Doctor Who: Tilda Swinton is favourite to succeed Peter Capaldi as the new Time Lord

Other female contenders include Olivia Colman, Maxine Peake and Phoebe Waller-Bridge

(AFP/Getty Images)

Tilda Swinton has emerged as the shock favourite to take over from Peter Capaldi in popular BBC series Doctor Who (the lead character of which finished second in the channel's recent poll of best-loved characters).

The Oscar-winner (Michael Clayton) is hotly tipped to become the new Time Lord by Ladbrokes who is strongly expecting this to be the first time a female has played the character.

Other female contenders in the running include Olivia Colman (5/1), Maxine Peake (8/1) and Fleabag actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge (12/1).

Speculation over who would be replacing Capaldi has been rife ever since he announced the upcoming series was to be his last.

Kris Marshall - who recently stepped down as the co-lead in Death in Paradise - is the male favourite (4/1) while Ben Whishaw has odds of 10/1.

This next series will be the final with Sherlock's Steven Moffat as showrunner; Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall will take over.

Capaldi's personal pick of who he'd like to take over as the Doctor isn't featured in the full list of contenders, which you can read in full below:

Tilda Swinton – 7/2 (Favourite)

Kris Marshall – 4/1

Olivia Colman – 5/1

Maxine Peake – 8/1

Ben Whishaw – 10/1

Richard Ayoade – 10/1

Andrew Buchan – 10/1

Reece Shearsmith – 12/1

Phoebe Waller-Bridge – 12/1

Rory Kinnear – 16/1

Andrew Scott – 16/1

Richard Madden – 16/1

David Harewood – 16/1

Paterson Joseph – 16/1

Idris Elba – 20/1

Chris Addison – 20/1

Gwendoline Christie – 20/1

James Norton – 20/1

Adrian Lester – 20/1

Alexander Vlahos – 20/1

Sacha Dhawan – 20/1

Robert Carlyle – 20/1

Laurie Kynaston – 20/1

Michelle Gomez – 33/1