LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - The first female Doctor will have to continue the fight to preserve hope and light in the universe, but there is one thing she won't have to struggle for: pay parity with her male predecessor.
BBC director-general Tony Hall told the Evening Standard that new star Jodie Whittaker will receive pay parity with Peter Capaldi when she takes on the role starting with 2017's Christmas special.
The news comes on the heels of the recent firestorm faced by the BBC after its top stars' salaries were released and it was revealed that the highest-paid female celebrity, Claudia Winkleman, makes less than a quarter of the highest-paid male star, "Top Gear's" Chris Evans, each year. In addition, only one-third of stars making over $194,000 (?150,000) per year are female.
Hall added that he was very pleased with the appointment of a female Time Lord.
"And I do think it is time for [the] 13th Time Lord to be a woman," he said. "I watched my first 'Doctor Who' in the '60s, hiding behind the sofa. As a devoted Whovian, I'm incredibly excited."
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Capaldi earned between $260,000 and $325,000 in 2016-17 year, according to the BBC's salary report, so it's likely she'll earn a similar figure.
Some fans were less than thrilled by the news of the first female Doctor; to those, the BBC had a rather terse response. "The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey and it has been established in the show that Time Lords can switch gender," it said in a statement.
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By Erin Nyren
