Jodie Whittaker has backed calls for a female James Bond.

Jodie Whittaker

Jodie Whittaker

The 36-year-old actress - who is best-known as the first-ever female Doctor Who - has come out in support of the idea of an actress playing the iconic British character.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, Jodie explained: "For us it's 2018. Women are not a genre, we are just the other half of the population, so to see us doing things shouldn't be such a surprise."

The suggestion has gained increasing momentum over recent years.

However, Rachel Weisz - who is married to the current 007, Daniel Craig - previously admitted she doesn't think there should be a female Bond.

Rachel said: "[Author Ian Fleming] devoted an awful lot of time to writing this particular character, who is particularly male and relates in a particular way to women."

Despite this, Rachel thinks women should still "get their own stories".

She explained: "Why not create your own story rather than jumping on to the shoulders and being compared to all those other male predecessors? Women are really fascinating and interesting and should get their own stories."

Meanwhile, Idris Elba - who is rumoured to be in the running to replace Daniel as Bond - has claimed there was "no such thing as a black Bond".

He said: "There's no such thing as a black Bond.

"Are we interested in having a Bond character other than being a male? It could be a woman - could be a black woman, could be a white woman - but I think, that character, everybody would like to see it have ... do something different with it, why not?

"It's interesting that the James Bond thing continues to go. I think it's more about, 'We just want to have a black guy play James Bond' rather than 'Idris Elba, the actor, play James Bond'. That's the part that I'm like ,'Ugh, come on.'"