There have, as usual, been numerous rumours in the press about who
the new Doctor may be, but the newspapers and journalist usually take
ounces of truth and spread it thick, adding their own opinions into
the mix until it spirals into, essentially, blatant lies. What we do
know, 100%, is that we are
getting a new Doctor on Christmas Day. And that is it.
The last time Steven Moffat had to
choose a Doctor, he had very clear expectations as to who he wanted.
Not in terms of a specific actor, more a type of actor. He wanted
somebody older, mid-40's, or roundabouts. He ended up casting the
youngest Doctor ever in Matt Smith! Will Moffat have similar thoughts
this time around? Will he, this time, try and find that older Doctor
he wanted back in 2009, before Matt Smith ruined everything by being
so brilliant? Or does he like the idea of somebody young and wild
controlling the TARDIS?
Will the Doctor even be male? The
idea of Time Lords changing their sex is now officially canon, and a
great many actors and actresses have discussed the idea of the new
Doctor being female, even more than before. But should 'he' be
female? I find it hard to believe that the production team would
decide automatically to make the next Doctor a woman, but less hard
to believe that if a lady auditioned for the role, and bettered her
male counterparts, then she would be cast. A lady Doctor would
certainly make things interesting, but the idea, the novelty of him
now being a her would have to be dealt with swiftly, otherwise, ten
episodes in and the Doctor still going, “I'm a woman now, women are
cool!” would be awfully tiresome.
So, who would I like to play the
Doctor? I would certainly prefer an older actor this time around, and
perhaps somebody I have never heard of. Somebody who can fully
embrace the character of the Doctor, in the same way that Matt Smith
did. There is a lot of controversy about certain actors at the
moment, in particular, Daniel Rigby, of the BT ads. But I have given
up saying who I want, or what I want. Because the last time I did
that, we got somebody who totally confounded my expectations, and he
was excellent. So if the next Doctor is another youth, I will have to
put my trust in Moffat to find the right youth. He did it in 2009.
Whatever happens, 50 years after Doctor Who's conception, we are getting a brand new Doctor. And that is still the most exciting thing ever, whoever he or she may be.
