AMERICAN actress, author and TV personality Whoopi Goldberg told a Scottish audience that the one role she still wants to play is Doctor Who.

The US star was appearing at the Edinburgh TV festival, where she was selected as this year’s International Icon.

Her 40-year career has netted Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award wins – and she has also set her sights on the role of Timelord.

Goldberg revealed that she had lobbied for the job and was turned down by BBC producers, with Jodie Whittaker set to step down from the role after three seasons.

The National:

The actress said: “I wanted to be Doctor Who and I still do.

“I think it would mean an evolution into being American and I don’t know that that’s correct for Doctor Who. I don’t know I can usurp that.

“As much as I love it. I love watching it still in all the iterations.

“There are certain things that are blatantly all English. Doctor Who is like that to me. It’s like Marmite. It’s very English and needs to stay that way.”

The Eastenders fan also spoke about a five-year spell with little airtime after controversy over a joke she made about president George W Bush in 2004.

Goldberg said: “I would describe that situation as a lot of people covering their backsides.

“The joke was never about him, but no one ever stood up and said this was what actually happened. They put it in a newspaper, but all somebody has to say is that you said it, and that’s what happens.

“The truth doesn’t seem to matter as much these days. I find it’s a lot easier for me to make decisions about what I think based on my experiences of that same thing. That makes me think about stuff in a different way. I knew I hadn’t done any of the stuff they wrote about, but it didn’t matter.”