Clamour for woman as ‘Dr Who’

Press, 29 December 1986, Page 15

Clamour for woman as ‘Dr Who’

From

ROBIN CHARTERIS

in London The search for “Dr Who” No. 7 has begun, with women’s rights campaigners urging the 8.8. C. to turn him into a woman. The actor Colin Baker has left the role after three years of time travel on the popular television series. “Dr Who has been screening for 23 years with no signs of it being

axed by the 8.8. C. It had planned to use Baker, aged 41, for the first four episodes of a new 14-part series. But Baker has turned down the offer. A 8.8. C. spokesman said the actor had been offered four episodes because normally the doctor is “regenerated” in the middle of a series. British Labour members of the European Parliament have written to the 8.8. C. asking for

the role to be given to a woman "to help break down barriers against women.”

“It is high time a woman played the part Children have for years seen a man as the hightech wizard, with women as mere assistants,” said the two male and two female members of an E.E.C. women’s right committee meeting in London, in a letter to the 8.8. C. Director-General, Mr Alasdair Milne.