[Update: The issue discussed below has been announced, and I have the news posted!]
Spoilers (sorta) ahoy! If you want to know nothing at all about series/season 5 of Doctor Who, go away now.
I mean it.
(looks around)
OK?
Good.
The BBC will be announcing tomorrow (Saturday) the actor who will take over for David Tennant in Doctor Who!
Speculation has been running wild for months, ever since Tennant announced he would leave. Some are a little out there (I personally would love to see the Doctor played by a woman, but I don’t think there’s much weight to those rumors). Another contender is Paterson Joseph, who would be great. I saw him in the UK show "The Survivors", and he’s very, very good. A black Doctor would be pretty interesting; I don’t think it would matter inside the universe of the show, but with Obama coming in, it might send out another strong signal that times have changed on this planet of ours (I’m not elevating DW to the status of importance of the POTUS, of course, but the show is watched and idolized by millions of people, and that does make a difference).
I do know that whoever it is, lots of people will love the choice, lots will hate it, and we’ll all watch anyway.
I’ll try to have the news here on the blog as soon as I find out what’s what who’s Who.
Tip o’ the sonic screwdriver to my Twitter follower J H Van Ophem.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:34 am
Now I couldn’t give a tuppenny tup for the colour of a man’s skin..but..the heralding of the obama messiah as some major sea change which will bring light to the world when it should be obvious he represents naught more than an attempt to rebrand America after a disastrous decade turns my stomach nearly as much as people wanting to send a ’strong (social engineering) signal’ to my unbiased Dr Who watching children enrages me…
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Just as long as it’s not Daniel Radcliffe I’ll be happy.
I remember seeing RTD saying on the news he thought Lesley Sharp(Who was Sky in Midnight ) would be a good Doctor. I feel inclined to agree with him on that.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Blandly Banal, the point is that Obama’s being black is an obvious and very important reminder to an entire group of the US population that it is possible to achieve great heights despite skin color or lingering racist feelings.
If that “enrages” you then I suggest you take a deep breath and re-evaluate your position. If it were a cynical attempt to elect him by some cabal then maybe you’d have a point, but he was in fact elected by the citizens of this country.
And even if Joseph is the new Doctor Who (for another 24 hours it’s still just a rumor), it’s possible that the reason the showrunner picked him might be because, y’know, he’s the best guy for the job.
Your attempt
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pm
BB:
What the hell? “An attempt to rebrand America?” In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s our actual President. He wasn’t hired for a freaking ad campaign. What is that even supposed to mean?
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
How about letting a woman get the role for once? Sienna Miller? Purrrrrrrrrrr……..
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Cheyenne, the rumors included Jennifer Saunders, which would be hysterical. I think she could pull it off.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I want to see Catherine Tate as the new Dr. Such a possibility has already been hinted it in last season’s finale.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I was responding to your conjecture on Dr who and I find it loathesome you could consider it a good idea to brainwash anyone, never mind my children, through the programs they watch. As for obama. both he and clinton were intervewed by bilderberg representatives before the run offs, and as any conspiracy theorist worth their salt knows are very influential cabal without whom a lot of people would not be in the positions they are in. Lingering racist feelings!? Oh how I (never) laughed, a surge of millions of new black voters on the electoral roll for this election, 98% of black democrats declaring their votes for obama before he’d even debated clinton, numerous TV interviews with ardent obama supporters who had not the slightest about his position under the sun never mind on the serious issues I could go on but heyy I gotta go take some deep breaths and reevaluate my understanding about what one can call racism…
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I was always hoping for David Thewlis, who would be perfect and take the role in a different direction.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Gaak! I just stepped in troll dung!
Now I gotta go burn my shoes!
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Nentauby. He is your head of state, the figurehead of your nation. Even on this thread in PP’s OP you can see people registering his election as a major change for our times, and furthermore for America. To my cynical mind, having read somewhat on political intrigue (and obama’s curiously short political career), a rebranding for the domestic and international audience.
Apologies for coming on belligerent on your blog PP, I reckon it was too much red meat over the festive season and not enough walkies…
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I still wish for Peter Wingfield as the Doctor.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
How unfortunate Richard The Bum…
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Oh joy. The Bliderbergs conspiracy!
