Raise The Lord

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• Publication: Wales on Sunday
• Date: 2013-08-04
• Author: Richard Beech
• Page: 10
• Language: English

Live show to reveal new Doctor Who

THE public are (im)patiently LOOKING at the CLOCK and tapping their fingers on their coffee tables, because tonight, at 7pm, the new Doctor Who star will be announced in a special live episode of Doctor Who Confidential.

It has been the saga to end all sagas. It seems like almost every actor in the UK has been mentioned in the same sentence as "Doctor Who" in the last few months, ever since Matt Smith (main picture) announced his departure from the hit show in June.

But one thing's for certain, the prevailing feeling today is that Peter Capaldi will be the twelfth Doctor. Bookies suspended betting after a flurry of bets for the man who played foul-mouthed press relations guru Malcolm Tucker in BBC's The Thick of It.

For some fans of the show, something doesn't quite ring true about the rumours. Show runner Steven Moffat is the king of concealment, and if he claims that only 10 people know the identity of the next Doctor Who star, then that's the end of it, only 10 people know.

So it doesn't make sense that so many people seem to be so certain that Capaldi is the next Doctor that they have taken their wallets down to the bookies and tried to cash-in on this knowledge.

Moffat isn't just a double-bluffer, he's a triplebluffer.

The press are fond of him and they rarely manage to get hold of information he doesn't want them to get hold of.

Capaldi would be a "classic Doctor", there's no doubt about that, one to rival the likes of Tom Baker and Peter Davison, but would he fit in with the current Doctor Who audience? Part of Matt Smith and David Tennant's success was their ability to juggle family-friendly slapstick acting with a geeky sex appeal, pulling in young female viewers from America in their millions.

Capaldi, who would surely cut a dark and brooding figure as the Doctor, a real acting heavyweight with subtlety and class, would inherit an audience spoon-fed on silliness and eccentricity.

Of course, the sort of silliness and eccentricity dealt out by Doctor Who is the sort of silliness and eccentricity that simply cannot be matched by any other show, so would Capaldi get on board with it, or would he bring a different sort of humour to the show and risk alienating some of the existing audience? These are all questions to be answered if Capaldi IS announced as the Doctor tonight, but what if he isn't? Who are the alternatives? Funnily enough, one of the favourites is Daniel Rigby... the bloke off the BT adverts. He impressed in Black Mirror and has recently pulled out of the BT adverts. Given that Doctors of the Time Lord persuasion are not allowed to appear in adverts, this could well be a sign.

If the producers want to go for a "name", they could well go for Stephen Mangan, the star of Green Wing and Adrian Mole. He has a proven pedigree when it comes to comic timing and has more recently reignited his stage career winning plaudits from the press.

More likely, though, is Ben Daniels, who would bring a dark edge to the role.

The 49-year-old would be the oldest man to take on the role since the show's reboot in 2005.

Daniels has a glittering CV, with major roles in House of Cards, Merlin, The Virgin Queen and The Passion.

It's about time for a Welsh Doctor, though. Aneurin Barnard would be a young but able Doctor, with strong performances in The White Queen and having recently filmed with Michael Sheen in upcoming film Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box, he has similar credentials to a young Matt Smith.

If we are to see the first ever female Doctor, smart money would be on Sally Hawkins who has Doctor Who potential in droves.

Only problem is that she's filming next year's Godzilla film at the moment, so would she have finished in time to dart over to Cardiff and film her regeneration for the Christmas episode? Time will tell!

WHO'S WHO OF THE FRONT-RUNNERS Daniel Rigby ¦ Age: 30 ¦ Pro: Natural comic timing and eccentricity ¦ Con: Currently known as 'bloke off the BT adverts' Sally Hawkins ¦ Age: 37 ¦ Pro: Incredibly diverse CV so far ¦ Con: The odds currently say it won't be a female Doctor Ben Daniels ¦ Age: 49 ¦ Pro: Could bring an edginess to the show ¦ Con: Could lose the slapstick fun Aneurin Barnard ¦ Age: 26 ¦ Pro: He's Welsh ¦ Con: Relatively short on experience Stephen Mangan ¦ Age: 41 ¦ Pro: A gem of British comedy, with lots of experience ¦ Con: Doctor Who usually shies away from established actors A-MAZING TRIBUTE TO SCI-FI SHOW IF YOU'RE a Doctor Who fan who thinks Steven Moffat's time-twisting scripts are hard enough to fathom or choosing a new Doctor gets you in a knot, then best you stay well clear of North Yorkshire.

A giant Time Lord-themed maze has been carefully carved in an 18-acre field of crops by one local farmer to celebrate the evergreen BBC Wales sci-fi show's 50th anniversary. And not even a sonic screwdriver the size of a bus would be big enough to take down the 1,000ft Dalek that's been fashioned into the landscape.

"We're very pleased with how it's turned out," said Tom Pearcy, the owner of York Maze, who's also added some uncanny portraits of original Doctor William Hartnell, alongside Matt Smith, his 11th and most recent incarnation.

"I'm in my 40s and grew up watching Doctor Who and was terrified of the Daleks the entire time.

"But, as I've now got a sevenyear-old son, I thought it would be nice to do something that spans all ages.

"I wanted to create a piece of art as a tribute to the show and also make it interactive so visitors can have their own adventures in time and space whilst inside the maze."

The fiendishly difficult labyrinth was created using a GPS computer programme which sent out the coordinates to handheld mapping devices, which then enabled staff to begin cutting shapes in the corn.

GRAPHIC: Who'll be joining Jenna-Louise Coleman in 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.: Beech, Richard (2013-08-04). Raise The Lord. Wales on Sunday p. 10.
• MLA 7th ed.: Beech, Richard. "Raise The Lord." Wales on Sunday [add city] 2013-08-04, 10. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: Beech, Richard. "Raise The Lord." Wales on Sunday, edition, sec., 2013-08-04
• Turabian: Beech, Richard. "Raise The Lord." Wales on Sunday, 2013-08-04, section, 10 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Raise The Lord | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Raise_The_Lord | work=Wales on Sunday | pages=10 | date=2013-08-04 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=9 November 2024 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Raise The Lord | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Raise_The_Lord | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=9 November 2024}}</ref>