Paul McGann is backing Tilda Swinton to become the first female Doctor Who.

Paul McGann as Doctor Who

Paul McGann as Doctor Who

The 57-year-old actor portrayed the Eighth Doctor on screen in the one-off 1996 'Doctor Who' TV film and again in the 2013 mini-episode 'The Night of the Doctor' which preceded the 50th anniversary special 'The Day of the Doctor' which showed him regenerate into the War Doctor played by the late John Hurt.

Now Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi has decided to give the key to the TARDIS back, McGann thinks the time is right for a woman to take on the iconic role, especially as departing showrunner Steven Moffat has weaved the ability for the Time Lords, who come from the planet Gallifrey, to change sex into the show by turning infamous villain The Master into The Mistress played by Michelle Gomez.

Asked by the panel on 'Loose Women' on Thursday (09.03.17) if it we should get a female Doctor, he said: "Yeah, wherever you're from there's females yeah? There are Gallifreyan females. Steven Moffat, the writer, is fond of describing the character as 'one character, many faces', well how about a female one."

McGann was then asked to choose who he would like to see in the TARDIS out of the three actresses who are the favourites for the part, Tilda Swinton, Maxine Peake and Olivia Colman, and he picked 'Doctor Strange' star Tilda.

He said: "I'd go for Tilda because she's a great actor and because she's got that kind of David Bowie [androgynous] thing."

McGann has continued to play the Eighth Doctor in audio adventures and has attended conventions to meet fans ever since the late 90s.

When he was cast in the part, 'Doctor Who' had been off air since 1989 and the hope was that the movie - an American/Canadian/British co-production - would lead to a new series.

The proposed show never materialised because of a lack of viewing figures in the US and McGann thinks it's ironic that since the series was relaunched in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston as the leading man, it's fandom in America has continued to grow and grow.

He said: "When I first did it in '96, 20 years ago, the plan was to try and get it off the ground in the States because we thought there might be a few fans there, that was the dream to get an American TV series going but they couldn't find enough of them. Now, this is where 'Doctor Who' fandom is, it's in the States."

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