Peter Capaldi says a woman Doctor Who 'next time' is a good idea

Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi reckons the time could be right for a woman to take over.

With a woman playing the Doctor's enemy Missy in the most recent series of Doctor Who, speculation has been rife of late, that the next person to take on the lead role might be a woman.

Current Doctor Peter Capaldi believes that the first woman to take the part might be coming soon. "There easily could be a female Doctor," said Capaldi in an interview with sci-fi magazine SFX. "I think the next time might be a female Doctor. I don't see why not. I think it's good to do that."

In the recently aired BBC series, Michelle Gomez played the Doctor's arch-enemy, traditionally a man known as The Master. "It does suggest all kinds of interesting stuff," said Capaldi. "They have a total love/hate relationship anyway but they were both men for a long time, and still have that love-hate relationship, and we will see more of that probably. It's interesting, being able to swap like that."

Doctor Who lead writer Steven Moffat said that it's something the team are discussing. "We've been laying in the possibility for an awfully long time, but you don't cast that way," he said, according to The Mail. "We did just make the female Master, she turns up and the Doctor doesn't say anything about it, he doesn't react at all, he thinks that's perfectly normal. It's not impossible no, it is entirely down to who the best person is."