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.
