The Thirteenth Doctor

Peter Capaldi has announced that he is leaving his role as the Twelfth Doctor. He's been a fantastic Doctor and I'll be sad to see him go. What it does mean though is that at some point in the not too distant future the Thirteenth Doctor will be cast.

Lots of people are making lists of possible Doctors but many are not very likely. It's extremely unlikely that a major Hollywood actor is going to take the role. Even very big actors who have appeared in short series are unlikely to commit to a role as big as the Doctor. It's also very unlikely they will cast someone who has had a major Who role before- a guest part in one episode maybe, but not a returning actor like Alex Kingston or Maisie Williams. And I also think they are unlikely to choose an actor of a similar age-range to Peter Capaldi.

There's lots of talk that the new Doctor could be a woman. It's certainly a lot more likely now than it was when Peter Capaldi was cast. The Master's latest regeneration is a woman and we even saw a Time Lord regenerate from male to female in Hell Bent.

Whether the Thirteenth Doctor will be a woman is largely down to new showrunner Chris Chibnall. He is the man who will probably have the major say on the new Doctor. Personally I feel it would be ambitious for a new showrunner to come along and cast a woman as the Doctor- it's a change in the character dynamic which a new showrunner may not want to make straight away.

If they do choose a female Doctor Hayley Atwell would be my top tip. She's a great actor, demonstrated a fairly Doctor-ish role in Agent Carter and has no long-term commitments (it looks like her current TV series Conviction will not be renewed). Another highly possible one is Gemma Chan, who has become more successful in recent years and has played a Synth in sci-fi series Humans.

Hayley Atwell (as Peggy Carter)

I do think it's quite likely that the next Doctor will be a different race. It's well known that a black actor turned down the role a few years ago (it's thought to have been Chiwetel Ejiofor by many). A lot of people seem to be talking about Richard Ayoade taking the role. As much as I like him it's hard to imagine him doing the serious drama parts of the role, and he's pretty busy in the near future hosting The Crystal Maze. There's talk of Game Of Thrones' Alexander Siddig taking the role but at 52 he is probably too old. My preferred non-white Doctor would be Sacha Dhawan- Doctor Who fans might know his for his role as Waris Hussein in An Adventure in Space and Time. He's a superb actor who I can really picture in the role.

Sacha Dhawan

The bookmaker's favourites for the role include Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear, both best known for their roles in the James Bond franchise. I like Kinnear but I fear he's a little old for the role and might Ben Whishaw be too big for the Doctor?

Rory Kinnear

A likely BBC favourite would be James Norton. He shone in Happy Valley and War and Peace and seems to be an actor in favour with the beeb at the moment. He is busy for much of the year in ITV's Grantchester at the moment but he is certainly a possible.

James Norton (as Sidney Chambers in Grantchester)

I have a couple of lesser known ideas for the role. Bertie Carvel played Jonathan Strange in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and I really feel would make a great Doctor. Then there's Damien Maloney, who played vampire Hal in two series of Being Human. He's a fantastic actor who I really feel ought to have a big role in something.

Damien Maloney (as Hal in Being Human)

Could we maybe have someone Chris Chibnall has worked with before? I couldn't find many people in the Broadchurch cast list who I could imagine as the Doctor but one was James D'Arcy. He played Lee Ashworth in Broadchurch, a very non-Doctor-y role. But in Agent Carter he was the butler Edwin Jarvis who was closer to the Doctor- the variation in roles really shows how good an actor he is.

James D'Arcy (as Edwin Jarvis in Agent Carter)

I also think there's a strong chance we'll get a fairly unknown actor. Hardly anyone knew who Matt Smith was when he was cast and the same could be said for the last three companions. It would be great if the show finds another amazing actor we'd never even heard of before.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

John Hurt

It was really sad this morning to wake up to the news that John Hurt has died aged 77. Doctor Who fans know him best as the War Doctor of course but he's been a popular British actor since the 70s. I thought it would be nice to consider some of the roles I personally know him for.

In Alien he played Kane, a.k.a as the unfortunate crew member who has an alien burst through his chest. That scene was voted one of the more memorable movie moments of all time. We're perhaps more familiar with this kind of horror in 2017 but in 1979 it was more surprising. On paper it sounds like it could be awful, but it really works. I think the visuals are fairly good but it's the acting that really makes that scene work. John Hurt was the only actor in the scene who knew what was going to happen so the reaction of the rest of the cast is hardly surprising. Hurt had to really lead that scene then and he did so fantastically.

