This week’s just full of bad news. John Hurt’s passing, Ben Affleck stepping down as director from Batman, and now Peter Capaldi has announced his departure from Doctor Who. And that sucks. It would have been really interesting to see how he would be handled under a different showrunner.
But wait! No time to grieve just yet, at least not for the internet. For those watching BBC’S Newsnight today, they were treated to a rather intriguing second or two of television, particularly given its context. During a montage of actors portraying the Doctor over the years, they teased the back of a certain someone at the end, though their numbering system is a bit wonky. I mean, what was the point in numbering the non-canon Doctors in at 6? You’ll understand what I mean after watching the video below, provided by Alexander Sigsworth.
Why was Richard Hurndall counted as the 6th Doctor (even though he was portraying the late William Hartnell as the 1st)? Why put those random non-canon actors who played the Doctor in the comedy skit The Curse of Fatal Death? BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHO IS THAT ACTOR AT THE END UNDER THE TIMULTUOUS SKY AND WHY DID THEY NUMBER HIM 15? Sorry, the questions are just stockpiling in my head, and are about to burst from me. Well, I’ve found a higher quality image, courtesy of Redditor MattGBrad. Take a look
That number 15 is reeeally bothering me. Okay, moving on. It’s a beautifully cinematic setting. But did Newsnight film this specifically to tease the back of our next favorite Time Lord? Well, Google is great. Especially because you can search by image. And that’s just what I did.
The visual in question appears to be taken directly from a scene in Episode 9 of the FOX drama Lucifer, A Priest Walked into a Bar. So what does this mean? Did the BBC simply reuse this scene in their advertising? Or is there more to this story than meets the eye? The actor in question is Tom Ellis, Age 38, best known for his work on EastEnders as Dr. Oliver Cousins, but also played a character in the season 3 finale of Doctor Who as a character named Thomas Milligan.
What does this mean? I doubt BBC has the rights to use whichever clips they wish to use from a FOX owned tv program (I could be wrong, let me know), so they probably got permission to use it for a reason. Could Tom Ellis be our 13th Doctor? Or is this just a crafty way for the BBC to throw us off their scent? An article written by WalesOnline, just days prior to Peter Capaldi’s announcement, said about Tom Ellis, “he’s a very charismatic actor and at times you wonder if he’s subtly auditioning for a role as the next Doctor in Doctor Who.”
We’ll be dissecting more potential actors/actresses who could take over as the 13th Doctor tomorrow on our YouTube channel, so do subscribe and stay tuned!
For more, check out the clip that the BBC reused in their marketing:
Geekritique
I think Tom Ellis would be great, he has that “gravitas”. BUT…Fox has renewed Lucifer for a 22 episode 3rd season and alas don’t see how he could do the 2 shows 😦
LikeLike
Well according to Imdb he’s from Cardiff,so he’d effectively be “going home” wouldn’t he?
LikeLike
I’m not the first person to notice that the Lucifer episode prior to “Priest Walks into a Bar” is titled “Et Tu, Doctor?”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was disappointed to hear this — I love Capaldi as the Doctor but think he’s been poorly served by a number of his scripts/story lines, and was looking forward to seeing him in a post-Moffat season. Still, “Heaven Sent” is easily one of the best episodes of “new Who”, so he’s got that going for him!
LikeLike
Just to say, I don’t know the actor and I don’t know the credibility of the quote I’m about to spread like pig much on daisies but there was talk a while back that especially with numbers on Who dipping a bit lately that they wanted a return to the era of Tennant and this guy looks the part. I.E young good looking non offensive british white guy. I can see the BBC following that logic with the sagging numbers and now that they’re getting rid of complex time travel plot Mc-Moffat I can see them aiming for that.
Again don’t know the quote is true and maybe this guy was simply cast as the best of the actors they had and it has nothing to do with wanting to go back to more emotionally driven simple stories with a fit bloke and hip twenty something girl flying through space in an eternal will they won’t they. Assuming he has indeed been cast.
LikeLike
I expect they already have the part cast. The only reason it was such a scramble last time is that Matt Smith’s departure was leaked prematurely. That is not the case this time.
I don’t care to speculate on alternate reasons for the inclusion of that shot, but I will be disappointed if the BBC chooses yet another white dude. Young white men already dominate both cinema and television; it would be nice if our Doctor could be something different.
LikeLike
Tom is busy with “Lucifer” though (after all, he is the lead). Is there something I don’t know?
LikeLike
I don’t know either. I don’t watch the show, nor do I know when in the year it’s filmed. But it’s curious that the BBC have reused this footage in their advertising.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lucifer just went on it’s Winter finale hiatus and is in Season 2 with a chance of a Season 3. If Tom can do both, then he gets to play the Devil AND a Time Lord. That could be interesting.:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Given everything I hear about the shooting schedule for DW, I suspect doing another TV show at the same time is probably impossible. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah. I’m very curious now about Peter’s replacement.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another thing worth mentioning is this article from the Mirror, “EastEnder’s Tom Ellis is favourite for next Dr Who”, from 2008:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/eastenders-tom-ellis-is-favourite-for-next-354720
LikeLike
I think Peter Capaldi has been a great Doctor, will be sad to see him go. As for his successor, well, I expect they’ve already chosen someone or have at least a shortlist of probably 3. Its always exciting waiting to see who will be the next Doctor.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Affleck stepped down from directing? Does that mean the Batman movie is going to be delayed?
LikeLike
No, I don’t believe it will. It’ll get filled soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank goodness. I rather liked an older, grizzled Batman and so have been looking forward to another Affleck Batman.
LikeLike
Well, reading all of this, I can only hope you didn’t have an evening planned.
Also:
LikeLiked by 1 person
I only just got your YouTube reply. Err…
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s okay. Just supplemental additions. Thanks man, this was a great find.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also, I just watched it back on iPlayer, and the full bit was this:
“That is it for tonight, but before we go, time for our fact of the day. As Peter Capaldi announces he’s standing down as the Twelfth Doctor Who, in fact 14 actors have been credited on screen as the Doctor, including the late John Hurt. But we mustn’t count Peter Cushing – because he played a completely different character calling himself, quote, “Dr Who” – or the four Comic Relief actors, or the evil Valeyard Doctor, or indeed number fifteen, whoever she may be. Anyway, here they all, you decide if it’s right. Goodnight.”
You might want to include that just to alleviate the confusion.
Right, I should really get some sleep now. All the information I have is in your hands. I’d also recommend including Neil Gaiman’s tweet and that Wales Online quote, unless you don’t want to overload yourself.
LikeLike
Thanks man, get some rest. Will include the article. Can’t take much stock in the Gaiman tweet as it’s pretty dated, but we’ll see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Alex Sigsworth and commented:
WHAT HAVE I CREATED?
LikeLike