“It was a really beautiful thing.”
Almost two years after her final episode, The Power of the Doctor, Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker has said she feels “protective” of how it ended, especially the scenes between the Thirteenth Doctor and companion Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill).
Legend of the Sea Devils, the previous special, saw Yaz admit her feelings for the Doctor – although the pair didn’t develop a romantic relationship in The Power of the Doctor.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of their Big Finish debut in the recently announced Thirteenth Doctor Adventures, Gill joked: “I’m not entirely sad [that there wasn’t a kiss] because Jodie doesn’t moisturise her lips!”
She added: “I don’t think of it as another version. That is the version. That’s where we left it. That’s how it happened.”
Whittaker added: “I’m quite protective over it. It was a really beautiful thing, particularly the scenes in the TARDIS – they were really wonderful to shoot, because that was our last day.
“And so we shot those and then went and sat on top of the TARDIS and then shot in isolation, straight after that, the moment of regeneration.
“And I think those beats, even though, story-wise, they don’t run all together, for us, because that’s how we shot it, it felt like a beautiful progression within the dynamic and the relationship that they had.
“And I think also it’s just, never say never! We’ve got adventures to do.”
She went on to joke: “We could be [kissing] in the background!”
Whittaker and Gill are currently midway through recording the Thirteenth Doctor Adventures, but were able to give us a sense of what’s to come.
Whittaker explained: “It’s kind of isolated stories – rather than it being about the Doctor and Yaz’s relationship, it’s the adventure of the episode.
“It’s these guys on their travels, what they come across, and their natural banter and rhythm between each other, but then also the protectiveness that they both have for each other.
“But we haven’t seen anything beyond this. So it could be that there’s an episode that…”
“That gives us time to explore,” Mandip finished. “But right now we’ve concentrated on the adventure in hand.”
Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures begins in July 2025. Doctor Who will return at Christmas on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.