Thirteenth Doctor (The Curse of Fatal Death)

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The Female Doctor

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"Thirteenth Doctor (The Curse of Fatal Death)" is a title based upon conjecture.

Check the behind the scenes section, the revision history and discussion page for additional comments on this article's title.

Thirteenth Doctor
Species:	Time Lord
Place of origin:	Gallifrey
Appearance:	The Curse of Fatal Death
Main actor:	Joanna Lumley

You may be looking for another Thirteenth Doctor.

The Curse of Fatal Death Doctors

Alternate counterparts ofThirteenth Doctor

An incarnation who logically would have been called the Thirteenth Doctor was the result of the regeneration of the Twelfth Doctor.

Biography

The Thirteenth Doctor came about after her previous incarnation regenerated after being hit by zectronic energy. This was unexpected as those present at the death of the Twelfth Doctor assumed that the zectronic energy cancelled the regeneration process.

With the Doctor now regenerated into a woman, she was abandoned by her companion and lover Emma and their previous plans to marry her were cancelled. However, the Doctor and the Master found each other much more attractive than before and walked off together. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)

Behind the scenes

• In an early draft of the script, written prior to casting, this incarnation was referred to as "The Lady Doctor", and described only as "a beautiful woman". Her final name, used in the behind-the-scenes documentary and in Doctor Who Magazine credits, was "The Female Doctor".
• The Thirteenth Doctor from the 2005 revival, introduced in Twice Upon a Time, was, in fact, a woman, with blond hair and a smiling demeanour. She was played by Jodie Whittaker, 18 years after Lumley's Doctor had her appearance in The Curse of Fatal Death.
• The Master's statement that the dying Ninth Doctor had "many, many more" bodies would imply an unrecorded circumvention of the twelve regeneration life cycle, such that Lumley's Doctor may not necessarily be the final incarnation of the Fatal Death line of Doctors as observers would expect of a Thirteenth Doctor. Incidentally, later developments would place Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor beyond the original life cycle of the mainstream Doctors.
• The inclusion of a woman as the Thirteenth Doctor addressed long-standing fan speculation, at the time, that the Doctor could at some point change sexes while regenerating. The theory had been supported by Tom Baker. During the Steven Moffat era, the Master and the General both changed genders during regeneration. Finally, the Thirteenth Doctor herself was a woman, ending the debate once and for all in 2017.
• Fans had for years thought Joanna Lumley a candidate for the role of the Doctor, should they ever cast a woman in the role. She had earlier played Sapphire, a non-human time detective in the cult fantasy series Sapphire & Steel.
• Lawrence Miles's novel pitch The War, as well as at least one other pitch by David A. McIntee, would have featured this incarnation of the Thirteenth Doctor.
• An alternate female incarnation of the Doctor would also appear in AUDIO: Exile, played by Arabella Weir.