Obligatory Doctor Who ‘Who Should Be The Next Doctor?’ Article
With Peter Capaldi announcing last night he would be leaving the role of The Doctor at the end of the year, it’s time for a the obligatory ‘Who Should Be The Next Doctor In Doctor Who?’ article. There are of course a number of names alway knocking around when this happens. Idris Elba, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejifor… All of which are great, but I suspect, rather unlikely. Here are our top picks for the role.
Ben Whishaw
Lets start with one of the bookies favourites, and one of our favourites too. Ben is well known for his role as Q in the Bond movies, tv shows London Spy & The Hour, and of course, the voice of Paddington. He’s been tipped as a possible replacement before, so could this be his time?
Hayley Atwell
We have a female Master now, so why not go for a female Doctor? It would be a tricky thing to pull off, but if anyone could do it, it’s Hayley. Funny, smart, tough, charming, and eminently watchable, she is of course best known as Agent Carter from the tv series and Captain America movies. I’ve said for a while now, Atwell is a star looking for the right vehicle. Could Doctor Who be it?
Tim Roth
One of the bigger names on the list, but not someone who’s adverse to doing TV. He was brilliant as the curmudgeonly Dr. Cal Lightman in Lie To Me, and has shown he can play that level of arrogance, humour, and genius, extremely well. Plus, last year Roth took part in a Reddit AMA (ask me anything). Someone posed the question “Would you please, please, please be the next Doctor?” To which he replied “Ok. If this is the casting director, I’m all for it.”
Sacha Dhawan
Doctor Who has a history of picking people they’ve worked with before to star take over the lead role. Whilst Dhawan wasn’t in Who itself, he did appear in the docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time about the making of the show. He’s also appeared in a number of tv shows including 24: Live Another Day, Mr Selfridge and Last Tango in Halifax, and would make for a really interesting choice.
Jason Flemyng
Lock, Stock’s Jason Flemyng could be a good pick, and is also on the bookies list. He’s played with time travel before as Danny Quinn in ITV’s Primeval, and is currently set to appear in 2 new shows this year. Sky Atlantic’s new period drama Jamestown, and BBC’s SS-GB, which is an alternative take on history, where Germany won the Battle of Britain. SS-GB is a mini-series, so shouldn’t interfere with any potential ‘Who’ casting, and it’s not totally clear how much he is in Jamestown as yet, so that may put him out of the running. We’ll have to wait and see.
Others we like, but are probably unlikely…
Colin Morgan would be great, but given his current commitments to various films, and the excellent Humans, this is probably unlikely. Same with Aidan Turner, who is committed to Poldark right now, which could make filming another big show like Doctor Who a problem. Olivia Colman is another name being thrown around, partly because of her previous work with incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall, but if we are going with a female Doctor, my heart lies with Hayley… I should also put in our TV Editor Andrew’s pick of William Shatner… Because he’d put Shatner in everything given the chance… ;)
So who would you like to see? Add your suggestions below!
Doctor Who returns to BBC One for Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi’s final series on the 15th April 2017
