Dr Who had seen off Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels but he has finally succumbed to the politically correct brigade at the BBC. Can they really afford to antagonise a loyal audience of this ailing show, some of whom, without regenerating, can actually remember 1963, when a child called Susan introduced us to her grandfather with an old police phonebox in a junkyard.

Dr Who is 1,000 years old and repeatedly told companions (such as Rose in 2005) that he was a father and grandfather who had lost all his family.

On his desk, in his study at St Luke's University, in the current series, he has photos of that granddaughter and his wife, River Song. Yet he was a woman all this time.

Maybe the thousands who took to social media to applaud the decision can replace the betrayed audience before the programme, itself, is exterminated.

John V Lloyd

Inverkeithing