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Doctor Who (2015)

Expectations (July 2015)

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TL
toby lerone 2016
Wicko posted:
Rumours also circulating that the next Doctor will be female, according to twitter of course. I wont watch it if it is a lady as I believe that writers should create great, strong roles for women, not let them take on a role that is traditionally a male role just for the sake of it. I still havent accepted Missy as the Master yet.


Jon posted:
I have a problem with people like Harriet Harmon trying to dictate what producers should do and to simply choose a female actor for the role just for the sake of pleasing people like that what be totally unfair on the actor and not in the interests of the show.

If an eccentric strong female who can carry the show emerges then so be it. But they'd be making a mistake if they just limited themselves to female choices to please certain voices.


I believe the Doctor should be male and the best actor for the role no matter what race or age they are. I think Missy as the Master actually worked well but wouldn't want the Doctor as a women yet but I certainly wouldn't stop watching if they cast a female as the doctor.
CW
Charlie Wells Moderator
I guess a precedent has be set that it's possible for a male timelord to regenerate as female, as has happened with The Master. However a female Doctor would likely receive a backlash from the press and many fans. I dare say changing the ethnicity of the Doctor might also prove similarly controversial.
JO
Jon
I guess a precedent has be set that it's possible for a male timelord to regenerate as female, as has happened with The Master. However a female Doctor would likely receive a backlash from the press and many fans. I dare say changing the ethnicity of the Doctor might also prove similarly controversial.

I think one of the reasons that precedent was set was to make people think it could happen but with no intention of actually making it happen.

In terms of changing the ethnicity of the Doctor whilst certain elements of society may have a problem with it I think it wouldn't take as much getting used to and people would accept the idea much more readily.

I think the next Doctor won't be played by a white actor but I do think they will be male.
Last edited by Jon on 2 February 2017 9:51pm
TL
toby lerone 2016
If you look at this regeneration from the last episode when the General was shot by the doctor and the character changed gender and race, I do think they have been testing the waters for a women to take over and will happen some day, maybe not next year however.
JO
Jon
I don't think they were really testing the waters. Again trying to make people think something could happen that they don't have an intention of doing with the role of the Doctor.
JC
JCB
Jon posted:
For what it's worth I think Kathrine Parkinson would be good in the role.


Going with a Chibnall connection I think Jodie Whittaker from Broadchurch could be great.

Quote:
I wont watch it if it is a lady as I believe that writers should create great, strong roles for women, not let them take on a role that is traditionally a male role


It's a show about a bloody police box that flies though time and space. Would switching the Doctor gender really be that incomprehensible for you or are you really just that big a misogynist? Rolling Eyes
WH
Whataday Founding member
JCB posted:
It's a show about a bloody police box that flies though time and space. Would switching the Doctor gender really be that incomprehensible for you or are you really just that big a misogynist? Rolling Eyes


I think it's a real shame, and perhaps a testament to the time we live in, that someone can't think a character should be played by a man without being labelled sexist.
Cavan, Larry the Loafer and DavidWhitfield gave kudos
JO
Jon
Let's not get this confused with misogyny because there will be many women who feel the same way.
BR
Brekkie
Jon posted:
I have a problem with people like Harriet Harmon trying to dictate what producers should do and to simply choose a female actor for the role just for the sake of pleasing people like that what be totally unfair on the actor and not in the interests of the show.


If an eccentric strong female who can carry the show emerges then so be it. But they'd be making a mistake if they just limited themselves to female choices to please certain voices.

Completely agree. Though the narrative of Doctor Who does in theory allow them to deviate from a white male in the role that doesn't mean they should look elsewhere for the sake of it.

We're also now seeing many campaigns in movies and theatre against "white washing" - casting white actors to play ethnic roles, at the same time as there seems to be a trend for remaking (not so) classic films with an all female leading cast, a trend that isn't really proving to be commercially successful.

Ultimately casting needs to be about the best actor for the role, and the nature of acting is that the role will have some prerequisites. I suspect those casting Doctor Who have a far more open mind now than they did even just over a decade ago, but it's all about the right person for the job. I see David Tennant has put Olivia Colman's name into the frame today - one of Britain's finest actresses IMO, but completely unsuitable for the role. And that has nothing to do with her gender.


I think the real casting call the BBC need to make is more about age than gender or ethnicity. They jumped from a young doctor to an old doctor and ratings suggest the old doctor didn't play as well, though there are other factors at play too. I guess the upcoming series will define Capaldi's era more than what has gone before.
DA
davidhorman
Jon posted:
I have a problem with people like Harriet Harmon trying to dictate...


If you're basing that off the same Daily Mail - Daily Mail! - article I found, it's quite likely a bit of jokey banter that's been blown out of all proportion to fill a few colum inches.

First it's "Harman tells the BBC the next Doctor must be a woman," then it's something she said at a Westminster lunch, then the actual quote is that it " should be a woman" and the rest of the quote sounds pretty firmly tongue in cheek. Then Theresa May "hits back..." it's typical DM utter guff.
PC
p_c_u_k
I'd be tempted to suggest the problem with the ratings lies more in the fact Steven Moffatt has forgotten he's writing a show for mainstream tea-time BBC1.
JA
JAS84
No, it lies with the fact it wasn't shown at tea-time. Strictly bumped it into a late timeslot, after younger kids will have gone to bed. It needs to be on at around 6 to 7pm, not 8.30pm. Now it's moving back to an April start, series 10 should be in that earlier time slot where it belongs.

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