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June 19, 2013

New Doctor Who to be announced tomorrow

by Brad Trechak, posted Jan 2nd 2009 6:06PM

Doctor WhoThis is an announcement so huge, that they had to make a pre-announcement announcement first. The BBC will officially announce tomorrow (Saturday) the identity of the actor playing the 11th incarnation of our favorite Time Lord.

The favored odds are Paterson Joseph, who would be the first black person to play the character, but that is not certain. The Beeb along with Steven Moffat could pull someone out of their collective behinds who wasn't even on any of the online lists. The mind boggles at the possibilities, but it should be noted here that Steven Moffat has already worked with Paterson Joseph on his mini-series Jekyll.

I have repeatedly said that I would like to see a woman as the Doctor, however I would be equally satisfied with a black actor simply because it would be a sort of Doctor we've never seen before. I comfort myself with the fact that whomever they choose will be nowhere near as good as Colin Baker. Let the debate begin.

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jaerisk

I've never heard of Matt Smith either but I'm glad they are going with an unknown..so that when we start to like him he won't up and bounce on us.

January 03 2009 at 2:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rupert

STOPPRESS....................FERGAL SHARKEY is the new Dr.Who !!!!!!!!!!!

January 03 2009 at 1:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Terry

I thank you for the links ....I never had high hopes for david but oh wow!! he was awesome!!! I am excited to see how the new doctor plays out and hope he can do as well as david!!!!

January 03 2009 at 1:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jazza

Official BBC Press release

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/03/who.shtml

January 03 2009 at 1:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

The new Doctor is apparently a nobody. It's certainly someone I've never heard of - British Actor Matt Smith, 26 is now the Doctor and the youngest actor to have the role.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Smith_(British_actor)

January 03 2009 at 1:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tim McCleese

I just love the Doctor Who franchise. I liked them all, each had something different to offer.

January 03 2009 at 9:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
joy padd

I was a huge fan of Dr Who the last time the show was at it's most popular (late 70's/early 80's) and know what getting the Dr's replacement wrong will mean to the show - disaster. All this talk of a female/black Dr would be just that - changing the sex or ethnic origin of an established character is fundamentally wrong, and although I don't disagree that such a decision would be a bold and brave move by the BBC I do not think it would a sensible one. Let me ask this question - if we were talking about an established female or black character on TV being rewritten as a white male would there not be absolute uproar? So why would it be acceptable for this to happen in this show? The BBC have made some pretty ludicrous and lamentable plot decisions over recent years ('Dirty Den's return to Eastenders for example) but I keep my fingers crossed that they don't do so again after successfully bringing Dr Who back to our screens, and I do not believe Stephen Moffat would want to be known as the man who ruined Dr Who and hope he will reject any notion of the Dr being changed in terms of sex or ethnic origin.

January 03 2009 at 4:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to joy padd's comment
bobby

While I'm not quite so passionate about it, my stand is the same, if for different reasons. Although the audience of the original programme wouldn't have been ready for it, I think changing the gender or "ethnicity" (we don't know enough about Gallifrey to know if they had different ethnicities) of the Doctor would have flown better then than now. The original series was much weaker in its grasp of real science, world building and character development, so a change like that could just have been explained away with a feeble half-baked excuse. The new series is a bit stronger, more realistic and rational. If the Doctor can change gender, the show would be forced to explore what Gallifreyan society was like when its constituents could change gender "at will". We've had enough trouble getting them to explain the Doctor's throwaway lines about his family, are they REALLY going to expect us to believe that he could be a father AND a mother? Davies introduced Jack Harkness how many series ago, and it wasn't until Torchwood that we saw any real exploration of his pansexuality. In simpler terms, changing the gender will open a new can of something the producers won't want to look at. Not on this show anyway.

January 03 2009 at 9:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
A.S

It's been stated in the show that regeneration completely rewrites your DNA (which includes your appearance). If the Doctor can be blonde, or have dark curly hair, or (eventually be) ginger, why is it a stretch or "fundamentally wrong" that he could also regenerate with different skin colours? Unlike other shows, the Doctor is an alien.

January 03 2009 at 5:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
20\" Collar

How about Noddy Holder for the Doctor...

January 03 2009 at 3:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ian

Okay, Colin Baker wasn't as bad as some people would like the public to believe, even without considering his fine work in the audio dramas, but surely you had to have meant _Tom_ Baker, and even if you did, allowing such a misprint to hit the internet completely absolves you of credibility. Or Colin Baker is actually your litmus test for good Doctors, in which case, ditto.

January 03 2009 at 3:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sam

So, first we have a black president and now we may have a black Doctor?
Awesome!

January 03 2009 at 2:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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