Actress Tilda Swinton is the frontrunner to become Doctor Who's next Time Lord, according to the latest bookmakers' odds.
The Oscar-winning British star would take over the role from departing actor Peter Capaldi, who recently announced he is stepping down from the series this year after entering the Tardis in 2013.
Ladbrokes has said Swinton, 56, has been the focus of a "huge gamble" from punters, with her odds now at 7/2 after initially having entered the market at 10/1.
Other names in the running include Death In Paradise's Kris Marshall at 4/1, Broadchurch's Olivia Colman at 5/1 and Maxine Peake, best known for Dinnerladies and Shameless, at 8/1.
The number of bets being placed on female stars highlights the calling for the first female Doctor when the character regenerates once again.
Ladbrokes spokeswoman Jessica Bridge said: "Whovian punters are becoming increasingly convinced the next Doctor will be female, and fingers are currently pointing towards Swinton."
Michelle Gomez, who plays Missy in the show, Captain America star Hayley Atwell and Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington are among those fans have said they would like to see in the role.
The BBC sci-fi series's outgoing executive producer Steven Moffat previously suggested that the Doctor could, at some point, be a woman.
He said: ''I think the next time might be a female Doctor. I don't see why not.''
Capaldi's final performance as the Doctor will be in the Christmas 2017 special episode.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel