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[Drakkith]

That doesn't mean he has no identity at all.

His identity as a character is not heavily tied to his current personality in my opinion.

 

[Algr]

The Doctor's personality has been quite consistent over 50 years. He is dismissive of authority, yet able to project his own easily. He is curious, restless. Occasionally prone to dark moods, depression, and self doubt. He respects science, rationality and learning. (I miss this in the new series, BTW.) He is contemptuous of those who use physical force to solve problems. Wants to get involved and help people. Feels lonely. Wants companionship, but gets overwhelmed with knowing too many people.

Peter Davison's casting was controversial because he was so young. He played the role as a "old man in a young man's body" . This has become the tradition when younger actors are cast, hence the Doctor's squeamishness with things like sexual relations.

Will Jodie Whittaker continue with the "Old man in a..." bit? The consequences of this will require better writing then we have seen lately.

 

[Drakkith]

The Doctor's personality has been quite consistent over 50 years. He is dismissive of authority, yet able to project his own easily. He is curious, restless. Occasionally prone to dark moods, depression, and self doubt. He respects science, rationality and learning. (I miss this in the new series, BTW.) Wants to get involved and help people. Feels lonely. Wants companionship, but gets overwhelmed with knowing too many people.

It's a bit difficult for me to get into the subtleties of personality traits since we're dealing with a fictional character whose behavior changes with each iteration. I would call these "overarching" character traits that define the broadest aspects of the Doctor as a character/person, and indeed the Doctor wouldn't be the Doctor otherwise. But these are only broad traits that I don't feel adequately describe the way his behavior changes with each change in actor. Looking at the above personality traits, you would undoubtedly find thousands of fictional characters (and even more non-fictional people) of both genders that fit that profile.

Each actor brings with them a suite of more specific traits that makes their version of the Doctor unique. These are the things that make people like one version of the Doctor more than the others. They are essentially the things that make specific people different from each other. I guess you could call them the little details that make each person unique. These are the things that change with each iteration and are what I mean't by "personality" in my previous post. I hope that makes sense.

Peter Davison's casting was controversial because he was so young. He played the role as a "old man in a young man's body" . This has become the tradition when younger actors are cast, hence the Doctor's squeamishness with things like sexual relations.

Will Jodie Whittaker continue with the "Old man in a..." bit? The consequences of this will require better writing then we have seen lately.

I don't see why it would be that difficult. Almost all of the traits that apply to the "Old man in a young man's body" would seem to apply to "Old woman in young woman's body" or "Old person in young person's body". At least in my opinion.