Jodie Whittaker will soon be the first female star of Doctor Who, a role that will finally make her as a leading lady after a decade of supporting turns in shows such as ITV’s Broadchurch, where she played the mother of a murdered 11-year-old, and films including Attack the Block, Venus and St Trinian’s. But first there is Journeyman, a searing British drama that sees Whittaker starring alongside Paddy Considine as a woman fighting to save her marriage in the aftermath of her boxer husband’s traumatic brain injury.

Filmmaking triple-threat Considine’s follow-up to the acclaimed drama Tyrannosaur, about an unlikely friendship sparked amid self-destruction and trademark Britflick misery, Journeyman is comparatively more of a crowd-pleaser, but equally rooted in emotional strife.

Considine, who both wrote and directed the film, is middleweight boxing champ Matty Burton, a man with his eyes on retirement until a collision on the head obtained in the ring leaves him with memory loss and a radically altered personality. Whittaker, 35, plays his wife Emma, who exists on the sidelines of Matty’s day job, and is suddenly forced to contend with a man she no longer fully recognises.

Journeyman is both harrowing and treacly sentimental, with its stars striking up a powerful chemistry despite the injury pulling their characters apart. But while Considine gives himself the film’s most dramatic arc, it is a significant showcase for Whittaker, who is both charming and warm, but with a fighting strength that will ease any lingering fears over her Doctor Who turn.