Dr Who - 2017 series

[DynamicSpirit]

There are plenty of female actors out there. Good to see that the casting process was done with an open mind to make sure the best candidate was secured rather than just asking one of his mates if she wanted the job.

Oh come on! If you know that someone is available, can do the part (or the job) well and is suitable to it, then selecting them is a perfectly sensible and reasonable thing to do. And it has the added bonus that you get someone whom you already know you can get on with and work with (as opposed to spending a lot of time/money on an audition/interview process, at the end of which you have to take a chance on a random stranger who may perform well at the audition/interview but who might or might not subsequently turn out to be a good fit personality-wise).

That's true not just in acting but in almost any other professional occupation.

 

[yorkie]

That's my gripe with them. Rather than going into it thinking 'right lets find the best person for the role' the BBC thought 'Right lets find the best women for the job'.

So she'll have to go through the whole things with the baggage of only getting the job because shes a women.....

But surely, by that logic, in the past male actors only got the job because they were men!

 

[infobleep]

I'm not sure it's just a couple of years. I seem to recall a clamour for a woman doctor and in particular for Billie Piper a while ago, possibly even after David Tennant left?

However, does it mean it's now a timelady and not timelord?

I was think perhaps she will be a Time Lord and a man could be a Time Lady. In fact for reasons of fairness I felt Time Ladies should be brought back and a man play one.

However in this case I am viewing it that the Doctor can change to any human like form so the fact he looks like a woman doesn't change the fact he's a Time Lord. Same for a bloke becoming a Time Lady.

A friend suggested how about a disabled Time Lord. I conjectured it could be a regeneration that didn't go quite right. Doesn't necessarily make the Doctor any less intelligent.

 

[infobleep]

The creator of Doctor Who, Sydney Newman, was suggesting that the Doctor should be a woman as long ago as 1986:
http://doctorwhowatch.com/2015/06/15/doctor-who-creator-sydney-newman-wanted-a-female-doctor/

Fascinating. I didn't know that. Intrestingly I've never been that keen on the passing of large amounts of time in Doctor Who stories that are skipped. In one episode it was a year.

Then I start watching the classic series 50 years on and find in the fourth story, Marco Polo, they skip weeks. So somethings aren't necessarily new.

 

[infobleep]

Rumour has it K9 will be returning ........ as a cat

A friend joked how about the Doctor regenerates into a dog.

 

[Essan]

I was think perhaps she will be a Time Lord and a man could be a Time Lady. In fact for reasons of fairness I felt Time Ladies should be brought back and a man play one.

Aye, bring back Romana - played by Kris Marshall

 

[yorkie]

I don't think Dr Who should ever be female

I asked about thirty generally well behaved and mostly sensible 12-14 year old boys (who I was supervising and who I do know, so not a random sample, obviously!) what they thought about this.

Only one of them agreed with you. While some didn't really care, many of them thought it was a good thing. Only one of them thought it was a bad thing. Some of them thought that too much of a big deal was being made of it.

Some did ask why I was asking them; I said some older people I know don't agree with it and I wanted to get the thoughts of young people to see what they think.

I was not surprised at the result. I believe more young people these days are more tolerant and pro-equality than ever before, and I firmly believe that is a good thing.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The BBC's policy can have a negative effect at times. I attended one of the heats for the BBC New Comedy Award the other week and one of the acts was a blind man. As he was being guided to the stage there was a lot of audience murmuring of "Typical BBC. Have to make sure there's at least one disabled person on the bill" when if the BBC had a different policy it would have been "Wow, a blind man has made his this far despite it being more difficult for him to reach this stage." It turned out the blind man was very good and had definitely earned his place on the bill and wasn't just there to show the BBC welcomed disabled comedians to take part, as many initially thought.

Surely, that story suggests that the error was on the part of those thinking that he was there to fill a quota, rather than on merit? Or if his place there had been secured due to his disability, the fact that he was deserving of the place would prove that any "Affirmative action" that helped him secure it was necessary.

