On Sunday 7 October, the world was introduced to Jodie Whittaker’s 13th in Doctor Who when she crash-landed through a train roof and into our lives.

And the first female Time Lord proved an instant fit with fans, with comments ranging from “the girl done good” to “this is everything the show was ever meant to be”.

Perhaps the most beautiful reaction of all, though, came from an emotional father as he sat watching the show with his little girl.

“I just found myself reassuring my four-year-old daughter that it’s going to be ok because she is the Doctor, and she’s not afraid of anything,” he tweeted.

“And now I’ve got a bit of a tear in my eye [because] her first Doctor will always be Jodie Whittaker.”

It makes sense, then, that – in a bid to further the Doctor’s impact on young wannabe Time Lords everywhere – BBC Studios and Mattel have partnered to release the first ever Doctor Who Limited Edition Barbie® doll.

Check it out:

Fully prepped and ready to explore the universe, the Doctor Who Barbie® has shunned all things pink in favour of Whittaker’s rainbow-striped t-shirt, cropped trousers trench coat, signature braces and practical lace-up boots. 

“It needed to be comfortable,” the actress said previously in regards to her instantly iconic Doctor Who costume, pointing out that most heroic characters tend to wear “sweaty” costumes which look like they’ve taken an hour to get into.

“Mine is really comfy, and comfy for anyone — boy or girl,” she added wryly. “Shock, horror!”

Read more: the secret fashion details we need to watch out for in Doctor Who

Throw in the fact that Barbie’s traditional hairbrush has been swapped for an infinitely more useful sonic screwdriver in hand, and you have a doll that’s ready to inspire children (and grown-up children) everywhere.

Of course, the Doctor Who Barbie® is a far cry from Barbie dolls of old. As Dame Athene Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge University argued back in 2015: “We need to change the way we think about boys and girls and what’s appropriate for them from a very early age. Does the choice of toys matter? I believe it does.

“We introduce social constructs by stereotyping what toys boys and girls receive from the earliest age. Girls toys are typically liable to lead to passivity - combing the hair of Barbie, for instance - not building, imagining or being creative with Lego or Meccano.”

She continued: “You can see that boys [toys] ads are dominated by power and battle whereas girls seem to be able to get through life on love and magic. I’m sorry, I don’t think that will get them very far and whereas I am no fan of battles the idea [of] active behaviours is to be encouraged.”

Professor Donald added that even as young as four years old, girls are missing out on the opportunity to explore more diverse career options due to the way they’re encourage to play.

“If [girls] have never had the opportunity to take things to pieces and build them up again; if they have always just played with dolls and dolls in a stereotypically female situation, such as worrying about hairstyle or making tea, then how can they imagine themselves as engineers or chemists?”

Well, quite. With that in mind, we are already obsessed with the brilliant Doctor Who Barbie® – fingers crossed that she helps to inspire more than one little girl to reach for the stars.

Pre-sale starts today, 8 October 2018, available via Forbidden Planet.

Image: BBC One