‘Doctor Who’ Season 11 is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

Doctor Who‘s new season debuted on Sunday and it seems that Jodie Whittaker’s turn as the first woman to portray the iconic character isn’t just a hit with fans and in the ratings, but it’s critically a hit as well, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Doctor Who Season 11 is Certified Fresh according to Rotten Tomatoes, currently sitting at a 96 percent on the Tomatometer with 23 reviews. Check out their official tweet below.

Fans of the long-running series will likely not find this critical praise terribly surprising. Fans had an overwhelming positive reaction to the series premiere, even those who were skeptical about the idea of Whittaker taking on the role. The episode also broke ratings records. According to Deadline, the premiere brought in 8.2 million viewers in the UK, and a 4.01 percent share for BBC One.

For comparison, those numbers are staggering juxtaposed against the most recent previous season which featured Peter Capaldi as the titular time-traveler. That season debuted to only 4.6 million overnight viewers in the UK back in April 2017. Whittaker’s debut also outperformed the debut episodes of both David Tenant and Matt Smith, two of the series’ more popular Doctors to date, further cementing the idea that any apprehension there may have been about a female Doctor is a thing of the past.

Whittaker was announced as the new Doctor in July 2017 and has been open about what it means to her to play the iconic role.

“It’s more than an honor to play the Doctor,” Whittaker said in an interview. “It means remembering everyone I used to be while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope. I can’t wait.

“It feels completely overwhelming, as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you’re told you can and can’t be. It feels incredible.”

Whittaker also said that she made certain that she would be paid the same as her predecessor.

“It’s an incredibly important time and the notion [of equal pay] should be supported,” Whittaker said at an event earlier this year. “It’s a bit of a shock that it’s a surprise to everyone that it should be supported! I know I do not speak just on behalf of the women here, I speak on behalf of the men and the women.”

Did you watch Whittaker’s debut on Doctor Who? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.