Doctor Who (13th Doctor)

[Hawkmumbler]

As a Manc I feel obliged to praise the BBC for having the first wool companion in the form of John Bishop.

Life sucks living on the Wirrell, I'm sure he'll jump at the opportunity to go anywhere else in the universe.

[Colin YNWA]

As a Manc I feel obliged to praise the BBC for having the first wool companion in the form of John Bishop.

Life sucks living on the Wirrell, I'm sure he'll jump at the opportunity to go anywhere else in the universe.

Woooo there nelly - if you're going to rip Wirral (my original home turf) lets get some things right.

1) Its Wirral, The Wirral is the peninsula itself
2) John Bishop isn't a Wirral woolly back he's a Runcorn woolley back (As I recall)
3) We can lay claim to Daniel Craig, John Peel, Boo Radleys, Half Man Half Biscuit and much to my surprise Fiona Bruce
4) Yes anyone who comes from Wirral wants to get out and be:
   a) Full on from Cheshire set
   b) Full on from Liverpool (me)
Alas all you do is go to the fair at New Brighton and get the tube to the comic shops in Liverpool...

Colin Should be a Tranmere Fan YNWA

[IndigoPrime]

Funny that Dara Ó Briain's "something for the dads" line now refers to inserting a middle-aged man into a show designed for children.

[Batman's Superior Cousin]

Jodie Whittaker reportedly quits after three years as the Doctor

[DrJomster]

Just re-watched the new year's special. Weirdly it worked a lot better on the second viewing!

The experience has just been slightly overshadowed though with the internet exploding over that Mirror article...

[IndigoPrime]

I won't be at all surprised if that rumour turns out to be true. She's had a torrid time, in terms of her initial casting, the crappy scripts she's had to deal with, being repeatedly undermined in her own show (in terms of direction/scripting/leads), and COVID. Even now, we still don't really know who her Doctor 'is'. But I'd sooner she stayed for another few years and they got a better showrunner in.

Still, I'm sure we can look forward to them now deciding this was a one-off experiment and casting a boring older-then-necessary bloke as the Doctor again and a young female companion for him to trot around space and time with.

[Rately]

Sad if the rumours are true, but I can understand why. Jodie is throwing her everything into role, and it all just seems a confusing mess across all hear seasons so far.

Hopefully, the scripts improve if this next mini-series is to be Jodie's last, and I'd hope that a new Doctor will lead to a change of showrunner.

[Jim_Campbell]

casting a boring older-then-necessary bloke as the Doctor again

Highly unlikely that you'll see an 'older' Doctor any time soon — as much as I liked Capaldi's Doctor, he wasn't great for ratings, toy sales collapsed and a bunch of Who comics got cancelled, so it's fair to say he wasn't a hit with 'the kids'.

On the broader point, yeah — I'd be happy to see Whitaker stick around and Chibnall get shown the door. The reverse would be my nightmare scenario. Although I thought his second season was a big improvement on the first, that was a pretty low bar. This year's special is the first instalment of Nü Who that I haven't bothered with — even the trailer was boring and off-putting, so I'm afraid I'm skipping it.

If Whitaker is going after the upcoming series, I'm hoping they'll replace her with Chiwetel Ejiofor... just to see what the "no, no, the Doctor has to be a man" crowd trot out as justification for their outrage.

[broodblik]

The second season was much better.  The script where still not up to "standard". One thing it takes me a season or two to get use to the new doctor. Capaldi never worked for me as The Doctor. Hopefully Jodie does not get replaced rather the showrunner should get the boot.

[IndigoPrime]

Ejiofor would have made a fine Doctor, but, well, he's already 43. They wouldn't start filming a run with him until next year at the earliest.

I see publications are trotting out their lists of possible Doctors and The Guardian's is quite something:

Tom Rosenthal: 30-something white bloke, and so quite possible, I suppose
Kris Marshall: 47 and discovered last time round how much everyone would hate him getting the role
Phoebe Waller-Bridge: Ahahahaha. No. I mean, Fleabag was great and she's tall (which would help), but why the hell would she effectively demote her career?
David Harewood: Quick! We need to add a PoC to this list. How about that guy from Homeland? JOB DONE.

[sheridan]

John Bishop teaser trailer

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Ejiofor would have made a fine Doctor, but, well, he's already 43. They wouldn't start filming a run with him until next year at the earliest.

I see publications are trotting out their lists of possible Doctors and The Guardian's is quite something:

Tom Rosenthal: 30-something white bloke, and so quite possible, I suppose
Kris Marshall: 47 and discovered last time round how much everyone would hate him getting the role
Phoebe Waller-Bridge: Ahahahaha. No. I mean, Fleabag was great and she's tall (which would help), but why the hell would she effectively demote her career?
David Harewood: Quick! We need to add a PoC to this list. How about that guy from Homeland? JOB DONE.

I think both Harewood and Ejiofor would be demoting themselves.

If they wanted to go black (and perhaps never go back?), the effortlessly weird Richard Ayoade seems the obvious choice to me.

[IndigoPrime]

John Bishop teaser trailer

Urgh.

If they wanted to go black (and perhaps never go back?), the effortlessly weird Richard Ayoade seems the obvious choice to me.

Honestly, if they cast Ayoade as the Doctor, I'm done. I mean, he's fine, but he's very much an acquired taste and he sticks out like a sore thumb as 'Richard Ayoade' in literally everything he does, from voice acting to comedies to panel shows. I don't think Doctor Who needs to become another vehicle for his shtick.

[Rately]

I remember when they were casting about, eventually picking Matt Smith, and there was talk of the brilliant Paterson Joseph having been in the running.

Don't know if he would be interested, but he is pretty brilliant in everything he does, especially Peep Show, and he can do just about anything that could be asked of him dramatically, comically.

[Colin YNWA]

I remember when they were casting about, eventually picking Matt Smith, and there was talk of the brilliant Paterson Joseph having been in the running.

Don't know if he would be interested, but he is pretty brilliant in everything he does, especially Peep Show, and he can do just about anything that could be asked of him dramatically, comically.

Yeah I'd have loved Paterson Joseph to have got it. Don't get me wrong I was happy with Matt Smith but at the time was disappointed he didn't get it after being hotly tipped. He has a brilliant otherworldly quality mixed with a healthy dose of utterly menacing when he needs to and a light cheeky charm when that's required. If we've going to have to go back to a man - I for on would like another woman to drive the point home that we really need to move past the whining - then he'd be my choice.