Jodie Whittaker debuts in America

Finally, a world of Doctor Who Fans have seen the result of a very brave and controversial decision, unprecedented in the 55-year history of the series.

That's right: in the Sunday episode, for the first time in its history, most characters in the series – including the lead role – speak with a broad Yorkshire accent.

Fortunately, this trail has been traced by The iron ThroneI therefore hope that most American audiences will understand what the hell is talking about this crew from Sheffield.

Oh yes, and Jodie Whittaker is the first woman to play doctor. But judging by a packed crowd of fans at Madison Square Garden, where Whittaker and new showrunner Chris Chibnall watched and discussed his first live episode with New York Comic Con attendees, this party did not do it. object of controversy.

It was rather cathartic, welcome, very emotional and, especially after this week, not a minute in advance. As producer Matt Strevens pointed out, 83% of social media reactions to the Whittaker nomination were positive.

"Angry voices may seem the strongest, but they are not the most representative," said Whittaker, dismissing the 17 percent. "I do not let it demolish me because it's silly."

After the projected episode, an equal number of women and men lined up at the microphones, eager to be the first to welcome Whittaker. who family – and eager for any word of wisdom from the Doctor likely to dispel an omnipresent feeling of injustice and helplessness.

But there was little Whittaker could add to the general sense of the catharsis of the episode itself. "The woman who fell on Earth" was widely regarded as a character-centric triumph that restarted the series successfully and, as Chibnall says, "traced a gold thread that dates back to 1963". (He then thanked the brave BBC producer who had launched the show at the time, 27-year-old Verity Lambert.)

The composition of three companions (policewoman Yasmin, her old school friend Ryan and her great-grandfather Graham) deliberately recalled the inhabitants of TARDIS (1963). The plot was the most classic Whovian narrative possible – the extraterrestrials have nothing good on Earth (in this case, chase the man for sport). A group of Britons are attracted, one is killed and the Doctor mocks the big bad extraterrestrial and gives a speech just to defend the Earth.

The fact that the great battle took place at the top of a Sheffield crane from which, as one sign pointed out, "a fall can cause death" was also a reminder. It reminded of the death of the fourth doctor, beloved, wearing a scarf, Tom Baker, who had met an infamous and despicable purpose in falling from a similar scaffolding.

This time, the doctor survived his jump into the unknown. And her talk to "Tim Shaw" – a laughable name she adopted for a frightening alien who stuck her victims' teeth in her face – was a manifesto for the series and for all of us.

"We are all capable of the most incredible change," she said. "We can honor who we have been and choose who we want to be next."

Amen to that. In fact, Whittaker's overall impression of the screen was a sense of non-fear, fierce intelligence and gift of the gab – qualities that unite all the best portraits of the Doctor.

Even the minority of fans who did not like his cast, the 17%, were represented. A character named Karl, a crane operator, continually repeats phrases from an assertive training audio book – he counts, he is important. It turns out that it is, of course; he is the human being designated for hunting.

Other viewers could have killed Karl. His Star Wars counterpart, Kylo Ren, is a very revealing portrait of privileged fandom. But Chibnall is determined to exceed our expectations.

He also does this at the end of the episode: we assume that Ryan will overcome his dyspraxia and learn to ride a bicycle, but it is not so simple. (A Madison Square Garden fan who suffers from the same problem was extremely grateful to him.)

We assume that new companions will end up on the lost TARDIS; instead, they and the doctor are accidentally transported to the void of space, their throats tight. And there ends, on the most promising Doctor Who Cliffhanger in some time. At Madison Square Garden, they cheered.

Whatever happens, it is safe to assume that the American reactivated fans of the Doctor are extremely present.