. I think it more depends on how the actor playing the character is perceived, rather than the sex of the actor playing the character. We shall see.
Much Spoilerly stuff ahead, so anyone who's not up to speed but plan to watch reruns to catch up, should avoid this.
It's the writing mostly. And the chemistry between the character,s which is a mix of the writing AND the actors themselves. The 11th doctor, Amy, Rory, and River Song, hell of a chemistry between all of them. And the OMG "I'm Melody, I'm your daughter" moment. Also even for the 9th Doctor, the ending of the "are you my mummy?" 2-part episode (whatever the name), with the "Everybody lives" moment (and introduction of Captain Jack , spinning off into Torchwood). The Doctor and Rose Tyler. And so many others.
I never cared much for Capaldi. At least he had "Impossible Girl" as his companion most way thru, though she was introduced with the 11th. And this last season was pretty bad for the most part - worst ever for the "New Who" episodes since the restart of the series. I never would believe I would be happy for the actor playing the doctor to retire, but I was for this one.
So, to me the show slowly became a train wreck with Capaldi. But more accurately the writing going downhill as the showrunner Steven Moffat became more distracted by other shows he was doing. to the point that incredibly stupidly, there was only *ONE* episode in 2016, the Christmas episode. Moffat didn't bother to plant much if any "Easter Eggs" for the 12th Doctor (Capaldi), that "vault" thing this season was the only one that comes to mind and it played out very poorly.
Unlike way far back when he was a writer, not showrunner yet, and planted River Song's arc by introducing her in "Silence in the Library", where she apparently knew the doctor VERY well (wife?) but was from his future so he (10th Doctor) did not know who she was and only believed she knew him closely from the future when she said something in his ear (apparently his real name). And then she died......mostly, to be seen many times later, in her "past" (doctor's future).
Indeed the one Capaldi episode I do like the most is "The Husbands of River Song", where she had no idea who the doctor was until during a rant about how much the doctor didn't love her because he was always traveling around doing more important things and would not be aboard that ship (station?), he revealed to her who he was, by saying "Hello Sweetie". But not much chemistry there.
I realized another major character was mostly missing in recent seasons..... the music. Must have changed whoever was in charge of music production for the show, as it was not up to the level of the seasons of the 9th,10, and 11th doctors.
So, I am looking forward to the 13th doctor, and think the choice of a female might shake things up in a very good way. All depends on the writing of course, but it's a hopeful sign in the video above that she has a smile. Something the 12th didn't do very often and even when he did do so it often looked "forced". And i hope they fix the issue with the music not being up to par for the Capaldi seasons.
SIGH:
[video=youtube;1e8tOF3PeH0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8tOF3PeH0[/video]
Oh, I'm not much into "reaction" videos (kids finding out about Luke's Father in Empire, not withstanding), but this one is really great.
[video=youtube;asA7ZqaXvdc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asA7ZqaXvdc[/video]