Friday, April 8, 2022

Doctor Who's worst time warp: It's always Hugh bloody Grant



Sometimes I watch everything going down with the search for a new Doctor Who and I really do feel like I'm in a bloody time warp. We've been here before. We'll be here again.

The chance to pick a new actor to play the renegade Time Lord is always a bit of fun, although I desperately crave a day when they actually don't announce it, and just have it be a mystery who the next Doctor will be until the regeneration glow fades. 

The whole idea behind the regenerations is a vital part of the TV programme's prolonged survival, because it can reinvent itself every few years, and do something new. Bringing in Jodie Whittaker was heavily overdue and any further diversification should only be encouraged.

But the discussion is always the same, with the most vague names thrown out, while the British newspapers do shit exposes based on shit sources. And does it have to be High Grant every fucking time? His name was brought up again and talked up as a real contender until the man himself deflated the heat with a simple, typically bemused statement recently, but it was an awfully familiar path.

We can do better than that. Grant is a terrific actor, he's had a wonderful few years of character roles and is certainly one of the first people to come to mind when you think about a bumbling and crusty (but smart and lovable) Britisher. He's even played the Doctor before in a comedy sketch.

It's the same conversation every time and completely misses the fact that a new Doctor Who actor should be some kind of surprise, some kind of new. We all know what sort of Doctor that Hugh Grant would be, there's no time to waste on that.

Besides, it should obviously be Vicky McClure next. Everyone know that.


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