Next please

After watching the opening scene of this years Christmas special The Next Doctor, I am not at all convinced that David Morrissey’s character actually is the Doctor. I reckon that this is a One Doctor situation and that Morrisey’s character is simply pretending to be the Doctor.

Of course come Christmas day evening I could be proved totally wrong but I might be right. The main reason why I don’t think that he is the Doctor is this: would they introduce the new Doctor to the audience more than 12 months before we actually see the tenth Doctor regenerate? I mean where is the anticipation in that?

“I’m the doctor. Simply, the doctor. The one, the only and the best. Stand back, this is a job for a Time Lord.”

Apart from that from the minute or so that we saw of the Morrisey character he did seem to play it with tongue firmly in cheek, which is not how I would imagine that part being done in a Steven Moffat penned series, but then again I could be wrong about that as well, after all look at The Curse of Fatal Death.

The costume he sports is very Doctorish in a Tom Bakerish way and he does seem to be a little bit like the tenth Doctor even down to his use of the phrase allonsy (whatever the hell that means). Of course a lot of stuff could be explained in the episode itself which will give us further clues as to whether he is actually a future version of the Doctor.

For one thing if he is then surely the Morrisey Doctor would recognise the tenth Doctor and he didn’t shown any signs of recognition when they first met in the clip that we saw. There is also the question of the fact that the Morrisey Doctor seems to have a travelling companion in the shape of Rosita which would imply that if he was the next Doctor then she would have to be next companion as well.

Then there is way that Morrisey’s character introduces himself, “I’m the doctor. Simply, the doctor. The one, the only and the best. Stand back, this is a job for a Time Lord.” Which is an odd way to introduce yourself especially the bit about being the one and only and the best. He doth protest too much with that comment methinks. The Tenth Doctor is pretty cocky but I don’t think even he would come out with a comment like that one at least not now, he probably would have done during the second series but he has calmed down somewhat from then.

So there is a hell of a lot to look forward to with this Christmas special. David Morrisey is a fine actor and would be a very good choice to play a future Doctor, so if he does turn out to be the next Doctor then we will have a great actor to take over from Tennant when he finishes filming the specials next year. It is going to be an interesting Christmas and New Year for Doctor Who fans.

Who’s (the new) Doctor Who

So, the bookies favourite to play the next Doctor Who is Paterson Joseph who most genre fans will know as the Marquis de Carabas in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. He also appeared in the final two episodes of the 2005 series playing Rodrick. He is currently starring in the remake of Survivors. I think he would be an interesting choice to play the Doctor. His portrayal of the Marquis in Neverwhere could be seen as a way he might play the Doctor and he could even get away with wearing the same costume with the dreads but without the bleached look he sported in that series.

Also on top of the list is David Morrisey who is playing a character in The Next Doctor who may, or may not, be a future incarnation of the Doctor so he would be a shoe in as well for the part. Morrisey is a fine actor and would make a great Doctor.

James Nesbitt is on the list purely because of his association with Steven Moffat from Jekyll but I just couldn’t seem his as the Doctor. Sure he would be the first Doctor to have an irish accent, and also the first to have a handlbar moustache (if he looked like he does in Murphy’s Law that is) and he would be a name to draw viewers in but I just can’t buy him as the Doctor.

Having said that nobody would have thought that Christopher Eccleston would have been right to play the part and he was a fantastic Doctor so you never know. At the end of the day Steven Moffat will write the new Doctor in the way that he wants to and a number of actors will play the part as written (Eccleston certainly did) so any actor could play the Doctor really, there is no need for them to be Doctorish at all.

None of the other actors who played the part were Doctorish before they became the Doctor, they only became that after playing the part, and David Tennant is a fan who is apparently just Doctorish in general, which makes him the only actor to be considered Doctorish ever. I don’t even know what Doctorish means? Does anyone?

Some actors I think would be good as the Doctor are as follows: Robert Carlyle – he can do any accent he wants and be believable. He would be very different to Tennant but could be a bit too much like Eccleston in the part although if the part was written wildly different then Carlyle would play it different. No questions asked.

David Threlfall – a chameleon like character actor who is completly unrecognisable in other parts to that of his most famous role Frank Gallagher. He is in his mid fifties so he could be a good possiblity as an older Doctor.

Dexter Fletcher – well he has the Moffat connection and he would be totally different to Tennant. Plus he can do a Cockney and an American accent. He certainly wouldn’t be the obvious choice and has been quite good in Hotel Babylon recently.

Lee Ross is another Moffatt alumnus who might make a different and slightly edgy Doctor. I am not sure what he has done lately but his association with Moffat alone would be enough to place him as a possible contender for the role.

Chiwetel Ejifor has the good commanding screen prescence that the role of the Doctor would require, as does Colin Salmon who Who fans know a lot about after his turn in the Moffat penned Library two-parter this year.

Another actor mentioned is Adrian Lester of Hustle and Bonekickers fame but I don’t think he that commanding enough and was overshadowed in both Hustle and in Bonekickers by other stronger screen prescences which would not be good if he was playing the Doctor.

Some people have even suggested Daniel Radcliffe which is ridiculous as he is far to young, as is Harry Lloyd and quite possible Russel Tovey who at 27 is the oldest of the bunch and is championed by RTD who is not the next producer and ultimately the person who will oversee the casting of the next Doctor so I can’t see it being him either. He might be good in a few years. Perhaps he could be the twelth Doctor when the time comes.

A number of older actors have been mentioned including Anthony Head who would be a good choice but if Merlin turns out to be successful then he might not be available but I could see him playing the part and he wouldn’t need to play it like Giles either. Bill Nighy would be good but as he is nearly 60 does that place him as too far out of the age range?

