It’s official.  The BBC has possibly already found the new Doctor and is maybe going to announce it some time this weekend.  We cannot know for sure.  However, it’s apparently now down to three actors, though this can just be complete speculation.  No one knows for sure.  Everything is based on rumours.  The fans are going more crazy than in the run-up to the season 7 finale.

The three actors on the short list according to Starburst Magazine is Domhnall Gleeson, Daniel Kaluuya, and Dominic Cooper.  Let’s take a very quick look at them:

I’ll start with Dominic Cooper.  I’ve only seen him in Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (he was also in The Duchess, which I did see, but I can’t remember his performance there), and while his acting there wasn’t inspired it wasn’t awful either.  From an acting point of view he’ll probably manage as the Doctor, but judging by appearances alone I would rather cast him as the Master.  That’s just my feeling from looking at the guy.

Daniel Kaluuya would definitely help in shutting up the people claiming that Doctor Who is racist, but can he act the part?  I’ve only seen him in the Johnny English films and he did not really stand out much (but then how do you stand out next to Rowan Atkinson?)  I’m not familiar with any of the television series he has starred in so cannot judge his acting there.  He has appeared in a previous Doctor Who episode (Planet of the Dead), but so had Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond).  I also don’t have a problem with the regeneration changing his race – same thing happened to River Song in Let’s Kill Hitler.  However, he is much younger than Matt Smith at twenty-four, which I don’t have a problem with per se, but I have to wonder whether he has the acting experience to bring justice to the role.

My favourite is Domhnall Gleeson and here’s why:  He’s a former Harry Potter actor (Bill Weasley in the last two), just like David Tennant and a slew of other DW actors.  He’s a year younger than Matt Smith, so we have a younger Doctor for those insisting on a pattern there while we also have experience.  His Irish.  Can you just imagine the Doctor with an Ulster accent?  We’ve done Scottish.  We’ve done English ad nauseam.  How about a little Irish for a change?  Oh, and you spell his name funny.  And lastly, and most importantly, he’s ginger.  The Doctor can finally be ginger.  He’s been waiting to be ginger for the past 50/1200 years.  Make him ginger, please…Don’t know if he can act, though.

But it might not be one of them.

And yes, I know my criteria for measuring the candidates’ suitability are grossly inconsistent.

My blog, my rules.

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