Matt Smith - The 11th Doctor

It was a decision met with excitement and surprise as the BBC announced who would take over from the outgoing David Tennant as ‘The Doctor’ in 2010. Well, from the names being banded about nobody had said that Matt Smith would be in with a shout.

So low and behold, by 7pm on Saturday 3rd January 2009, everyone knew that the 26 year-old, the youngest actor to play The Doctor, would be the next man in the TARDIS.

At first I was a little disappointed, I thought that his age was too young to be taken seriously as a 900 year-old Timelord, but boy I cheered up when the man himself was interviewed!

No disrespect to Matt but he just looks and sounds weird! Not bad weird but brilliant, fantastic, superbly weird – just what The Doctor should be like! I personally think he’ll be great, its just unfortunate that we have to wait a year to find out!

In the interview he stated that he had six months to learn the history of the show and to create his own character. It was pleasing to see him talk so passionately about the role and I was left wondering what direction the show is going in. Rumours suggest that the new head writer, Steven Moffat, may take the show back to a mysterious and dark tone. That’ll be great but I would prefer it to be like the mid-Tom Baker era rather than the Sylvester McCoy era, which is the one that has been rumoured!

I think it’s fair to say that Matt isn’t the most famous of actors. He is just at the start of what could be a great career. I just hope that Moffat has tied him to a long contract because we are running out of Doctors! If you want to check out his work, then he has starred with Billie Piper in the two Sally Lockhart stories, ‘Ruby in the Smoke’ and ‘Shadow in the North’ as well as an episode in series one of ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’. But he is perhaps best known as one of the leads in the political series ‘Party Animals’.

Whatever happens, I for one can’t wait! Well done Matt and good luck!

Matt Smith Interview

David Tennant - Thank-You! - A 10th Doctor Tribute 2005-09

It’s with a little bit of sadness and shock that I write about the announcement that David Tennant will quit his role as The Doctor after the 2009 specials. It was always something that was going to happen but it was rather a shock when he announced it at the National Television Awards, where he picked up the award for best actor.

David has been a great servant to Doctor Who, even outside of filming, he has been promoting the show tirelessly and always has time for the fans. And that’s because he’s a fan himself!

It was 2005 and David Tennant burst onto the scene in the BBC Three drama – Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. His portrayal of the famous character was absolutely fantastic and that probably secured his dream role to play the Timelord he had religiously watched as a lad.

Rumours have been circulating that Tennant was always going to succeed Christopher Eccelston after the 2005 series. I suppose with the main members of the Doctor Who team, cutting their ties with the show after 2009, we will find out the truth behind the goings on in that first series.

Fast forward to June 2005 and we had known for months that the revived series was going to lose its Doctor. The production team were furious the news got out and since then they have fought to keep the programme’s plots a secret. But not many fans expected David Tennant to appear at the end of ‘The Parting of the Ways’ as the newly regenerated Doctor! It was a nice surprise, the first of many!

From his 10 seconds on series 1, David took the role on and became, arguably, the most popular Doctor ever. Women love him, men love and want to be him and he turned out to be a stalkers dream! But fair play to him, he stuck with it and handed in superb performance after superb performance.

Now I’m not a massive fan of his first series but the final two episodes of the 2006 jaunt where quite simply some of the best ‘Who’ ever. David had finally settled into his cheeky, geeky and quite brilliant characterisation of The Doctor and from then on – it was bliss. His chemistry with other cast members is always fun to watch and even his little quirks, which he brings to the role, are done very well.

However one thing that could be missed though, is his influence on the programme itself. He had recommended many things for his character to do and even had a say in a couple of casting decisions.

He has said he wants to go out on a high – well he certainly is! He still has a long year of specials to get through and that can go as slowly as possible!

So thanks David and good luck! Bring on the specials!

Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 9 - Forest of the Dead

When I first watched this episode, I was disappointed. But I always make a point of watching an episode at least twice and you know what? I wasn’t that disappointed, in fact I loved it, well sort of!

We picked up from where we left off, as the ‘Space Ghosts’ run riot all over The Library and Donna is trapped inside a massive computer. I was disappointed to see that River was quite possibly a love interest for the Doctor. We really need to move away from that stuff for a while. It can only get more confusing when Rose returns.

I was also annoyed that The Doctor’s real name is now a sticking point. Questions will be asked and people will want them answered. A subject that as been glossed over in the past, with a “John Smith” or “Just Doctor”, will become the main talking point for all fickle Doctor Who fans.

However I was impressed in how the episode came together in the end. Steven Moffat’s attention to detail is incredible, even though he has had a dig at Bernice Summerfield and ripped off the Space Ghost from Scooby Doo!

Tennant has come into his own this series, hopefully one of Moffat’s first tasks will be to keep David on for at least another year, which is something I think will happen. I’m hoping we’ll see River again, if only to give Alex Kingston some work! On a similar note, I was really disappointed that Steve Pemberton wasn’t given a bigger role. Although I’m glad he turned out to be a good guy.

I’m sure we all suspected that River would ‘die’ in this concluding part. And she did! But we had some old Doctor Who magic sprinkled on it, as The Doctor ‘saved’ her by putting her into the computer, so she could live with all her friends. That particular part was just superb.

