Jodie Whittaker '˜not being paid less than other Doctors'

She was named the first female Time Lord last year, shortly before the BBC got embroiled in an unequal pay row after it emerged many women were paid less than men for doing similar jobs.

However, Whittaker, who was born in Skelmanthorpe, said the issue was not relevant to the much-loved sci-fi programme.

Asked if she knew what former Doctors pocketed, the Broadchurch star said: “I absolutely know I’m not being paid less than any other Doctor.

“It is not the show to set that standard. This show is not the show that’s going to do that and then have that revelation be the sidebar – it isn’t, thank God.

“That’s not going to be an awkward press conference for me!”

Whittaker, 36, said she appreciates being part of “a moment of change”.

She said: “When I was growing up those characters didn’t look like us doing those things. Those were the white guys running about saving the day, doing really cool stuff, and if you were lucky, when I was a kid, you may be clapped at the side and may be passed something to help the really heroic moment happen.

“So to be in the moment of change for that is incredibly exciting, particularly because it’s in a world where it’s absolutely true of this character.

“We’ve just got back from Comic-Con so it’s been an incredibly inclusive time because it’s not as fearful as everyone maybe imagined when they took the hood down and it was a girl.

“For us it’s 2018. Women are not a genre, we are just the other half of the population, so to see us doing things shouldn’t be such a surprise, but I know it is because I watch TV and film and we are less active often in things, or we are the emotional point of view of a storyline rather than the active one.

Whittaker will make her debut as the Doctor when the BBC One series returns in a new Sunday slot on October 7.