I haven’t watched him in anything, so can’t pass comment, but I’m a bit disappointed that it’s not Paterson. Matt will have to be VERY careful that this role doesn’t define his career; at least an older actor would have established himself a bit more.

…. hmmmmmm.

I’m quietly pleased. I realised at about ten this morning that I’d rather it was Smith. Joseph would have been good, but there’s a heck of a lot of potential here. My two favourite Doctors to date are the ones who took the role and did something different with it (McCoy & Eccleston), and I think that Smith has the potential to do that. Piers’ description of Moffat’s conceptualisation of the Doctor sounds spot on for this actor- look at the smug look to camera he gave at the end of Confidential…

Oh, yes, because a smug Doctor worked *so* well in series 2, didn’t it?

My current feelings are alternating between intense disappointment that we don’t have Joseph and a massive amount of reservation about Smith. He could be fantastic, sure, but I can see way, WAY too many scenarios in which he’s an absolute disaster and I’m really uneasy.

Before it was announced I didn’t want it to be Matt, HOWEVER, as soon as he appeared onscreen in Confidential a grin broke out on my face. I’ve always liked choices that fly in the face of what people generally expect or want, even those that go against my own expectations. Before they said 26-years-old I was so sure it was going to be Paterson Joseph that I was waiting for them to start talking about colour (in a PC way, of course). It was pretty refreshing that we couldn’t have been further from the truth.

I LIKE how weird/stoned/confused/emo he appeared to be in the Confidential interview. It’s gonna suit the Doctor’s alien nature very well indeed. And as Moffat said, his hair is also right (Eccleston aside they’ve all had pretty crazy hair). His young age mixed with his sort of dark, otherworldliness is going to give us a different Doctor performance, and that’s what we need after 100mph crazy-eyed Tennant.

He must be good if Moffat and Wenger couldn’t see anyone else doing it, especially when they were originally looking for someone around 40. Roll on series 5.

> Oh, yes, because a smug Doctor worked *so* well in series 2, didn’t it?

David can’t do smug. Smith will be so much better.

Right my two pence. I’m actually rather pleased. I was stuck on the motorway when Seb’s text arrived and my initial reaction was ‘Na…izza joke ennit’. After the shock wore of though and hearing him on the radio my mind immediately jumped back to ‘TimeCrash’ and the line “But you, you were MY Doctor”

God it’s a blatant clue ennit!?

I know some long for an elderly grand-father type again. That to my mind just isn’t going to happen. Children’s television and television in general has moved on. The western world is a faster, more frenetic place than the days of Hartnell or Pertwee and modern Who sells on it’s action as much as it’s dialogue.

Yes he does seem a bit young, even including Davidson all former Doctors have tended to have a bit of scale, charisma… gravitas. However who is to say Smith can’t bring that to the role. We haven’t seen him in action yet, we simply can’t judge.

I’ve not actually seen the confidential yet so I don’t know if that gives anymore away, but already I’m starting to imagine that Moffat’s Doctor is going to be quite a depature from Tennant. Julian has mentioned somewhere that he has the potential to make the role is own and it’s because of that very sentiment that I’m now very excited by this bit of casting.

> I know some long for an elderly grand-father type again. That to my mind just isn’t going to happen.

If only there was some sort of middle ground between and elderly grand-father type and a 26 year-old boy with stupid hair…

> We haven’t seen him in action yet, we simply can’t judge.

Of course we can judge. We can see him, hear him, view his past work… on that evidence I have nightmares that he’ll end up being a more punchable version of Ten.

Someone on another forum made an excellent suggestion that his Doctor should be very close to Hartnell’s, with a strong undercurrent of irritation at being patronised by lesser lifeforms. Giving him a much older character would nicely contrast with his looks, I think, and will probably be the best way to make him more agreeable to me.

> Julian has mentioned somewhere that he has the potential to make the role is own

Yes, but the thing you have to remember about Julian is that he doesn’t like Tom Baker as the Doctor. Or Tennant. The tall, wrong fool.

Stop bieng so stroppy.

Yes clearly you can make assumptions based on his former work, but you can’t judge his interpretation of The Doctor was my point. Not that anyone was doing that, but well …fuck off. I’ve been travelling all day and will allow myself stating the bloody obvious!