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone he plays wand-maker Ollivander. This was the first time I saw John Hurt in anything and he really shines despite the little time he appears. Up until this point Harry Potter has not spent any real time with a wizard and so John Hurt has the unenviable job of being the actor has to make wizards look good. And boy does he do it! He's funny and enigmatic and owns one of the most memorable scenes in the film. "The wand choose the wizard Mr. Potter- it's not always clear why."

He then returned to the role of Ollivander in The Deathly Hallows (towards the end of Part 1 and at the start of Part 2). Here the character has been tortured by Voldemort and the Death Eaters so Ollivander is something of a broken man. And you really believe that in Hurt's performance- you can almost see the fear and self-loathing in his eyes. Ollivander is another of the film's representations of loss of innocence- he's the first proper wizard Harry meets and gives him magic through a wand and later the tables are turned and Harry has to save his life.

Hurt has a small role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth and later film in the series. Let's face it, it's not a patch on the original trilogy. But I think Hurt's character, Oxley, is one of the few characters who really works in that film. Oxley has been driven mad by the crystal skull but was once an eminent archaeologist. Hurt's performance is a complicated one- he has to play for laughs, come across harrowed and still convince as once having been intelligent and with it. I think he somehow manages it too- there's a hint of tortured Ollivander but as if he was broken even further.

Let's not forget his wonderful voice work, including Hazel in the Watership Down film and General Woundwort in the Watership Down TV series, Aragorn in the animated Lord of the Rings, the Narrator in The Tigger Movie, the Owl in The Gruffalo and the Gruffalo's Child and memorably the mostly unhelpful dragon in Merlin. What a voice that man had, perfect for a wise and friendly mentor.

And finally, let's talk about Doctor Who. Hurt played the War Doctor in The Day of the Doctor, the incarnation that fought in the Time War and ended it (although that was sort of re-written). Hurt may only have played the Doctor for a short time but he really nailed it. He's very Doctor-ish- funny, a little arrogant and really compassionate. But he takes the dark side of the Doctor further than ever, so far it's broken him. My favorite scene is when he talks with Clara in the Black Archive, when you really understand the dilemma he's in.

Doctor Who was lucky to get an actor of Hurt's stature to appear in the 50th anniversary special and Hurt embraced it. He took it seriously and asked Steven Moffat if he counted as a proper Doctor. I really believe he does. Technically he's a regeneration and we can't ignore that but he also proves himself to be one of the very best actors to have played the Doctor. Since the special he reprised the role with Big Finish in audio, giving us a Doctor deep in the Time War. This shows how much he enjoyed the role- I havn't heard any of his audio stories yet but I am definitely going to seek them out.

The other thing that's worth mentioning about John Hurt is what a nice man he was. The Doctor Who network online has been full of praise for him, not just an actor but as a person. It seems everyone who's met him has a similar anecdote to share about how friendly and warm he was.

John Hurt's death then sad but at least he will always be remembered for his many fantastic roles, not least as the War Doctor.

Lethbridge-Stewart: Blood of Atlantis

In this book Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart , Anne Travers & the team head to the Aegean Sea to investigate strange goings-on, as ever. This time it's a damaged Royal Navy ship & a series of missing vessels.

Candy Jar books chose Simon A Forward well as a writer for this series. He really gets it, making an action story, almost James Bond like, but keeping the sci-fi Doctor Who stuff in the story. This series is about a military man and his colleagues and Forward really sees this.

All of the series' regular cast are well treated here. It can be hard to focus on the Brigadier and keep both Anne Travers & the likes of Bishop & Ware plenty to do. Forward splits them up for much of the story, and like in Doctor Who this is often the best way of showing the characters. 

Forward also creates several of his own characters, all of which are great. There's cat lady archeologist Señora Montilla, who is like the Anne Travers of a different field. Then there's Captain Bugayev, a Russian who ally's with Lethbridge-Stewart in the middle of the Cold War. I really liked this whole element to the story, the uneasy friendship between the two sides and the Brig never being sure he can trust the Russians.

The threat is a good one and a little different to what we've seen in this series before. It's can get repetitive having intelligent strong aliens being the antagonist every time and here we get something different.

There's plenty more I could praise about this book too. The bittersweet ending, the chapter titles are based on Doctor Who stories/episodes. I've enjoyed much of this series but none more than this one.