Equal pay for female ‘Doctor Who’

Jodie Whittaker

English actress Jodie Whittaker, who will play the time-traveling alien hero in “Doctor Who,” confirmed recently that she demanded the same salary as the previous main actor, Peter Capaldi.

“I don’t imagine you’re going to meet a woman this evening who is unenthusiastic about the prospect of equal pay,” Whittaker told reporters at the National Television Awards. “It’s an incredibly important time, and [equal pay is] a notion that should be supported.”

Whittaker’s casting last year as the first female Doctor, after a dozen male actors in the long-running show, was met with support and disapproval—the latter from viewers who wanted the regenerating hero to stay a man.—OLIVER PULUMBARIT