I feel I must write a stern letter to a newspaper, who had previewed the episode by saying, “Donna is trapped in a Matrix-style world”, obviously the writer hadn’t taken into account that some of the story behind The Matrix is basically a rip-off of the Tom Baker episode ‘The Deadly Assassin. Ah, never mind!

Here’s looking forward to next week, from the trailer I’m not sure though!

9/10

Next Week: Lesley Sharp gets confused as she finds out that Christopher Eccelston isn’t The Doctor anymore!

'Midnight' Trailer

Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 8 - Silence in the Library

From this point, this story can go two ways. It can either be the best two-parter we’ve had or it could be a huge let down. It’s finely balanced.

Steven Moffat penned this episode, it should be interesting to see if he carries on his trademark ‘dark’ stories when he takes over as executive producer in 2010. It wasn’t easy to spot ‘the line from Coupling’ this time, I think it was the “I’m thick, my head is too small” line. With me being the only one to spot his version of RTD’s ‘gay agenda’, I feel quite proud.

We had a possible pop at Paul Cornell in this episode. Moffat wrote in archaeologist ‘River Song’ who seems to know The Doctor. The Doctor didn’t have the foggiest who she is (as she apparently, met him in the future), so he quipped “I laugh at archaeologists”. Whether this is a reference to Cornell’s Bernice Summerfield, only he knows!

Back to the episode, where D+D land on a planet which doubles as the biggest library in the universe. Basically, its a similar plotline to the Bernice Summerfield audio ‘Timeless Passages’, hmmm I think I’m seeing another ‘agenda’ here!

Our duo are warned about ‘the shadows’ which are infected with ‘Vashta Nerada’, which eats human flesh in seconds. But not clothes, apparently! We get to meet River Song (Alex Kingston) and her team, headed by businessman Lux (Steve Pemberton). Meanwhile a little girl seems to be having dreams about the library and The Doctor. It seems she is controlling it and a visiting psychologist (Colin Salmon) seems to know she’s telling the truth and tells her that the library is ‘real’.

As the members of Lux’s expedition are gobbled up as quickly than any type food in Vanessa Feltz’s fridge, Donna is transmatted on board the TARDIS, only to disappear quicker than she appears. She pops up later as one of the faces on a information statue. Thing is, all those faces are donated by dead people. Whoops!

A pretty decent cast pulled the episode through, credit must go to Eve Newton who played the little girl. The episode was very dark and creepy, the Scooby Doo-style ‘space ghosts’ really helped but I wasn’t on the edge of my seat. It seemed that this story was designed to be 3 parts, rather than 2 parts. But what Moffat does well, is to develop storylines. I’m confident the second part will be fantastic, as we get to the business end of the series.

As for who River Song is and the fate of Donna? I’ve no idea, but its going to be fun finding out, isn’t it?

8/10

Next Time: Donna is found alive and well, sipping tea and chatting to her cousin – Melanie Bush!

Before I sign off, a word on the mid series trailer (which you can view below). Okay it’s wasn’t brilliant, it seemed that only the Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and the final two episodes were spliced together. Rose is back (with a gun), as are the Daleks (again!) and there is a figure shrouded in darkness, it seems to have a Dalek base and a blue eye. I think all bets are off folks!

'Forest of the Dead' Trailer


Mid series trailer

Cheers Russell, Welcome Steven

We knew the time had to come but it was a little bit of a shock when the BBC announced that Doctor Who producer, Russell T Davies (or RTD, if you’re just lazy) was bowing out, after the 2009 specials. Whether this was an actual leak or a ‘tactical leak’ by the Doctor Who team, we don’t know. However, the man taking over is Steven Moffat who has written the episodes The Empty Child/Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink and the forthcoming Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.

Whether or not you liked RTD or not is irrelevant, even his biggest critics can’t really deny that he has done a superb job in bringing the show back. I don’t think anyone would have done any better than RTD and it’s his great ability to surround himself with the right people that have made the show a success.

His writing at times has been controversial. The much talked about ‘Gay Agenda’ is a sticking point, as his apparent fixation with making The Doctor ‘a god’. Some fans are also disappointed that he has made The Doctor some kind of loathrio, something which you’ll never link with William Hartnell’s doctor!

For me, RTD’s best episode has been the perfect opener – Rose. He maintained that quality with the final two episodes of both series 1 and 2. The casting of Christopher Eccelston, David Tennant, Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate and many of the supporting cast, have been inspired. However, his best introduction was that of the ‘story arcs’. How shocked and surprised was we, to see that the whole of the series was linked! He’s maintained this and fans now expect the twists and turns that Doctor Who has produced these last couple of years! And despite many people trying to spoil it for us, we are always surprised!

Even in this new age of technology, RTD as still stuck to the same basic formula that has made Doctor Who a success over the last 40-odd years. A CGI effect later and we are a world away from the 60’s. But Doctor Who has never been fancy and doesn’t go overboard on special effects and that is another reason why our program is so brilliant.

RTD will go down in television history as the man who made Doctor Who great again. Our favourite program as never been as popular. Now the torch has been passed on to Steven Moffat, a talented writer who has written television hits such as ‘Press Gang’, ‘Coupling’ and more recently ‘Jekyll’. Soon he will be working with Stephen Spielberg on ‘Tin-Tin’.

He is already popular with fans and his appointment has been met with great apprehension. Let’s hope that he can continue what has been a fantastic start to the new era of Doctor Who.

Cheers Russell, Welcome Steven