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spsmith wrote:

   No real news as far as the new series of Dr Who at the moment.It's been officially announced and I believe is targeted towards 2005 as a starting date for a new series.

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Tegleraph
Although Davies says he wants to "introduce the character to a modern audience", Lorraine Heggessey, the controller of BBC1, insisted yesterday that she did not expect a gay Doctor Who.

She stressed that Davies had been chosen primarily because he is an "absolute Doctor Who fanatic" who had asked to write a new series.

She said it was too early to say which of the doctor's most famous enemies, who include the Cybermen, the Master and the Sea Devils, would return, but insiders said it was unthinkable that the Daleks would not be trundling back into action.

The actor who will follow in the footsteps of such popular Dr Whos as Tom Baker, has not yet been considered, she said. Possible candidates include Richard E Grant, who is appearing in a BBC internet version of Doctor Who, Paul McGann, who starred in the 1996 version, and Alan Davies, who has been linked to the role in the past.

..Davies will work initially on just one six-part series.

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[Paul McGann] suggests an 'Amazon with attitude' for the role in a new TV series... In his extraordinary travels around the universe, he has been through several incarnations. But Doctor Who, television's favourite Time Lord, has never returned as a woman...

The actors Alan Davies, Richard E Grant, James Nesbitt, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Nighy, Alan Cumming, Ian Richardson and McGann himself are believed to be the current favourites to front the series, which is expected to go on air in 2005.

[McGann]"I'd like to see somebody really scary, Amazonian, highly intelligent and gorgeous in the role: someone who could be a complete handful. Rachel Stirling [the actress daughter of Dame Diana Rigg] could do it because she's got great charisma. Dame Maggie Smith would be brilliant. I'd like to see the Doctor as diva, rather than being played by some dippy, wide-eyed girl."

He added: "For too long the Doctor has been played as a very heavy, melancholic man with Victorian gravitas. I'd also like to see a black actor, like Chjwetel Ejiofor [the British actor who starred in the 2002 film Dirty Pretty Things] take the role. The producers of the ninth series should cast their net slightly wider than the usual white male, but it'll probably end up going to James Nesbitt, the star of Cold Feet, because his stock is so high at the moment and he'll be a ratings winner."

Mr Davies is said to have professed a preference for Bill Nighy, the 52-year-old actor who recently appeared in the television series The Lost Prince, and State of Play... Clayton Hickman, the editor of the Doctor Who magazine, said he had spoken to Mr Davies, who had let slip Nighy's name.

Alan Davies, the star of the BBC series Jonathan Creek, is favourite to succeed Mr McGann with William Hill, the bookmakers, at 8-1. There are currently no women on the shortlist, although Sir Michael Caine has an outside chance at 66-1.

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kobe27 wrote:

Like I said in one of my posts (last page, I guess), Russell T. Davies has done OTHER things besides Queer as Folk (UK), you know? SP mentioned a couple of children series, I mentioned The Second Coming. Surely, it's not his fault he's famous (around the world, at least) just for Queer as Folk.

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Batfink wrote:

I've only really loved Tom Baker, he is so bizarre he couldn't be anything other than alien. Has anyone seen his 'appearance' on Dead Ringers, trying to get a dress for his Sea Devil girlfriend and buying a new Tardis from a furniture store. Absolutely hysterical, that guy's got him down to a tea.

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Batfink wrote:

REG would be good, the dirty coat and scarf suit him (see Withnail and I). How about Tim Curry or Richard O'Brian (with harmonica)

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Batfink wrote:

I hope they don't mess with the formula too much to 'appeal' to a wider audience, there wouldn't be any point bringing it back.
Oh and please make sure the sets wobble.

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