I honestly thought it was going to be Paterson Joseph and his chance may now have past, but I won’t be losing any sleep over it. Looking in IMDB last night in terms of the more recent Doctor’s he would actually been quite old, whether that’s a factor or not I don’t know.

It’s interesting that he was so well backed too. Presumably that info leaked from somewhere close to the audition process. Given there’s such a different in appearance and age between Smith and Joseph it’s very hard to second guess exactly where Moffat’s Doctor is going to go.

I’ve now watched Confidential and re-watched Timecrash. Listening very intently to Moffat’s comments on each Doctor and I’m now hugely excited again. The chap they’ve got does seem a little bit smug, upper middle-class and I’m not sure I’m going to a particular big fan of him. I am however looking forward to the Moffat/Smith Doctor. If that makes any sense?

> If that makes any sense?

It does, yes. I’m looking forward to it myself as it’s going to hugely interesting to see how it all goes. And I’m not being stroppy, darling, just taking issue with things and airing my worries as usual. Now, give me a hug.

> Yes, but the thing you have to remember about Julian is that he doesn’t like Tom Baker as the Doctor. Or Tennant. The tall, wrong fool.

I want to argue…

Actually this reminds me the ONE thing that’s leaving me a bit nervy about Smith…well actually two things 1)his name in the credits how is that ever going to look right and 2) I remember being not very happy at all about Tennant. I remember blathering on about him being too young. I now know of course how bloody wrong I was. So now I’m nervy that the reverse is going to be true of Smith/Moffat. Wild antcipation that’s all going to turn out wrong.

Seb! Look…

http://tinyurl.com/8ffsyd

Does that ease the pain in the slightest?

Seeing as Cappsy’s copying his own posts on various forums, I shall now do the same:

I think it’s likely that his Doctor will follow the Tennant model - in terms of cleaving close to the personality of the showrunner.

There’s SO much of RTD in Doctor Ten - the silly, giggly energy, the outspoken enthusiastic love for the brilliance of things, the unslipping brave-face mask covering any sorrow, the sheer resilience, plus that whole ‘I don’t fancy you, but I do love you’ relationship with women…

Moffat, on the other hand, is famously misanthropic, ranty and irritable. Comfortable in his own genius, and in telling other people how wrong they are. Which sounds familiar - perfect for a more arrogant Doctor.

He also likes a drink and seems to be constantly on the horn…but I imagine those traits will be less used on-screen.

I like the sound of that, actually. Arguably Moffat’s best work has come from material that is clearly directly modelled on himself.

Anyway, I’ve rewatched Confidential and it’s managed to make a big difference. I could really do with more age in his face and voice, but listening more carefully to his attitude towards the role I think he’s going to be more in the Eccleston mould of finely crafting his own character, as opposed to Tennant relying a lot on manic energy.

You’ve got to hand it to Moffat, though, I don’t think he could’ve made a more interesting choice.

> Anyway, I’ve rewatched Confidential and it’s managed to make a big difference.

Good. Personally I see him doing it in a sort of Captain Jack Sparrow-like way. The hand movements and the sort of faux-confusion, but when it boils down to it he can really deliver.

I still remain disappointed that we’ve not got Patterson (he so would’ve been my Doctor) and I still have more worries than I would like… but there really is no denying that he’s got a great attitude and that he’s a great actor.

I’m going to fucking appreciate every last second of Ten’s specials, though, that’s for sure.

>Does that ease the pain in the slightest?

I take it you’re referring to his being an ROTR fan?

… possibly. It might make up for the fact that he doesn’t seem to know all that much about Who, based on his interview. I know we were spoiled with Tennant, but fuck it, I want all future Doctors to demand that their favourite monsters be included, to wear nerdy t-shirts in public and to basically be as brilliant a human being as DT.

Oh, and : they need to give him long McGann-esque hair and dress him elaborately and non-21st-centuryish… and then it might work.

Is it worth pointing to the Comic Relief parody Who that Moffat wrote here? Arguably the only time the writer has crafted a personality for the Doctor himself, rather than having to use one from another writer’s show - sure it’s twisted to spoofery, but there’s a smug always-right cockiness to it…

The Confidential interview with Smith was, to me, pretty reassuring. My only real experience of him as an actor was in The Street (where he was genuinely terrific in intimidating thespian company, but in no useful way Doctory-y), and to see him chatting made it easier to see how it was going to work. He’s all wavy hands, flicky hair and energy. Intelligent-seeming and quite considered. I like that very much.

