exact match, given that the new series of Doctor Who will see the debut of the first female incarnation of the Doctor played by Whittaker, it seems like an incredibly appropriate nod to the big change. The future is female, after all – so why not have the logo pay tribute to that?
And even if it’s a pure coincidence that wasn’t intentionally included by designers Little Hawk, it already has us searching for other intriguing secrets within the logo. Could the long, thin words and slightly off-centre H include Gallifreyan lettering? Are scientific symbols hidden amongst the lines? Or does the slightly Eastern-influenced look of the logo and accompanying insignia hint at adventures to come for the Thirteenth Doctor?
We’re sure that dedicated Whovians will soon find the truth, even if that truth is that this is just a nice new font that we’ve spent WAY too long over-analysing. Get to it!
Doctor Who returns to BBC1 this autumn
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.