One actor I think would make a good Doctor is Paddy Considine who isn’t that well known but has always been good whenever I’ve seen him in anything. Andy Serkis would be good I think. He is the the sort of chameleon like character actor who could really make a go of the role of the Doctor.

If John Simm had not played the Master then he would have been a good choice as the Doctor but it just wouldn’t work nowadays, the kids would just think that it was the Master taking over the Doctor’s body even though Simm would create an entirely different character to that of the Master. I would like Philip Glenister to play the role, but only if he played it like Gene Hunt, which just wouldn’t work.

I would also like to see Gary Oldman play the Doctor but I really think that that would be a pipe dream, as he has been in demand for big budget films for years now.

So my top five choices for the next Doctor are (in no particular order)

1: Paterson Joseph

2: Chiwetel Ejifor

3: Paddy Considine

4: Andy Serkis

5: Dexter Fletcher.

45 and out

Today Doctor Who is 45 years old. Hard to believe I know but it’s true.

The scary thing is that I have now been watching it for about 30 years.

Doesn’t time fly?

Skull and Nonsense

Doctor Who: The Skull of Sobek

 

I must admit that I have been quite disappointed with this second run of stories for the 8th Doctor and Lucie with four stories gone and only two of them really being any good. Sadly The Skull of Sobek is not one of the better ones.

 

I don’t know what it is but it failed to engage my interest and I found myself clock watching the whole time whilst listening to it. It is a shame because it isn’t really a bad idea and has some interesting characters such as the crocodilian creatures featured in the story and does have a stellar cast led by Art Malik and Barbara Flynn but it was quite slow and a little boring I am afraid.

 

I am having much the same trouble with a lot of these new eighth Doctor audios. I am wondering if it is because the stories lack any focus now there isn’t an arcing plot line running through all of the episodes like there was in the first run.

 

These stories are very dislocated and could easily be placed in any order, which is pretty much like the original series was much of time, but for some reason I cannot quite put my finger on at the moment some of them are just not engaging me in the same way that the television series does.

 

Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith continue to make a great Doctor and Companion team and the interplay between them is often the best features of the story, for this one in particular I find.

 

I can’t say that this is a story that I will rush to listen again too!

Everything I Do I Do It For You

Doctor Who: Brave New Town

Brave New Town is another fine example of storytelling from Big Finish, and continues the good work that was heard in last week’s Max Warp. I can’t really delved much into the plot of this adventure as to give away the identity of the villains of the piece would be a bit spoilerish of me, and then you would have no reason to listen to this story which would be a shame as it is actually quite good. 

This episode sees (or should that be hears) turns by the legend that is Derek Griffiths (why was he never in an episode of the original series?) and Adrian Dunbar and is set in the late eighties at a time when a song by a Canadian rock singer about a old English folk story, based on a film, was number one for what seemed like an eternity. The joke is in this story is that it has been number one forever, or so it seems, much like it did back in the eighties. To be honest I shouldn’t really complain about that as I did buy of a copy of that particular single.

I would have to say that Brave New Town is another good story from the Big Finish stable and I cannot help but thinking that perhaps this or Max Warp would have been a better season opener than Dead London was which did seem to be a little bit a damp squib when compared to either of these two stories which had much more meat on this bones than Mills script did.

Paul McGann is much better in these shorter stories than he ever has been for Big Finish in my opinion and I would rather that they stuck with this format for his Doctor as it so obviously suits him better. Sheridan Smith continues to impress as Lucie making her one of the best companions the eighth Doctor has ever had (and I am including Charley in that). Sure she might be a bit gobby but some of the best companions the Doctor has ever had have been gobby and not afraid to tell the Doctor what they think.

I would happily recommend Brave New Town. Listen to it, you may even enjoy it!

How Hard Can It Be?

Doctor Who: Max Warp

Max Warp is a curious mixture of a spoof of a popular television show and an Agatha Christie style murder mystery all rolled into one. It is a credit to the writer Jonathan Morris that this works and also to the guest cast which included Graeme Garden, James Fleet and Duncan from Blue.

The show spoofed in this story is pretty obvious really. I mean take these points in turn: the show in question has three presenters; one of them is a highly outspoken columnist and media personality who wears jeans far too tight for a man of his age; one of them is a bit of a bore and on the quiet is a bit of a ladies’ man, and the other is younger, eager and has a nickname of a small furry creature.

Yes, you have guessed it Max Warp is a ultra thinly disguised spoof of Top Gear, being about all about spaceships, on the surface at least, but mainly being the three of them cocking around and doing stupid things, which is pretty much the same as Top Gear and we wouldn’t have it any other way frankly, it would be a bit dry, if it were just about cars, as would Max Warp itself, if it were just about spaceships and the like.

In this story the Doctor comes across as a bit of a spaceship geek and is probably quite a fan of the show Max Warp too. The spoof even goes as far as having one the members of the team being involved in a high speed crash and not coming out of at all, which luckily didn’t happen in real life.

The murder mystery part of the plot is quite frankly the least interesting part of the story and I will not mention it much so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to listen to it yet. In the documentary that was broadcast after the story Nicholas Briggs said that they had toned down the Top Gear elements from Jonathan Morris’ original script, which makes you wonder what he did have in his original script as they don’t seem to have removed many of them, because if you have ever seen Top Gear and listened to this audio you will have noticed them all a mile off because it was never very subtle in its parodying.

Max Warp was an enjoyable episode and the whole cast seemed to have a ball doing it which showed in the final product. A much better episode than the first one of this batch from Big Finish.