New New Doctor?

January 2009

It has been been an exciting few months.  First there was David Tennant’s live announcement at the National TV Awards that he would not be playing the Doctor in series 5.  Although the timing was a surprise, the actual announcement was not that much of a shock.  Any actor is likely to be wary of staying in one role too long, and although I had been hoping that Tennant would stay for at last part of Steven Moffat’s first season in charge, I had an inkling that this was not going to happen when Russell T Davies revealed at the Cheltenham Literature Festival that he had already written the penultimate line of his final ‘special’.

Then there was the media excitement over the casting of the next incumbent, coupled, cleverly, with the Next Doctor hype. Quite how Russell T Davies and co managed to milk the speculation following Tennant’s departure to promote The Next Doctor when it was really fairly clear that the character played by David Morrissey in the Christmas Special couldn’t really be the next Doctor, is a mystery.  Two major stumbling blocks were the fact that Tennant was contracted to appear in further specials (OK , so I suppose he could be playing Doctor 10.2, who has escaped from the alternative universe, but that seems rather contrived) and the fact that Morrissey’s character, as shown in the trailer, was very clearly imitating the Tenth Doctor (“Allons-y” etc.) whereas a real new incarnation would have his own characteristics.

Meanwhile all the usual old chestnuts are kicked around in the press.  If not Morrissey, could it be a woman? Catherine Zeta Jones? Billie Piper? [Yawn].

Then, in December, Tennant was invalided out of Hamlet for back surgery, missing his London press night.  Hugely disappointing for him, and for the fans who had managed to get tickets.  Also worrying for the Doctor Who production team, who were expecting him to start filming again in mid-January. However, even though he was unable to attend the press launch for the Christmas special he apparently recovered sufficiently to do a last-minute round of radio interviews. Meanwhile, David Morrissey’s position as a bookies’ favourite for the role seemed to slump after the press launch. 

Christmas Day, and all became clear (well, the reasons for Tennant’s bad back, anyway – look at all that wire work!).  Obviously the Dickensian setting was used not only for its ‘Christmassy’ appeal, but to enable them to include a fob watch in Morrissey’s costume as a red herring.

Into the New Year, and speculation mounted about the significance of an episode of Doctor Who Confidential scheduled for BBC1 on 3 January. Then it was confirmed that the casting announcement will indeed be made during this show.  In trailers for the special programme David Tennant looked as if he could scarcely conceal his glee that someone else was going to have to cope with the massive media interest for a change. 

Let’s just take stock here. They actually broadcast a special programme to tell us who was being cast in a role which would not start filming for about six months and would not be seen on the screen for a year, and it got one of the highest audience figures of the day.  

Finally, all was revealed.  The collective jaws of the nation dropped as the youngster with the interesting hairdo appeared on screen.  I have to admit that my first reaction was not favourable, mainly because Matt Smith seemed a little like a younger, unformed version of David Tennant, and I was hoping for more of a contrast (such as Julian Rhind-Tutt or Rupert Penry-Jones).  I also realised that I must have seen him in The Ruby in the Smoke without having noticed him at all.  However, I trust Steven Moffat, and if he says that Matt Smith was the clear favourite out of all those auditioned, there must be something about him. Time will tell.

However, David Tennant managed to trump the announcement with a surprise return to Hamlet on the very night of the announcement, and completed the run to rave reviews.* That is true star quality.  Mr Smith (convenient name, that) will have a lot to live up to.

*I got a late ticket for London in January, having seen the preview in Stratford.