Anyway, we have a Doctor from Huddersfield now, to go along with the Captain of the Enterprise from Mirfield...

 

[northwichcat]

Surely, that story suggests that the error was on the part of those thinking that he was there to fill a quota, rather than on merit? Or if his place there had been secured due to his disability, the fact that he was deserving of the place would prove that any "Affirmative action" that helped him secure it was necessary.

A couple of the disabled comedians who have appeared on Live At The Apollo have looked like they'd been asked to appear on the show before they were ready to do a big TV show, despite there not really being that many disabled comedians who have appeared on it.

Anyway, we have a Doctor from Huddersfield now

Skelmanthorpe to be exact. Apparently the next series of Doctor Who will see the doctor actively conversing electricity.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A couple of the disabled comedians who have appeared on Live At The Apollo have looked like they'd been asked to appear on the show before they were ready to do a big TV show, despite there not really being that many disabled comedians who have appeared on it.

Skelmanthorpe to be exact. Apparently the next series of Doctor Who will see the doctor actively conversing electricity.

My parents live there, I'm there most weekends. Perhaps The Doctor can arrange for someone not-chavvy to take over The Chartist...

It seems HD8 has some sort of Thespian Karma as Lena Headey (aka Cersei Lannister) grew up in Highburton!

I'm not sure Live At The Apollo is a good measure of the comedy scene... I've seen comedians on the club scene and I can't think of another comparable art form that is as diverse in terms of gender/(dis)ability/ethnicity/sexuality, at that level.

Since the reboot, I'd say Capaldi has been the best Doctor so far (honourable mention for Ecclestone) and I don't think Whittaker needs to match either of those two to be considered a success.

For me, it's far more jarring seeing a young "The Doctor" than a female one, as like many I grew up on Colin Baker and McCoy along with repeats of Pertwee; Tom Baker; and Davison.

 

[Butts]

Rumour has it K9 will be returning ........ as a cat

Which would probably be female as well

Next Davros will become the casts only gay disabled character :roll:

 

[Butts]

I was not surprised at the result. I believe more young people these days are more tolerant and pro-equality than ever before, and I firmly believe that is a good thing.

As I said it's a generational thing - leave the moaning to grumpy old men like me

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Next Davros will become the casts only gay disabled character :roll:

Well he's clearly been gRay and disabled ever since he first appeared in the series.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Which would probably be female as well

Next Davros will become the casts only gay disabled character :roll:

Which half is disabled though? From the POV of his bottom half, the top half is inferior presumably...

 

[Butts]

Just watched The Christmas Special on I-Player.

It was not bad, quite a good finale for Capaldi and a good performance by David Bradley as the original incarnation.

Rather than the Dalek in the Tower I would have had Davros.

Still can't get my head around a female Doctor, but will reserve judgement until I have actually seen her in action.

 

[TheNewNo2]

I'm excited to have a female Doctor. It's about damn time.

That said, one thing really bugs me. The Doctor, pre-Whittaker, has had what, fourteen regenerations or so? And roughly half of those have happened in the TARDIS control room, causing significant damage. Why do they not just park the TARDIS, walk 100yds away, and then regenerate? Or go to a room in the TARDIS which is not full of vital equipment? It just beggars belief.

I'll miss Capaldi - he was an excellent actor and an excellent Doctor, cursed by awful scripts and an executive producer who has an overwhelming puzzle fetish.

 

[ainsworth74]

and an executive producer who has an overwhelming puzzle fetish.

Yes definetly this. Moffat is great if you give him a story to write within someone else's framework (he gave us some excellent episodes like Blink and The Empty Child) but given creative control he just tries to get too clever and usually cannot deliver a satisfying conclusion. The last series of Sherlock suffered from this mightily with a very good set up and mystery and then a rubbish denouement.