Who?
I'm sure this rumour about Paterson Joseph being cast as the new Doctor is utter bollocks, like 99.99% of all Doctor casting rumours, but I'd love it to be true. Ever since he played the flamboyantly Doctor-like Marquis de Carabas in the BBC's Neverwhere I've thought he'd be fantastic in the role. Along with Peter Capaldi he was the best thing about that series. In fact Neverwhere was explicitly Neil Gaiman's attempt to fill the old Who niche of scary genre television for adults. Ironically it was just as severely hamstrung by its production values as Classic Who ever was.
That news story also states that "many Doctor Who purists are already resisting the notion of a black actor taking on the role", which if true just pisses me off immensely. I don't hang around Who forums so I've no idea how widespread this sentiment is or if it's just confined to one troll and a few hardcore Whovians, but it's nearly impossible for me to imagine what arguments could possibly be advanced for the Doctor not changing his skin colour. This is an alien being who transforms every conceivable aspect of himself, including his hair colour, features, height, weight and, er, accent. Are we supposed to believe that melanin is one step too far?
That news story also states that "many Doctor Who purists are already resisting the notion of a black actor taking on the role", which if true just pisses me off immensely. I don't hang around Who forums so I've no idea how widespread this sentiment is or if it's just confined to one troll and a few hardcore Whovians, but it's nearly impossible for me to imagine what arguments could possibly be advanced for the Doctor not changing his skin colour. This is an alien being who transforms every conceivable aspect of himself, including his hair colour, features, height, weight and, er, accent. Are we supposed to believe that melanin is one step too far?