Hey, can we throw in the Tri-Lateral Comission and the Council on Foreign Relations, too ?
Next, the Black Helicopters and the Hong Kong police.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
::Sigh::: give me the gold old days, when The Doctor was someone I recognized.
Man what a drag, getting old.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Oh fer shame DLC ya furgitt ter call me a moonbat!
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
@BB: I’m afraid that in my experience, most of what all of us unbiased children watch is loaded with some sort of “social engineering” whether we like it or not. (How’s that for cynical?) At least this sort would not be encouraging of needless sex, violence, or negative views of certain genders/classes of people that most TV and movies seem to do. (That reminds me- my brother made a similar comment to yours way back when the cast of Star Trek: Voyager was announced. He thought it was a bunch of PC garbage having such a diversity on the bridge crew.)
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
It’s probably just me… but I’ve always wondered what Brian Blessed would do as Dr. Who… A big, bearish guy, with a William Hartnell temper… Suddenly, I can see Daleks quaking in their shells!
As to the “Obama” thing: He was elected. By a sizable majority. So far, he’s put a scientist in charge of science, and an enviromentalist in charge of the enviroment… (so far, no horse judges anywhere) He seems to be assembling a top notch team, and he also seems clear on his priorities.
We could have done far worse: we could have elected a dottering old guy who couldn’t remember the difference between Sunni and Shia, and a woman who probably couldn’t find Iraq on a map if it was pointed out to her. The last thing America needed was the third term (by proxy) of that malignant little weasel, and his VP, Darth Vader.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Sigh… conspiracies mentioned without MJ12 being brought in? or MJ 13 as it is in some.. or MJ 8… or chem-trails… tac-mars… JKF… RFK… Hollygrams of the moon… rainbows in water vapor… Freemasons… North American Union… world government… Mossad and the World Trade center… isn’t life interesting enough without some secret cabal supposedly engineering elections?
Instead of a young DW, how about an old one. Someone nominate John Cleese before the Dr. draws down the curtain and joins the invisible choir.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I would like to see Richard E. Grant get a real shot at playing the Doctor.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I’m looking forward to whoever it is, PJ or no PJ. I’ll take Hugh Grant as an extremely unlikely outside bet.
PS: Wouldn’t it be better if the world accepted that President Elect Barack Obama is NOT black – his mother was white, his father a black Kenyan.
There’s always someone or something in the press dressing things up to be completely different to what is actually happening. If the press – and by extension anyone reading/watching – cannot see and report that the man in charge of the USA is half caste/mulatto/of mixed racial ancestry, then how can anyone continue to accept anything as a truth?
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
In the U.K., you can bet with an on-line bookmaker on who will be the next Doctor Who. At the time of writing this, the odds (decimal) are as follows:
Matt Smith — 1.44
Patterson Joseph — 3
Chiwetel Ejiofor — 7.2
David Morrisey — 16
Russell Tovey — 17
Robert Carlyle — 75
Ben Wishaw — 12
Billie Piper — 21
James Nesbitt — 6.2
Jennifer Saunders — 32
Rhys Ifans — 16
John Simm — 26
Richard E Grant — 100
Aidan Gillen — 200
Anthony Head — 100
Harry Lloyd — 200
Jason Statham — 200
Jack Davenport — 6
Nigel Harman — 200
Julian Walsh — 200
Daniel Radcliffe — 200
Alan Davies — 100
Paul McGann — 10
Rowan Atkinson — 200
Jim Broadbent — 200
James McAvoy — 200
Bill Nighy — 200
Stephen Fry — 200
John Barrowman — 200
Colin Salmon — 32
Richard Coyle — 160
Tom Ellis — 100
Dexter Fletcher — 100
Sean Pertwee — 55
Catherine Tate — 200
Catherine Zeta Jones — 120
Lesley Sharp — 200
Tom Hiddleston — 200
Click on my name for the latest odds (decimal) at the bookmaker’s web-site.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
It’ll never happen, but I think Bill Bailey would be fantastic in the role. Just look at him! Making a deliberate attempt to find a new dashing heartthrobby Doctor after DT would be pretty lame. And just imagine the look on Captain Jack’s face…
Paterson Joseph would be great. I’ve dug him ever since Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. I just don’t believe it. The rumor seems to have started just as the promotion for Survivors got underway, he’s probably the most speculated choice (so too obvious), and the Doctor becoming black with Obama being elected would maybe seem a bit coo contrived. If the Doctor were to be female, I’d go with Laura Fraser (yum) (also from Neverwhere, coincidentally.) I’ve liked Sarah Smart in the few things I’ve seen her in. Keeley Hawes? Caroline Catz?
