Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker Will Be Paid As Much As Her Male Predecessor

Earlier this week, the BBC came under fire when it revealed that its male TV personalities are paid substantially more than its female personalities across the board. So it's a bit of good publicity (and good business) that new Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker will be paid the same as Peter Capaldi, her male predecessor in the role.

BBC Director-General Tony Hall told the Evening Standard that "there is parity for the same amount of work."

The exact figure Whittaker will be paid has not been publicly confirmed, but BBC's salary disclosure earlier this week shows that Capaldi was paid between 200,000 and 249,999 pounds in 2016/17 for playing the 12th Doctor on the long-running sci-fi series.

The BBC still has a problem with pay disparity between male and female employees, with Top Gear's Chris Evans, its highest-paid male personality, being paid almost 2 million pounds more than its highest-paid female personality Claudia Winkleman, who hosts four shows. Hall has vowed to have equality in the numbers of men and women appearing on-air, and in the amount they are paid, by 2020.

Hall also addressed another controversy around Whittaker's casting, with some fans upset that a woman will be taking on a roll that has always been played by a man previously. "I do think it is time for 13th Time Lord to be a woman," he said, echoing the sentiment of the BBC's complaints department, which responded to the controversy earlier this week. "I watched my first Doctor Who in the '60s, hiding behind the sofa. As a devoted Whovian, I'm incredibly excited."