Doctor Who: Steven Moffat blames Brexit voters for not casting a female Doctor sooner

Steven Moffat continues to defend his decision to not cast a woman as the Doctor during his tenure at Doctor Who.

The sci-fi series’ former showrunner and writer has spoken once again about why he didn’t buck the trend of casting men as the infamous Time Lord, saying he didn’t want to upset “Daily Mail reading-viewers.”

“We could have replaced Matt Smith with a woman, given that his Doctor was more sexless and less of a lad, but then I got obsessed with seeing Peter in the Tardis,” he told the Radio Times.

“This isn’t a show exclusively for progressive liberals; this is also for people who voted Brexit. That’s not me politically at all – but we have to keep everyone on board.”

Moffat has passed on the Doctor Who reins to Chris Chibnall, who straight away cast Jodie Whittaker to replace Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.

Capaldi’s last episode is also Moffat’s and it will air this Christmas with Jodie introduced as the regenerated Time Lord before leading her own series.

The episode called “Twice Upon a Time”, will see John Bradley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) play the First Doctor and Moffat suggests that his non-progressive attitude will cause the Twelfth Doctor to want to regenerate into a woman.

“Maybe seeing the whole span of his life as a man, seeing himself as the Hartnell Doctor, might make him think maybe it’s time to be a bit more progressive,” the writer says. “Looking at how the first Doctor was, he’s hilariously not progressive.”

People’s reactions to Moffat’s comments have been mixed on Twitter, with some failing to see the correlation between Brexit and a female Doctor. One user tweeted, “More bonkers nonsense from somebody who should know better. Steven Moffat appears to have lost his mind in some extra-terrestrial waffle fest.”

Another wrote: “Sorry, Steven, we’re struggling to see the link… #Brexit”

Though another fan said, “I agree with Steven Moffat, the world should not just be about #progressive-liberals.”

Jodie Whittaker was announced as the new Doctor early this year and last month her new costume was revealed.

She will be joined by companions played by Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill.

Doctor Who: Twice upon a Time will air on BBC1 on Christmas Day

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