During the audience Q&A portion of Sunday, October 7th’s emotional Doctor Who panel at New York Comic Con, showrunner Chris Chibnall revealed that civil rights figure/activist Rosa Parks will be featured in the third episode of the show’s eleventh series.
After debuting the eleventh series’ premiere episode, the first full episode with Jodie Whittaker’s history-making female Doctor at its center, and a discussion with moderator Maude Garrett, panelists Chibnall, Whittaker and executive producer Matt Strevens fielded questions from audience members. Questions ranged from everything like the show’s renewed drive towards inclusivity to Whittaker’s experiences coming into this iconic role.
One curious fan, in particular, posed a question about what type of lasting impact the panelists hope the first female doctor leaves on the science fiction genre and larger sphere of pop culture, after sharing that he has written quite a lot about Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks being a Women Studies major. Whittaker answered the question by saying that she wants “it to be such a second of history that it becomes forgotten because it becomes the norm” and then let Chibnall chime in.
Chibnall shared his desire for unity and hope that the role can begin to heal the divides that exist between people, adding that the world is a better place when the doctor can be male, female, gender non-binary and of all ethnicities and sexual orientations. Just before wrapping up his answer, however, Chibnall directly addressed the fan who posed the question and said, “And I hope you enjoy episode three if you’ve been studying Rosa Parks.”
The crowd cheered at the exclusive information, and Chibnall further clarified saying that the actress Vinette Robinson will be portraying the African-American icon. Robinson’s previous work includes roles in Black Mirror, The A Word and even a 2007 episode of Doctor Who entitled “42”, in which she portrayed a medical officer named Abi Lerner on the S.S. Pentallian. Actor David Rubin is reportedly set to play Rosa Parks’ husband, Raymond Parks.
Parks, of course, has been called “the mother of the freedom movement” and is best known for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger to protest racial segregation in 1955’s Montgomery bus boycott.
Bigger and bolder than ever, this series marks the arrival of Jodie Whittaker, the Thirteenth Doctor – a super-smart force of nature, alongside a team of new and delightful characters. This series is full of action and adventure, humour and thrills – an unmissable drama everyone will enjoy.
Doctor Who Series 11 airs on Sundays on BBC One in the UK and on BBC America in the States.