My personal pick would be Richard Coyle. He’s worked with SM before, and a little bit of Jeff (Coupling) mixed with a fair portion of John Strange (Strange) would be about right as the Doctor, IMHO. Dylan Moran would probably be able to pull it off fairly well. And if an older Doctor is what they want, then I say Anthony Stewart Head (as long as it doesn’t clash with him doing The Invisibles).
Anyway, this all silly anyway. We need to turn our minds to important matters… like how to persuade Moffat to bring back Sally Sparrow as the companion.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
One thing about the doctor the more regenerations the younger his appearance seems to be on general so maybe the next actor will keep this up.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
@IVAN3MAN: How did Eddie Izzard escape that list? He’d be great, I think.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
My preferences:
John Simm (played the Master a season or so ago – would be fantastic)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (played the bad guy in Serenity and did it superbly)
Anthony Head (Giles as the Doctor – has to be …)
And who on Earth is “Matt Smith”
-Googles-
Nope, not much wiser.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
You know, for me, as long as the actor is good in the role, I don’t care much who (har), it is.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
@ PG,
I don’t know, but I think that Rowan “Blackadder” Atkinson as the Doctor, with Tony “Baldrick” Robinson as his sidekick, would be hilarious!
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Andy Cooke: “And who on Earth is ‘Matt Smith’.”
Click on my name for the link to find out.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
IVAN3MAN,
Thanks. I’m puzzled as to why he’s favourite, unless it’s part of the old adage “Someone always knows, someone always tells”.
(And if it’s Daniel Radcliffe, my 15 year-old daughter informs me that she will, sadly, have to destroy the world to erase the monstrosity. Or simply stop watching Doctor Who. Whichever’s easier)
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I’m not elevating DW to the status of importance of the POTUS…
Whatchoo talkin’ about, Phil? The Doctor is waaay more important than someone voted for by less than 5% of the world’s population…
Now, if you were to mention Chancellor Borasa…
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Awesome! … I hadn’t realised he was leaving. How about an Asian doctor? An Indian Doctor? an Eskimo ? Maori? .. I guess it’s just a little tweak in the genes anyway. After all, to look different and have different coloured eyes, facial features, hieght, hair type, is all just a genetic tweak also. Obviously when the Doctor transforms he doesn’t have the exact same genetic sequence. I am not sold on making the Doctor female however. Feminists will hate me for that but, I don’t know, I guess I would get used to it after a while but, it would be weird at first.
As long as he is still, the Doctor
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Rowan Atkinson already was the Doctor.
No Baldrick, though.
As mentioned, Eddie Izzard would be another great choice, with The Riches getting canned and all. But I think he’s planning on going back on the road with his stand-up for awhile. Plus, he seems to have his heart set on Hollywood, not Cardiff.
Hugh Laurie would be a great Doctor… :p
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
It’s obsessive to set your alarm to 4:35 AM (the time it’s announced in the UK – bloody time differences!) just so you’re one of the first to find out, yeah?
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:22 pm
@ Ragutis,
Actually, my interest in Dr. Who began to wane after Tom Baker left the role. Eventually, I gave up watching when Sylvester McCoy took over — who’s character resembled a drunken bum that you would find under a bridge in Glasgow — which I think was a deliberate and cynical ploy, at the time, by the BBC in order to get the ratings to drop — in fact, it did — so that they would have the excuse to axe the programme, which they did. However, die-hard fans badgered the BBC for several years to resurrect — or should I say “regenerate” — the Dr. Who series, to which the BBC eventually responded: initially, with a made-for-TV film starring Paul McGann as the Doctor and Michael Roberts (Julia Roberts’ brother) as The Master; then later, with the revised TV series.
