Well, everyone seems to be talking or tweeting about the 11th Doctor Who and who it will be when announced tomorrow. I think the timing points to a black actor in the role…
Now given that David Tennent is in the job for roughly a year yet, it seems terribly early to be announcing it as this is one that could have been milked for publicity worldwide. There’s nothing else on the BBC that attracts such attention globally? Who’s the next lead in Spooks? Who will play the lead in their next period costume character drama? Minor stuff compared to New Who.
There could have been lots done:
- online polls,
- red herrings,
- a tie-up with a newspaper to see who the readers wanted,
- interactive video site set up where they gave fans the chance to audition by recreating their favourite scenes,
- new showrunner Steven Moffat talking about the sort of Doctor he wants to see
but that’s all lost now (or until Doctor 12) and it seems a terrible waste of opportunity.
I was told by a BBC insider from down south that one of the reasons for the early rush was to prevent what happened last time, where I got the tip-off about it and had it checked out and in the Scottish Daily Mirror just days after Christopher Eccleston’s debut and then the following day, everyone else ran it. Now I would love to believe that this as down to little ol’ me, but even I’m not that egotistical. More likely they are just combating the chance of a leak and are trying to control it.
However the point is there that if the deal was one over the festive period, then there was a chance of a leak over the coming months and even if you had the mainstream media in agreement not to run a story early, you couldn’t control the online element the same way.
But again, a clever disinformation campaign could have kept the identity under wraps for a while yet – remember the new Doctor won’t be on screen too much until the middle of 2010 and he won’t be filming much in 2009 (unless he’s being brought in early for some reason – Tennent is currently crocked after all)
But, apart from the worry about leaks, is there anything else that makes the timing sweet? It depends on who the new Who is – and I think the timing tells us a lot in advance of the actual reveal.
If it was Sean Pertwee, it would be seen as a decent enough announcement – lots of articles about him and his dad, looks at Sean’s roles to date, much chat about how good he could be (as you’ll get with any Doctor) and so on.
But if you go with a black Doctor, everything changes – and you get a lot more publicity in January – in part due to Barack Obama.
If it’s Paterson Joseph or Chiwetel Ejiofor – both of whom have strong enough geek credentials (though Chiwetel works better for international appeal – and foreign TV sales – thanks to his role in Serenity, the Firefly film) then it suddenly gets a lot more interesting.
It means that when the world gets round to doing all the press for Barack Obama and how black people are getting into positions never thought possible even just a few years ago, that Doctor Who is getting mentioned in those articles across the world.
There’s also 18 months of positive press publicity (and if there’s one thing I would imagine the BBC wants just now after the Ross/Brand fiasco is some positive publicity) for the BBC for having a black actor step into the role.
It also means for those who – for whatever reason – are outraged at the idea of a black Doctor that they have more than a year to get used to the idea.
So one the one hand, the BBC could have milked this for a lot more in terms of build-up, but on the other hand, if it is a black actor, an early January reveal makes perfect sense.
The next trick is how long they’ll keep his costume and the revamped TARDIS a secret though…I just hope the BBC has grabbed all the right Twitter accounts – oops, turns out that it hasn’t, judging by this, this and this, and I wonder how long before someone goes and gets 12 and 13.
15 responses to “The new Doctor Who from a PR angle… and why it probably confirms a black actor”
[…] Craig McGill has Sean Pertwee and Chiwetel Ejiofor neck and neck. But he’s also put up a very nicely thought out post on why the announcement is so early and why that means it’s probably going to be either […]
As I mentioned on Twitter, it would have been funny if Nesbitt got the role, so he could deliver the line “every planet has a Belfast” when asked about his accent…
I’m not completely convinced either way. It’s an interesting angle, but also possible to theorise it in totally the opposite direction: If they wait until after January 20th then the clamour for a black Doctor would make a white actor feel like an anti-climax or worse, a climb-down. So they do it now before the Obama inauguration makes the problem irresistible.
