The obligatory “12th Doctor List” post

I’ve tried to avoid any of the names that are already doing the rounds (not that I’ve any objection to Ben Wishaw, Idris Elba, Ben Daniels et. al.) because there are plenty of discussions about them already. Probably everyone on my list has already been suggested, but I haven’t seen them mentioned, at least since Matt Smith’s announcement.

  1. Nicola Walker is my top choice. Saw her in Edmund with Brannagh, also thought she was very good in early Spooks. Intense, quirky and very very alien. I can’t understand why she isn’t the bookies’ favourite.

  2. Julian Rhind-Tutt would be great. There were loads of superb performances in The Hour which was when I first thought Wishaw would make a good Doctor. But while Wishaw is perhaps a little too much of a gawky alien in the Matt Smith vein to follow straight on, Rhind-Tutt demonstrated his versatility as the sleazy Angus McCain. Great comic timing, but a very forceful presence when required.
  3. Rob Brydon must be on the bookies’ lists somewhere, but I haven’t spotted him. Maybe a little too Earthly to convey convincingly the Gallifreyan heritage, but what a ride in the TARDIS that would be…
  4. Andrew Gower is only 23 so he’s far too young for the rôle. But if they insist on casting youngsters (and I will admit Matt Smith turned out well) he’d not be a bad choice. As the solicitor Cutler in the fourth series of Being Human he walked off with every scene he was in…
  5. Louise Brealey has actually played an almost-companion to Tom Baker in Foe From The Future. But while Sheridan Smith, who is also being touted as a possible Doctor, is now firmly embedded in my mind as a companion following her four series with the Eighth Doctor as Lucie Miller, Brealey could be as good as the titutular Time Lord as she would be resuming her role as “Charlotte-from-the-village”. Another intense actor, with quirky timing, and quite capable of playing weird and surprising you.

But while Tennant was the actor I had wanted in the rôle in 2005 when the show came back, I had no idea who could match him in the rôle when he left. Then Matt Smith came along, an actor I’d never heard of, and did so. Now I can’t imagine who could equal Smith, but I hope there’s an actor I’m about to hear of who is going to do just that…

About Simon Wood

Lecturer in medical education, lapsed mathematician, Doctor Who fan and garden railway builder. See simonwood.info for more...

5 thoughts on “The obligatory “12th Doctor List” post

  1. I think she spells it Brealey. And while we’re Sherlocking, why not Andrew Scott, or is everyone else mentioning him?

    Haven’t seen 1or 4, but would love any of the others.

    1. Thanks, I seem to have added that extra R twice… But yes, most of the rest of the cast of Sherlock is being discussed. Andrew Scott is 16/1 at William Hill, as is Martin Freeman. Cumberbatch is 25/1 same as Sheridan Smith, but Ladbrokes is only offering 6/1 on him. I can’t find prices for Una Stubbs though.

      Not surprised you don’t know Andrew Gower as the whelp has no track record to speak of. But Nicola Walker is fabulous. You must watch The Last Train (by the writer of The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People) immediately. It’s quite bad, but

      a) It has Nicola Walker in it
      b) You can then read one of the best things Nancy Banks-Smith has written (if I could find her review of it…)

      1. Silly me . . . I have seen Nicola Walker in a couple of things at the National: Season’s Greetings (with two Who people – Mark Gatiss & Catherine Tate) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (with one Sherlock person – Una Stubbs).

        I was informed in the pub tonight that the next Doctor won’t be female because it’s just taking off in the US.

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