You Know Who (Today)
- Publication: Today
- Date: 1989-10-23
- Author: Ian Grandes
- Page: 3
- Language: English
Who packs a gun, gets drunk fights dirty, seduces assistants?
IT'S enough to put the Daleks in a spin. TV time traveller Dr Who is being brought right up to date with the Batman treatment,
Out goes the mild-mannered English eccentric of the long-running BBC series.
The new Dr Who played by Donald Sutherland will be a hard drinking womanizer, more likely to swap punches than time zones.
Sutherland is to star in a £20 million American movie which promises to do for Dr Who what Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson did for Batman.
Bad language and violence in the Batman film shocked many fans of the old TV series, but the box office smash took £100 million in its first few weeks.
Tough guy actor Sutherland beat Dudley Moore, John Cleese, Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone for the role.
Battles
Current TV Time Lord Sylvester McCoy was also in the running.
But an insider said: "The film will be a far cry from the TV series which is considered tame. They want to take Dr Who into the 90s."
Movie makers Pathe have recruited the Star Wars team to design spectacular space battles.
Sutherland's Dr Who will carry a gun and get involved in bar room brawls with aliens while saving the universe.
He will also make love to his beautiful assistant, played by 321 quiz show hostess Caroline Munroe.
Veteran Dr Who scriptwriter Johnny Byrne has been sworn to secrecy on the plot. But he told fans at a Dr Who convention: "One aspect of the film will be the Doctor's relationship with his assistant.
"It's ridiculous that they could spend so much time together without getting involved."
The film is to go into production by the end of the year, ironically at a time when the BBC series faces the axe.
A spokesman for the Dr Who Fan Club said: "Sutherland could put, the Doctor back where he belongs, at the top."
Caption: TIME FOR A CHANGE: Tough guy Sutherland adds a new dimension to Dr Who
Caption: CAROLINE: Time for love
Who was nearly Who
Film bosses feared little Dudley Moore would have been short of experience
John Cleese nearly got it, but producers wanted something completely different
Sly missed out because he couldn't remember words to the Dr Who tune
Not a lot of people know that Michael Caine fancied life inside the Tardis
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Grandes, Ian (1989-10-23). You Know Who (Today). Today p. 3.
- MLA 7th ed.: Grandes, Ian. "You Know Who (Today)." Today [add city] 1989-10-23, 3. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Grandes, Ian. "You Know Who (Today)." Today, edition, sec., 1989-10-23
- Turabian: Grandes, Ian. "You Know Who (Today)." Today, 1989-10-23, section, 3 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=You Know Who (Today) | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/You_Know_Who_(Today) | work=Today | pages=3 | date=1989-10-23 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=You Know Who (Today) | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/You_Know_Who_(Today) | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 March 2025}}</ref>
