Doctor Who season 11 premiere preview: The first female Doctor officially arrives

A new era begins on Doctor Who as the iconic sci-fi series’ first female Doctor debuts in “The Woman Who Fell to Earth.”

It’s finally happening. After over a year of excitement, wild speculation and just general flailing around: A female Doctor officially arrives on Doctor Who as of this weekend in the form of Jodie Whittaker.

And it’s hard to overstate what a big deal this all is. The future is female, indeed.

Doctor Who season 11 will be groundbreaking in many different ways. Most obviously, it will be the first installment in the show’s storied 55-year history to feature a woman in the lead role. But Whittaker is hardly the only new thing about Doctor Who this year.

Season 11 will also feature three new companions of varying genders, ethnicities and ages, a new showrunner and an increasingly diverse behind-the-scenes crew of writers and directors. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but: This show is 55 years old and is only just now getting its first writers of color I mean, well done and all. But, whew.)

Plus, the series is moving broadcast nights and will now air on Sundays. In short: There’s a lot going on this year.

Happily, the season 11 premiere, entitled “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” looks to pick up right where we left off after Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi’s regeneration at the end of Christmas special “Twice Upon a Time”.  Basically, the TARDIS is on fire, and Whittaker’s Thirteen is plummeting through the sky toward what certainly feels like certain doom.

Where do we go from here? Well, it’s time to find out.

An official BBC synopsis for the series premiere finally exists, but it still reveals little about its story:

"“We don’t get aliens in Sheffield.” In a South Yorkshire city, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan and Graham O’Brien are about to have their lives changed for ever, as a mysterious woman, unable to remember her own name, falls from the night sky. Can they believe a word she says? And can she help solve the strange events taking place across the city?"

Even the fine folks over at Doctor Who TV – who often had more expansive episode summaries available last season – don’t have anything more substantial to go on for the premiere. Here’s hoping that’s not a trend….

On the plus side, BBC and BBC America have released several trailers for the new season, with a bunch of tantalizing footage.

There’s even a clip from “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”, which is probably the most exciting bit of the lot. (She IS the Doctor, indeed, and it’s awesome.)

What will the first female Doctor be like? We don’t have much longer to wait to find out.

Doctor Who Season 11 premieres on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 1:45 p.m. EST on BBC America as part of a simulcast with BBC One. It will re-air that night in its new, regular timeslot at 8 p.m. EST.