Jodie Whittaker gives ‘Doctor Who’ the female touch

British actress Jodie Whittaker was unveiled Thursday as the first woman to play “Doctor Who,” telling fans of the cult BBC series she felt the weight of history – but that gender should be irrelevant.

The 36-year-old, who rose to fame in award-winning British drama “Broadchurch,” takes over from Scottish actor Peter Capaldi as the 13th incarnation of the Time Lord.

“I knew, obviously, being the first female it was going to have some extra responsibility thrown in,” she told 6,500 fans at the annual Comic-Con convention in San Diego, which hosted the cast’s first news conference together.

“It’s incredibly inclusive and it also feels, knowing that the fans are all over the world, like there’s this huge Whovian family that you want to be a part of because it’s so supportive and inclusive, and fun.”

Fans were treated last year to a brief glimpse of Whittaker, walking towards the Tardis in a forest, in a clip shown after the Wimbledon tennis final on BBC television.

At Comic-Con, which attracts 130,000 movie, TV and comics fans from around the world, BBC America dropped the first full trailer which opened with Whittaker’s startled expression,

“All of this is new to me,” she says, presumably after just regenerating. “New faces, new worlds. New times. So if I asked really, really nicely, would you be my new best friends?”

There were glimpses of the Doctor with her new sonic screwdriver, some impressive-looking shots of alien worlds and the first look at her three new companions.

She just nailed it

The adventures of the Doctor – a time traveling, humanoid alien who traverses the universe – have maintained a fervent following since they were first aired in 1963.

The new season gets a 10-episode run and although there is no announced release date, fans are expecting it to return in October.

Whittaker will work alongside “Broadchurch” creator Chris Chibnall, who takes over from Steven Moffat as the new showrunner.

“She just walked in the room and she was the Doctor. It was one of those things where you don’t know what you’re looking for until you see it, and the energy she brought was just the Doctor – but it was new, it was fresh,” said Chibnall.

“It was very funny, very emotional. It’s really exciting as a showrunner when you see them audition and you want to write instantly, and it suggests scenes. That’s what happened really – she just nailed it.”

The show is aired around the world, and marked its 50th anniversary four years ago with a special episode screened simultaneously in nearly 100 countries.

“The thing about this role, which is why it’s so amazing for any actor to play, is that essentially gender is irrelevant and that’s completely liberating,” Whittaker told the audience.

“As a woman who isn’t a genre, is just a woman, I have never approached a role thinking, ‘Oh, how do women do this?’ I’ve just done it from my perspective.”

Lots of support

Some 6,500 Comic-Con attendees cheered on the 13th "Doctor Who" Jodie Whittaker Thursday in San Diego in her first public appearance since getting the coveted role.

Whittaker is the first woman to play the role, which has also been occupied recently by Peter Capaldi and Matt Smith.

The actress described the Comic-Con experiences as “loud” and “amazing” and says she has felt “lots of support.”

Whittaker said it was “incredibly emotional” when her casting was announced a year ago. A viral video of a little girl responding to the news reminded her that she didn’t have a TV role model who looked like her when she was young, she said.

She said she knew that being the first female Doctor would have extra responsibility thrown in, but that she and her co-stars are standing on the shoulders of the 12 previous Doctors.

“Hopefully we make them all proud,” Whiteker said.

New showrunner Chris Chibnall said that switching up the Doctor’s gender was the “easiest decision ever.”

“The world was ready, the show was ready, the audience was ready, and the BBC was totally behind it from the start and then it was the question of finding the right person for the role and we had a great list of people and we got the best person for the part,” Chibnall said. “I think audiences are really going to fall in love with her this year.”

Many fans in the convention center’s Hall H waited in line overnight to get a spot in the panel. Some also wore their best Doctor Who costumes — men and women alike.

Little was revealed about the upcoming season of the highly secretive show, but the producers stressed that this new season will be accessible to all, fans and newcomers alike. In other words, don’t get scared off if you don’t know TARDIS from a Sonic Screwdriver.

“It’s a new volume in the story, it’s a new book of the tale of ‘Doctor Who’,” said executive producer Matt Strevens. “If you’ve never seen the show before it is the perfect time to start because you’ve got a brand new doctor. She’s figuring out who she is.”

The new season will debut on BBC America in the fall.