Over the last couple of years there have been numerous reports on the internet about Jodie Whittaker and / or Chris Chibnall quitting the show. At least one of these rumours made it to the mainstream media, and the BBC eventually said it was nonsense.
Today we have another report that she is leaving, which has come from a Sunday newspaper writer who, apparently, is often proven to be accurate in her stories.
This new story says only that Jodie is leaving (at the conclusion of Series 13), but Chibnall remains where he is.
She will have completed three series, over four years, by the time the next series ends, which is par for the course these days. Tennant, Smith and Capaldi all did three full series over four years, thanks to gap years or split seasons.
This might give the latest rumour some verisimilitude. If true, we would have a regeneration either at the end of Series 13, around November / December 2021, or possibly at New Year 2022, if they are able to fit a festive special into the limited production run this year.
It should be remembered that November 2023 Mark's the programme's 60th Anniversary, so if you were going to have a new Doctor for that then they really ought to have had a chance to get settled in, with a couple of seasons under their belt. Otherwise, Whittaker would need to stay on and be the Doctor for the 60th, which she simply might not want to do, if keen to take on other work. Again, this might make this new story more likely to be true.
The BBC don't actually have to say anything about this until they absolutely have to, when it becomes unavoidable such as a new Doctor going to be spotted on location. A new Doctor doesn't even need to be cast for a regeneration story, as they can do their bit later on and be edited in, as when Tennant joined, or when John Simm took over from Derek Jacobi as the Master.
At the moment this all needs to be filed under Rumour, but do watch this space.
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