Observer » Doctor Who

New Doctor Who Announced, British Folks Rage, Most Americans Shrug, and We Are A Little Disappointed

Hillary Frey — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:02:08 -0400

We have a well-documented love of Doctor Who here at the Observer, so we'd be remiss if we didn't comment on the announcement from this weekend that a replacement for beloved fop David Tennant, who will leave the show after filming a few specials this year, has finally been found. And the winner is.....26-year-old Matt Smith, a young man with a suitably angular face and slender frame to take over from Mr. Tennant (might he continue the pin-striped look?). No one seems to know too much about the guy—The Guardian reported on his slight on-screen history—though British folks seem to be up in arms anyway (apparently wishing that a woman or person of color were cast in the role). Anyway, we're not going to go after the guy because, who knows? Maybe he'll be swell. And you know, we aren't British. Though we worry that if Gina Bellman (she of Coupling and, currently, the TNT show Leverage) is cast as his companion, she'll be too much a cougar for our liking.

But let us take a moment to lament the fact that our third favorite BBC America regular (after Christopher Eccleston, who also played the Doctor, and Mr. Tennant) did not get the role. After his terrifying turn in the BBC miniseries Jekyll, James Nesbitt moved to first place in our hearts in the race for the next Doctor. (And yes, this despite the fact that, as a dear British friend told us, he's sort of a joke across the pond, doing commercials for telecom and bad sketch bits.) We don't care. Mr. Nesbitt, you were our pick. Perhaps when NBC does its inevitable rip off, you'll get the gig.

Could Doctor Who Travel to the Big Screen?

Hillary Frey — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:32:29 -0400

In case you haven't noticed, the Culture Czar is obsessed with Doctor Who. So much so that she's going to mention the show every chance she gets, with hopes of subliminally inspiring all readers of this blog into setting their DVRs to record every last re-broadcast of the show on BBC America and the Sci Fi channel. And today, there's news! Showrunner Steven Moffat (the genius behind the British sitcom Coupling, who has also written some of our most favorite episodes of Doctor Who) said over the weekend that he'd be cool with seeing the show adapted to the big screen, "so long as it never gets in the way of the TV show." The Hollywood Reporter also notes that 10 million people in the U.K. watched last season's finale...that would be the equivalent of 60 million Americans tuning in for a broadcast. So even if she feels alone, perhaps this fan is simply living in the wrong country.

Doctor Who Producer Dies

Felix Gillette — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:05:52 -0400

Sad news for Doctor Who fans. The British sci-fi show's first producer, Verity Lambert, an influential and respected force in scripted television in the UK, passed away last night at the age of 71.

"Lambert was also the BBC's only female producer in 1963 when she worked on the time-travel drama that grew to become one of the UK's most popular TV shows," reports The Guardian. "She died last night following a long illness, but was 'working right up until the end', according to the BBC."