Also, this interesting bit from The Guardian: “According to a post on the Doctor Who Online forum on New Year’s Eve, [Peter] Davison said that the new doctor would be announced at the end of the show tomorrow, although “it is not someone you will have heard of”, he is reported to have said.” Davison’s comments to a fan were the first time it was mentioned that the 11th Doctor would be unveiled in tomorrow’s Confidential. (http://tinyurl.com/8yohxu)
Finding this as a result of searching on the chat about the 11th Doctor, this article just comes across as speculation for the sake of getting words on a page.
If you haven’t got anything to say, don’t say anything. Muppet.
Denton, I was the guy who broke the story about who was the 10th Doctor to the world, I keep an interest in the show and I have people who give me info, so I’m passing that on in the spirit of goodwill.
Secondly, look at the title of the post: it’s about the PR handling of the New Who, something which is my field as a PR/media person, so I’m perfectly entitled to post my analysis.
I have something to say on the topic. You, on the other hand, don’t even leave an email address.
Jimmy’s accent = not exactly Belfast. Being maybe just a little sensitive about this, I remember being astounded by the level of racist drivel aimed at Nesbitt when his name was first attached to the role – a hell of a lot more than I’ve seen bandied about at any of the Black actors in the frame. So yeah, even if it was offered, he should tell them to take a running jump.
Plus, Nesbitt just doesn’t do “otherworldly”. He does that instant leap from chummy to menacing thing, but not otherworldly.
I’d be ecstatic with Chiwetel Ejiofor. He’s been great in everything he’s ever done, he certainly does do otherworldly, and would look great in a frock coat, but his movie career might be just too big to go back to TV from. I had a sneaking suspicion for a while there could be a third Black English actor lurking in the background. One that still does TV, has links to recent drama productions as big as it gets from the Beeb, and has one of the coolest “geek rep” gigs in his CV that you can get. And it’s very feasible Peter Davison wouldn’t have heard of him.
Good post Mark. The only other one I could think of was Colin Salmon but others have ruled him out to me and according to IMDB his 2009 schedule is hectic.
Hi, Craig
Yes, you can certainly link to my blog on your site. And, yes, I would be happy to write about Burns around Burns Day (please remind me to mention your blog then, as I will surely forget, as I have a terrible memory).
Happy New Year!
Slutty McWhore
You’re right in the sense that there’s load that could have been done to milk the PR build-up to the announcement, but that’s only if you look at Who as a kids show, rather than the BBC’s flagship drama series, as it is now. Realistically, they’re not going to do a link-up with a single paper, as well you know, and the fan auditioning thing is better for shows like Sarah Jane and so on.
As for the reasoning for a black Doctor – sorry, but that’s just kiddish. You may as well say it will a woman because Hillary’s been appointed Sec. State. Moffat, Wenger et al will only cast on grounds of talent, not on grounds of race, creed, gender, sexuality or anything else. Besides, negotiations will have been ongoing for weeks, long since Obama won the election.
I’d have a lot more confidence in your predictions if you could spell David Tennant’s name correctly
Sorry, that came across as nasty, and I didn’t mean it to be. Just thought it might help you in future.
If the actor is already in something else and so can’t film during late 2009, they might push filming up to around about now. Don’t forget, there are none of the same characters in the specials and in the next series – basically they can film the specials and the series in parallel if they needed to due to the new Doctor’s prior obligations. The specials aren’t even being filmed in England so perhaps this is a possibility – they are telling us now because people would see the new Doctor soon anyway. It would also explain a new TARDIS interior, it can’t be in two places at once. This is just a theory though.
So it may not be because it’s a black Doctor.
Peter, I was typing quickly – or thinking of the other Scottish famous T 🙂 – but it was late and I was typing quick. My bad. My very bad actually. Was tempted to change it, but let history show the typo 🙂
Anyway, I can’t get Matt Smith wrong can I? 🙂
[…] boy did I get who’s the new Doctor Who completely wrong then eh? In my defence – as my Tweets show – I still called it […]