Some *prick* on BBC Breakfast said something along the lines of “I wonder how many people turned them down before they went with Matt” this morning. In fact, the only reservation about his casting I’ve seen from the press is the fact that know one really knows who he is, which is completely unimportant! Fools.

After the shock wore of though and hearing him on the radio my mind immediately jumped back to ‘TimeCrash’ and the line “But you, you were MY Doctor”

Thing is, on the Confidential Moffat seemed to be suggesting that he’d been originally considering an actor aged around forty and then Smith impressed him so much that they chose him in spite of his age. Having said that, there’s something very unsurprising about them picking a 26-year-old. The average “Who” viewer isn’t a twelve year old boy any more and the considerable female fan reaction to Tennant means that a young or youngish actor was always going to play well with the Beeb’s audience box-ticking. Bring an older actor to the role and it’ll please the nostalgic adult fans who remember watching Pertwee, Troughton and the like and the kids probably won’t mind but it’s going to alienate a large portion of the audience who want a Doctor they can fancy and, like it or not, they’re likely to be catered for.

And speaking as someone who really, really wanted it to be PJ I’m still looking forward to Smith’s entering the TARDIS. Having seen the Confidential now there’s definitely something about him which suggests he can take the role on. For some reason he looks like he’d be comfortable dressed like an Edwardian dandy and, for me, that’s one of the defining things about what makes someone suitable to play the Doctor.

I think one of the reasons I was really uncomfortable with his age is that it could be considered a cynical move by the BBC to please the younger audience. Sort of bringing it more into line with the horrific Robin Hood and Merlin, which would be a disaster.

But then I remember that Moffat is in charge.

If anything, the reaction from some of the casual fans on Guardian Unlimited has made me even more pro-Smith, due to the absurdity of some of the points they’re raising against him. If I see a twenty six year old man being described a “pubescent” one more time, I’m going to throw something! Also, the claim that the production team have been lent on to cast a younger Doctor to appeal to a “yoof” audience doesn’t make sense. Tennant just pulled in 11 million viewers single-handedly on Christmas day- if the BBC were pressuring Moffat to chase ratings, they’d have been pushing for another thirtysomething heartthrob.

As I said in our The Next Doctor review, Timecrash and The Next Doctor serve as a perfect means of comparing RTD and Moffat’s takes on the Doctor. In the former, you still get that burst of fanboy excitement which typifies Tenant’s Doctor, but he’s smarter and wiser. He knows full well how the situation will resolve itself, quietly showing off his intellect by saving the day. In Davies’ take, he’s pure excitement, scrabbling around for a plan and improvising like fury. Andrew’s mention of The Curse of Fatal Death is astute. There we see a confident Doctor, happily pointing out the absurdity of his enemies’ plans where they have no hope of success and subtly exploiting their flaws when work is required. It was either Moffat or his wife who described Atkinson’s Doctor as being calm on the surface, but every so often the mask slips, and you can glimpse how hard he’s working to appear this laid-back gentleman of the universe.

Smith’s casting has me wondering if we’re going to see Barrowman as a permanent companion in series five- there’s a ready made (Moffat) older character who would add a sense of continuity to the show. Interesting how everyone’s been mentioning the River Song dynamic, and how it’s going to be wonderful watching this apparently younger man dealing with a woman who he appears destined to marry. (The Writer’s Tale mentions RTD being agog when Moffat told him who she REALLY is, so there’s obviously a twist coming up.) For my money however, the more interesting element is Jenny. We now have a Doctor nearly the same age as his daughter, who could well be developed into a Meddling Monk-style rival.

Oh, and Capps- get over the haircut. It couldn’t be more Doctorish if he’d buried some marbles in there.

> Oh, and Capps- get over the haircut. It couldn’t be more Doctorish if he’d buried some marbles in there.

What a lovely turn of phrase! I dunno, though, his haircut screams ‘indie kid’ far more than it does ‘Doctor’, for me. If the comb over one eye look is removed, though, then all should be well.

All in all, though, very convincing and eloquent defences of the boy Smith, Karl and Julian. I’m feeling better about it all.

> You’ve got to hand it to Moffat, though, I don’t think he could’ve made a more interesting choice.

More interesting than a mid-twenties white boy with an exaggeration of David’s hair? Hardly ;)

Meh, the boy has giant hands. I shall remain skeptical until the moment Moffat pours his genius into my brain.

