You may scoff, but I – and Rich Johnston (to give him his place) have it on rather good authority that Tom Baker will be in Doctor Who in 2010. I’m so confident about this, I did a piece for The Sun (see the PDF below).
And you may scoff, but may I remind you who it was who revealed David Tennant was the 10th Doctor (see the comments section to read that for free), who did the first review of the new series and who revealed that Tennant wouldn’t be using his Scottish accent (most of the time)?
That would have been me. So I’m standing by this one.
3 responses to “Oh yes, still got it. Tom Baker in Doctor Who.”
As I’ve been asked for it – and just been too lazy to sort out the site – here’s the original “David Tennant is Doctor Who” article from way back when, complete with some notes about how it came to be (salvaged from this site’s first incarnation):
Who’s Next Doctor Who?
Posted in November 26th, 2007
This was one of those stories that came from a casual chat with a contact, who more or less just said “Don’t expect Chris Eccleston as Dr Who for too long” and when pressed on it, told me what appears below (which as fans of the show will note, is not exactly what appeared on screen. To this day the contact has never told me if he changed it just enough so that he would never be traced as the leak – which is fair enough – or if he was a little misinformed).
What was more fun was calling David Tennant and David being very upfront and coy. His quotes
“…I haven’t been asked to play the Doctor. I haven’t been approached at all.”
is right but it misses out the part where he said he hadn’t been approached recently – which, I later learned was a) true and b) depended on your definition of recently.
His second quote is even better:
“…as far as I know it’s not up for grabs”
which was very true – as he had already signed up for the job, so it wasn’t available.
Bravo Mr Tennant. I owe you a couple of pints of gratitude.
This was one of the Scottish Mirror’s better showbiz scoops and it was a source of some delight that everyone else thought we were spouting rubbish – including some sceptics in the other Mirror editions – until they checked it out – and it was front news page for all the tabloids the next day. Except us. We were ahead as usual and working on the Next Big Thing. But we got a few spin-offs from this tale as well…
Scottish Daily Mirror?30/03/2005?
By Craig McGill
CASANOVA heart-throb David Tennant is being lined up to play Doctor Who – just a week after Christopher Eccleston made his debut as the time lord.
Eccleston has not committed to a second series of the show, which was a smash at the weekend with over 10million viewers.
The Shallow Grave star admitted he does not want to find himself typecast in the role.
And BBC insiders revealed last night that Paisley-born Tennant, 33, who played young Casanova on BBC3, is the man to replace him.
Even if Eccleston does decide to stay on for another series, Tennant will have first refusal on the job after he goes.
A Beeb source said: “At the end of this season, you are led to believe that the Doctor could be dead after he’s saved his companion Rose – played by Billie Piper – and the Earth from the Daleks.
“But it turns out that there’s a way for Rose to save him and that’s how the second season starts.
“So she gets back to the TARDIS and is able to get the Doctor brought back to life. If Chris is still in the role, no problems. He’s been brilliant and it will be good to have him back.
“If David is in the role, it will just be explained as the Doctor using up one of his regenerations, which has happened many times before.
“Lining up replacements isn’t bad form – the BBC has a hit on its hands and is just doing what it can to keep it going.”
Tennant said last night he was “flattered” but insisted he had not been approached about the role.
The Scot is set to take part in a live performance of sci-fi hit The Quatermass Experiment on BBC4 this Saturday and also has a role in Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire.
He said: “I’ve never made any secret that I’m a big fan of Doctor Who and it’s the reason I got into acting, but I haven’t been asked to play the Doctor. I haven’t been approached at all.”
When asked if he would like to play the time traveller, he said: “It would be a great role to play, but as far as I know it’s not up for grabs.”
But a BBC insider last night claimed that Tennant WILL play the Doctor at some point – and will be asked to stay for the long haul.
He said: “Even if Christopher returns for a second season and wants out after that, David will get the role. He is the hot favourite at the moment.
“He’s a fan and incredibly talented as anyone who saw him on Casanova will testify.
“He’d be great for bringing in lady viewers in the same way that Billie Piper is bringing in the blokes.”
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