To really want Richard Ayoade to be the 14th Doctor (Who)?

[SleepOhHowIMissYou]

Rumours are that Jodie Whittaker is stepping down.

I haven't watched since David Tennant left but Richard Ayoade as the next Doctor would certainly have me tuning in again, AIBU?

There is - or should be - so much more to the Doctor than wisecracks and zany behaviour. In my view, the best of the modern Doctors was David Tennant (the SDTG in my MN nickname stands for Staying David Tennant’s Girl), with Christopher Ecclestone a close second - and both of them brought serious acting talent to the role.

Richard Ayoade was my choice for 13, so I'm really hoping he becomes 14.

A lot of the suggestions on here have already been on Doctor Who - eg Jason Watkins, Toby Jones, and Paterson Joseph (though this doesn't necessarily preclude them - see Colin Baker and Peter Capaldi).

I'd love a proper newcomer to come in and give it a go.

Richard Ayoade, maybe, but I think he’s too deadpan. Jodie Whittaker might be a good actress, I’ve no idea because I can’t bear to watch it, they’ve dressed her like a 5 year old throughout and made her run round like a headless chicken. Also, I cannot bear her accent, which worries me as a fellow northerner.

Sorry if this has already been suggested as I haven't yet read to the end but I have always thought that Warwick Davis would be a really good Doctor Who.

Stanley Tucci would be good, I think.

Or (and I know he's not an actor!) Prof Jonathan Van Tam. He'd be fabulous!

Prof Jonathan Van Tam?

Guess he wouldn't need acting skills to look utterly delighted when the TARDIS took him to an entirely different time!

As much as I LOVE Richard Ayoade, I've always wanted Paterson Joseph to play Doctor Who. I think he'd be amazing.

Love, love, love Paterson Joseph! Richard Ayoade could be good but I think he's a bit in dabger of being type cast as the needy eccentric and there have have already been lots of those in Dr Who. Still, I'd take that over Noel Fielding.

Oh I've just googled Patterson Joseph, I know him from Timeless. He was good in that.

Patterson Joseph

R.A would be great. Sadly I think he’s a bit too cool.

I haven’t watched any since the first few episodes with J.W. I was gutted about how the series changed with her so I’m really hoping a new doctor will mean a change of direction and no more gang! Bring back David Tennant.

I just asked DS his thoughts on this as he is a huge fan of both Doctor Who and RA.

He said no because 'Richard Ayoade wouldn't become the Doctor, the Doctor would become Richard Ayoade'.

@Lurleene

I just asked DS his thoughts on this as he is a huge fan of both Doctor Who and RA.

He said no because 'Richard Ayoade wouldn't become the Doctor, the Doctor would become Richard Ayoade'.

I do get what you're saying but I would need someone of this stature to bring me back as a viewer.

I stopped watching when David Tennant left so wouldn't class myself as a Doctor Who fan anymore (I'm a 10th Doctor fan).

Richard Ayoade would bring me back and, though I really love some of the suggestions on here (particularly Noel Fielding and Michael Sheen), they wouldn't have me deliberately reaching for the remote or make me really excited to see them in the role.

I agree completely with @Lurleene’s son - I don’t think he could step out of his comic persona, or past his ego, to be the Doctor.

Oh no he is such a bore

I'd never thought of RA as Dr Who but now you've put that thought in my head I really want it to come true. he would be perfect!

RA voices Onion in Apple and Onion which puts me off too.

Dang, just got all excited on the wrong thread.

The Metro, and other news outlets, are saying that Michaela Coel is currently the favourite to replace JW.

RA second in the running.

metro.co.uk/2021/01/07/doctor-who-michaela-coel-most-likely-to-replace-jodie-whittaker-13866971/

If this happens I simply won't know what to do with my once-on-a-lifetime level of excitement.

Fit to burst.

I May Destroy Myself with Ecstatic Weeping.

The problem always was, that when DT left, they changed a large amount of behind the scenes things, so a lot of crew left as well. Which does make a difference.

I do like JW though, but some of the script was weak.

Hugh Laurie would be a good one, Danny John Hules is another older, or maybe they could go right back and go with someone like Judy Dench.

You also have to keep in mind, unless they live there its about 7 months of your life away from your family. Its not a million miles away from most places, but I am guessing for some actors its not exactly a quick trip there and back ina day.

I just can't see Moss delivering an emotional speech before commiting genocide tbh.

David tenent was damn good at that

If they want to make a go of it I think they need to find a real actor, not a comedian.

And at the same time, they need to make the scripts, maybe not lighter, but not so heavy-handedly and childishly didactic (the JW scripts), or over-written (MS and PC's scripts).

It's also frankly embarrassing that the BBC being what it is, now that we've had a female doctor, we all expect the next one to be black or non-white - the very heights of tokenism. No matter how good the actor was that is what people will think and they'll be right.

Ten years is often as long as a series can maintain any kind of integrity, before it begins to get flabby. It's too bad Dr Who didn't manage it,
because of the awful Moffat, who ruined Sherlock in the same way. But as a concept Dr Who has managed to carry on for so long because it hasn't been continuous, and has had chances to lie dormant until it's able to regenerate into something really worthwhile.

That being said, with all these things today the tendency seems to be to squeeze every last drop out of them until they are just remnants of what they were.

Weird.

I was making faces at the two comments immediately following mine.

But then I read a comment combining (presumably) the thought of Michaela Coel - an actual, living goddam genius who has completely re-made the possibilities of television - with 'tokenism'.

I fucking give up.

@PoulePouletteEternellement

Weird.

I was making faces at the two comments immediately following mine.

But then I read a comment combining (presumably) the thought of Michaela Coel - an actual, living goddam genius who has completely re-made the possibilities of television - with 'tokenism'.

I fucking give up.

Is she the one from ru Paul.

But as for my comment dr who commits genocide pretty regularly (or at least tries to) without the speech to justify it it would get a bit given how often jt happened.

Although they've retconned out the major one

@PoulePouletteEternellement

Weird.

I was making faces at the two comments immediately following mine.

But then I read a comment combining (presumably) the thought of Michaela Coel - an actual, living goddam genius who has completely re-made the possibilities of television - with 'tokenism'.

I fucking give up.

Actually I was reffering to a post upthread, and many in other places, that have said that now that there has been a woman doctor, there needs to be a black doctor - and goodness knows you couldn't have another white male doctor.

Many people believe, and I think it's very likely correct, that that will be the thinking of the decision makers on this. It's a diversity decision. Dr Who has a lot of form for that kind of decision making, more so than many other shows.

The thing is, it doesn't matter how great the actor is, or how perfect for the role, if the individual is hired for that reason, it's tokenism. A show like Dr Who has (or at least had) the ability to cast great actors from any minority group, they are unlikely to pick a real dud in that sense. Tokenism has nothing to do with talent or even deserving the job, that's the problem with it.

Which is why tokenism of that kind, hiring someone because they tick a race box, or a sex box, or anything like that, diminishes no one so much as the people it claims to benefit. It's the same in other employment sectors too. I worked in a male dominated industry for many years and they absolutely picked women for certain roles - not where it was relevant - because of their sex. And it wasn't necessarily particularly popular with the women who were put in that position, either, it was very unpleasant to feel, and often have others think, that maybe your choice was down to an irrelevant thing that you couldn't control, or was meant to somehow balance some sort of historic unfairness.

In workplaces like that the problem becomes that even when those factors aren't in play, people suspect they might be.

It's part and parcel of the general preachiness that people dislike about the current episodes.