> In Davies’ take, he’s pure excitement, scrabbling around for a plan and improvising like fury.

Thos, again, also true of Davies himself - leaving himself items dotted around with which to save the day, but never outlining his episodes.

> there’s a ready made (Moffat) older character

I see Jack as a bit ‘too Davies’ to return. I don’t know how he was developed in tone meetings or whatever, but he strikes me as the character where the two writers’ personalities meet.

> The Writer’s Tale mentions RTD being agog when Moffat told him who she REALLY is, so there’s obviously a twist coming up.

Yeah, even the commentary is clear that she’s not ‘simply’ his wife. “It’s more complicated than that.”

> We now have a Doctor nearly the same age as his daughter, who could well be developed into a Meddling Monk-style rival.

While I don’t expect that much, it is worth nothing that Moffat was the one who wanted Jenny to live and sparked the rewrite…

> Meh, the boy has giant hands

Commanding hands. Which he seems to always be waving about.

> I know we were spoiled with Tennant, but fuck it, I want all future Doctors to demand that their favourite monsters be included, to wear nerdy t-shirts in public and to basically be as brilliant a human being as DT.

But that was Tennant’s Doctor. Don’t get me wrong I love him for it. However different Doctor, different motivation, different teeth etc. Does being the biggest Who automatically mean the best TV? Infact does the best Doctor even equal the best ‘Doctor Who’?

‘ve woke up today feeling even better about this. What’s great is there’s a certain boldness, a self-confidence about the decision. At first glance and to the casual observer we’ve got a young, inexperienced nobody who is being dismissed as too young, the emo doctor, too goth etc. Well isn’t that a little bit fantastic? Before he’s even appeared on screen The Doctor has shocked, done something new and put a few noses out of joint. It’s all been bloody good drama.

> Before he’s even appeared on screen The Doctor has shocked, done something new and put a few noses out of joint. It’s all been bloody good drama.

That’s all fair and good, but in the end it won’t be what happened yesterday that matters, but who’s in the bloody episodes for at least one year, and he’d better do a good job :p

> More interesting than a mid-twenties white boy with an exaggeration of David’s hair? Hardly ;)

I think choosing someone so unknown is interesting. And his age means it’s quite a big departure from what anyone was expecting. His character might not be interesting come 2010 (we’ll see) but the choice certainly is.

> That’s all fair and good, but in the end it won’t be what happened yesterday that matters, but who’s in the bloody episodes for at least one year, and he’d better do a good job :p

I’ll take any bit of Who related drama I can get until we have new episodes. I’m just taking the ‘In Moffat we trust’ philosophy here. For me it just bodes well if something like this can suprise and shock in the moment and then on reflection start to feel very positive.

> His character might not be interesting come 2010 (we’ll see) but the choice certainly is.

It’s a purely Moffat created Doctor. Look at his tracked record of original characters so far…. Captain Jack, Sally Sparrow, River Song.

How can Moffat’s Doctor NOT be interesting!?

Oh one other thing.

Does anyone know what’s happening with Torchwood and Sarah Jane? I know Torchwood is apparently returning for a one-week 5-episode run in the summer, but after that what’s RTD’s involvement. Both spin-offs occured on his watch, do they pass over to the Moffat era too?

PJ would actually have been a less ‘interesting’ choice, using the term as Cappsy meant it - as an actor, his age, level of experience, style, tone and character were much more ‘typical’.

I myself can’t remember him in anything (but he looks familier), I don’t care he’s young what difference does that make? I think it should add an interesting edge to the series - and this is the direction it was already taking in my opinion.

Still disapointed about Tennant going though, but as this is Doctor Who, it is unavoidable.

>Does anyone know what’s happening with Torchwood and Sarah Jane?

RTD continues as Big Boss on Sarah Jane, despite his departing from Who. Torchwood has a five-episode third season in the can, but the fact that it has to be transmitted on consecutive weekdays means it could be June before the thing gets broadcast. Whether the show continues after that is unknown, but its massive US following would suggest so- over there, it pulls in about twice the audience figures of Who.

> It’s a purely Moffat created Doctor. Look at his tracked record of original characters so far…. Captain Jack, Sally Sparrow, River Song.

Jack was mainly created by RTD, wasn’t he - Moffat just wrote the first episodes to feature him, so that coloured aspects of his personality a bit.

