The sky is burning

[parrot_knight]

He's off, then, after all, just when I had expected that he would be doing the 2014 series. If, as some sources suggest, this is part of a general relaunch which will try to restore momentum for the series after three years of reduced episode counts and allegedly troubled production, then good luck to it; though increasingly globalised television

Comments

[philmophlegm]

New Doctor pointless speculation table (roll 1d8):

1: Joanna Lumley
2: Richard E. Grant
3. Bill Nighy
4. That bloke whose name I've forgotten who was in 'The Next Doctor'
5. Tom Baker
6. John Simms
7. Benedict Cumberbuzzle
8. That bloke with the unspellable name who was the bad guy in the Firefly film

Guide to writing a new Doctor pointless speculation newspaper article:

1. Roll on the pointless speculation table.
2. Roll 2d6. This is the number of times you must mention in your article that Moffat said that the next Doctor could be female.
3. Insert the names of 1d6 famous actors who clearly won't do it.

[parrot_knight]

This would make a lot of journalists' lives a lot easier.

[wellinghall]

You mean they don't use this already?

[parrot_knight]

Perhaps, as the Master said to the Doctor at the end of The King's Demons part one, I have been naive...

[parrot_knight]

Absolutely true that there were some things Doctor Who could do in a backwater; I doubt that the attack on Jocelyn Stevens's managerialism at Times Newspapers which is one of the threads of The Green Death (though not the most prominent) would have got away without being widely noticed if this had been a Play for Today.

It's worth remembering that Moffat was always keen on bringing in someone 40+ to play the role, but with Doctor Who being so central to the BBC's positioning in 2008/9, this wasn't practical. Oddly, the loss of momentum since 2010 might be a help here, as well as changes in personnel at the BBC in the last few years.

I really doubt Cumberbatch is in the running. He is in great demand and has enough trouble scheduling three-film seasons of Sherlock. The fact he is associated with Sherlock on BBC1 makes it unlikely too - brand confusions and all.

[daniel_saunders]

I like backwaters too, but the BBC no longer funds them (except the backwater that is BBC Three).

It has been claimed that Cumberbatch was offered the role before Smith and turned it down, but it was The Daily Mail doing the claiming, so I'd treat it sceptically. In any case, I think Cumberbatch is now too successful and expensive for Doctor Who.

[parrot_knight]

I suspect the Mail report was another instance of the press lifting some speculation from a forum and turning it into fact.

[emperor]

Hugh Laurie :-)

[I have finally caught up with the end of the current series; did you write about The Name of The Doctor somewhere?]

[parrot_knight]

I've not yet written up The Name of the Doctor - too much other writing to do, including on Doctor Who. I will do so probably within the month.