However, because Phil Plait keeps going on about the revised Dr. Who series, I’m going to have to start watching again just to see what all the bloody fuss is about!
@ Naomi,
Just stay up with a pot of strong coffee; a lot easier than getting up at that hour of the bloody morning!
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:11 am
I’d actually be incredibly excited if it were Paterson Joseph, he was an awesome Marquis de Carabas in the Neverwhere movie a few years back.
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:37 am
The Sylvester McCoy series was probably the worst of the lot Ragutis. The new series, and the last couple of Doctors are great. It still feels camp and very British, but its nicely done.. sometimes a little overdone, but hey, remember even the Tom Baker episodes, and the aliens in them, looked cheap and nasty.
There was paper machet everywhere!
You could tell half of those aliens were made from cardboard boxes. Least now you can tell they are made from .. rubber suits and really cheap CGI .. hang on … no wait … its still the same.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 am
Now that Tenant is leaving I might actually be able to start watching this again. Is Catherine Tate still going to be in it though? She’s even more annoying than Tenant.
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 am
My money would be on Rupert Penry-Jones getting it.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:45 am
*Possible Survivors last episode spoilers ahead*
The last episode finished in a way that could certainly make PJ available to be Doctor Who. He could be a good Doctor. There is something charismatic him.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 am
If you’re a BBC geek like me, this is awesome:
http://www.dirtygreek.org/journal/journalId/2186
It’s a VPN (virtual private network) connection in the UK that you can connect to, which then allows you to watch the BBC online for free. There’s a program called Zattoo that streams all of their channels live for free if you are “in the UK,” and the BBC Itself has a ton of online content on iPlayer that is also UK only.
I just got mine yesterday, and it works really well. Well, well worth $50. Now I can watch the announcement of the new Doctor live today
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 am
Shane, I was thinking that as well; they could easily let Joseph go. But on IMDB I saw him listed on another series for 2009. Well, we’ll know soon enough.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 am
A female Doctor would be very interesting – though I don’t they’d take that radical of a step. BBC has done a good job so far – and I enjoy being able to watch Doctor Who on something other than PBS or the old UHF stations where you had to squint to see anything (kinda like scrambled porn, back in the day).
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 am
Matt Smith.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 am
I’d never heard of Matt Smith but he was in “Ruby in the Smoke” opposite Billie Piper.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:06 am
He’s a child!
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:12 am
I’d love it if Paterson Joseph got it. In Survivors, he’s easily the best in a pretty strong cast.
Matt Smith? I’ve googled, looked at all the pix and I still don’t know who the heck he is – he seems to have one of those bland everyman faces that nobody can remember. So, not a good choice.
Rupert Penryn-Whassit? Nope – makes an excellent action man (as his performance in The 39 Steps proved), but completely lacks depth.
Chiwetel Ejiofor ? Yes, another good actor – I’d like to see him try it out.
James Nesbitt? Aaaarrrrghhhh!!! NOOOOO!!!!
John Simm? Another very good actor, but it’s clear from his previous career he dislikes being typecast and goes for new stuff every time (He signed up last year for the lead in an indie film that covers seven years in a man’s life, and which is being filmed episodically in real time).
Ah well, another few minutes and we’ll all know….
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:12 am
Matt Smith seems to have the right stuff to be the next Doctor.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
BBC Press release: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/03/who.shtml
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:18 am
WHO?????
(Well, somebody had to say it…)
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hmm…
The interview stuff with him didn’t really impress. But the things he’s been in, he’s been alright in. But have some faith in the Gran Moff Steven, as he appeared to feel like he’s picked the right person
We now have to wait till Easter 2010 for the regeneration…I think it would’ve been better to wait until then to reveal him anyway.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:41 am
What a coincidence that Matt Smith played alongside Billie Piper AND got to by the next Dr Who. Indeed, all that Rose touches turns to gold.
January 4th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Everyone always hates the next guy replacing the old guy. After the first 2 or 3 episodes everyone will love him and have forgotten about the others.
January 4th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
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