>Jack was mainly created by RTD

He was named by RTD, but the figure in Empty Child/ Doctor Dances differs hugely from that in Davies’ pitch document, particulary in his relationship with the Doctor. The showrunner has always said that there are some aspects of the charatcer that he won’t touch, in case Moffat wants to explore them at a later date.

Jack’s a fusion of the two showrunners, really, isn’t he? Pitch document, first draft, then rewrites, tone meetings and casting…he’s the offspring of them both. But the ‘missing memories’ backstory is all Moffat - and the thing that Davies is leaving alone.

Jacks’ the Rani.

Misplaced comma oops.

I haven’t even seen Confidential yet, weirdly - since Saturday I’ve either been working, or doing lots of sick and poo everywhere. Will go and watch it now.

I will say however, that I don’t think the role has ever been miscast. So I’m pretty confident that they haven’t done it this time either.

> Misplaced comma oops.

It’s an apostrophe, you fucking cunt.

FAIL

Of course it is. Erm somebody did that windows trick to my screen which made things go upside down.

> But the ‘missing memories’ backstory is all Moffat - and the thing that Davies is leaving alone.

Thing is though, it’s been rendered… not quite unviable, but certainly less viable as a plot element than it was when it was introduced, because of the “Indestructible Captain Harkness” thing and the faintly ridiculous elongation of Jack’s lifespan that’s ensued. Two years out of thirty-something is a lot more important than two years out of hundreds or thousands, especially when it’s skewed toward the beginning of his life. The only really viable way to make it a plot now is to bring THAT Jack, the “during the two missing years Jack” in directly, probably as a bad guy.

*no matter what you take the Doctor’s age to be - and Moffat’s on the record as believing that the character himself has no real idea how old he is, and just plucked a number out of thin air and ran with it with the “900/903 years old” bit - Jack is now considerably older than him after the reveal of how he ended up in the present for TW S1, and the S2 finale

I agree it matters a lot less to us now, but more by duration of the show than of Jack. Dropping in memory loss then, after setting it up, having the character be fine about it (because so much has gone on since) means there’s no incentive to find out about it. Really, yeah, who cares?

But the thing is…Moffat. He’s the guy who shows us River Song and gets us all thinking ‘wife’ while actually having something else up his sleeve. If anyone can put those two lost years to good, surprising, dramatic use, it’s going to be him.

I rather hope that he doesn’t bring back River Song until we have an older Doctor. They should stay true to Tennant’s Doctor being younger than the one she knew, and the Doctor should be in a body that appears to be more or less her own age I say. I’m a little concerned that they’ll want to pay off that storyline sooner rather than later, though.

You know, the more I think about it, the more I realise my disappointment is based less on who he is than on who he isn’t. The age thing is bothering me less and less (because it’ll all be down to how Moffat writes him – and, to an extent, how he dresses – anyway). It’s just… I really wanted it to be Paterson Joseph. Oh well, he goes on the list of “great Doctors that never were” alongside Richard Griffiths and Bill Nighy…

Hey, he’ll still be alive in five years and we can go through the whole thing again!

> You know, the more I think about it, the more I realise my disappointment is based less on who he is than on who he isn’t. The age thing is bothering me less and less (because it’ll all be down to how Moffat writes him – and, to an extent, how he dresses – anyway). It’s just… I really wanted it to be Paterson Joseph. Oh well, he goes on the list of “great Doctors that never were” alongside Richard Griffiths and Bill Nighy…

This.

Exactly how my head worked it all out, right down to the Bill Nighy bit.

There’s a slightly extended version of the Confidential interview with him at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho - and also on Youtube.

> Hey, he’ll still be alive in five years and we can go through the whole thing again!

Maybe he’ll do a Pierce Brosnan!

I’ve been watching the first four episodes of Party Animals tonight, alternating episodes with The Tenth Planet (last week it was alternating between old Krypton Factor and Smallville. I amuse myself in my own unique ways.) and it is very, very good…

And Matt Smith probably deserves an extra very on top of that. I’m starting to picture him as The Doctor, now, which is a relief, but it’s hard to say exactly how he’ll play it as he’s obviously a versatile chap and there are plenty of options. It’s probably due to watching TTP, but I’d still love it if he ended up acting very old and stuffy with flashes of youthful energy every now and then.

>Maybe he’ll do a Pierce Brosnan!

Sing ABBA songs badly?