Dr Who: will a woman be the new Time Lord?

Who will be the 13th Dr Who? We look at the likely candidates

The 31-year-old, award-winning star of the darkly comic Fleabag and the forthcoming Han Solo movie, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is considered one of the favourites for the Dr Who role. (Photo by CJ Rivera/FilmMagic)

Is the actress who would make an ideal Dr Who now simply too famous for the role? Nobody does otherworldy-eccentric quite like the art house muse turned Hollywood A-lister Tilda Swinton, an actress with the screen presence to take the very British Time Lord straight to the big screen. (Photo by Antony Jones/Getty Images)

When Olivia Colman was mooted as a likely candidate, her Broadchurch co-star and one-time Dr Who David Tennant dismissed the idea out-of-hand. "Olivia is busier than any other actor on Earth. I don't think she'd be able to suddenly take four years to go to Cardiff," the 10th Time Lord told Entertainment Week. "I don't think her schedule would really allow it whether she wanted it or not." (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

When it comes to the runners and riders in the Dr Who candidacy, the Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker has come from left field to the position of favourite. As well playing Beth Latimer in Broadchurch, the 34-year-old has starred in St Trinians, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Adult Life Skills and Marchlands. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)

The current Dr Who, Peter Capaldi made his first appearance as the 12th Time Lord on 25 December 2013 and will bow out on the same day 4 years later in the 2017 Christmas special. (C) BBC - Photographer: Simon Ridgeway

It's almost time. As all self-respecting sci-fi fans now know, the climax of today's Wimbledon men's singles final will be marked not just with a winner's ceremony but with a time-twisting revelation that's even more momentous.

As soon as either Roger Federer or Marin Cilic receives their  trophy, TV's longest-running sci-fi show will steal their thunder by announcing the identity of the new Dr Who.

The news was confirmed by the long-running BBC series' Twitter page.

So who is about hold the keys to the Tardis? Speculation about the identity of the 13th Time Lord has reached fever pitch in anticipation of the announcement, fueled by the possibility that the new time traveller might turn out be a woman.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, A-list Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton and Olivia Colman, who played Waller-Bridge's mother in the darkly comic Fleabag, all appeared to be in the mix following the finale of the show's 10th series, which ended at the beginning of July but the latest front-runners for the role include Kris Marshall, the star of the BBC series Death in Paradise and Broadchurch's Jodie Whittaker.

Whichever actor is chosen as the 13th incarnation of the Doctor, they will replace Peter Capaldi during the show's forthcoming Christmas special, when the former Thick of It star will step down after 3 series and 39 episodes in the role.