Fans of the much-loved BBC science fiction series Doctor Who have been speculating about who the 14th Doctor will be ever since the incumbent actor Jodie Whittaker announced she’ll be leaving the role in a special episode later this year. The BBC and returning showrunner Russell T. Davies have remained tight-lipped on the matter of who Whittaker’s replacement will be thus far but might not stay that way for much longer. The latest hot Doctor Who rumour is that the BBC will reveal the identity of the new Doctor after the forthcoming Easter special “Legend of the Sea Devils,” which will air on April 17th.
If the rumours are true, we don’t have much longer to wait and speculate. If you’re planning to place a bet on the actor, you might be running out of time. Since we’ve mentioned betting, it would be remiss of us not to point out that you should always check out a casino comparison website like Sister Site to make sure you’re getting the best odds before laying down your money. The whole process of regeneration for the Doctor can be a little bit like playing casino games – you never quite know what you’re going to get! Let’s leave the casinos alone for now, though, and take a look at the most likely candidates for the role.
Fady Elsayed
Most of our audience is unlikely to have heard of Fady Elsayed, but that doesn’t matter. Most people had never heard of David Tennant or Matt Smith before they became the Doctor, and their comparative anonymity did nothing to prevent them from becoming runaway successes in the role. Elsayed is best known in the UK for his work on Brotherhood, although he’s appeared in the Doctor Who universe before in the short-lived spin-off show Class in 2016. He’s been linked to the role because he recently posted a picture of himself at Bad Wolf Studios, where Doctor Who is filmed, before deleting the post after realising he might have given something away. At 28 years old, though, he might be too young for the part and might instead end up playing one of the Doctor’s companions.
Hugh Grant
The iconic British actor Hugh Grant, best known for his starring roles in movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually, has been heavily linked with the role in the British press. He’s denied his involvement, but that could easily be because he doesn’t want to spoil the surprise when he’s announced. Grant was famously offered the part of the Doctor when the show was revived in 2005 but turned it down, only to admit later that he regretted doing so. That implies he’d be likely to accept if he were offered the role again, which might already have happened. At 61, he’d become the oldest actor ever to play the Doctor full-time on television. John Hurt was older, but his appearance was a one-off.
Rege-Jean Page
Rege-Jean Page was a total unknown in the UK before he skyrocketed to fame when he played the handsome Duke in the smash-hit Netflix period drama Bridgerton. He turned down an enormously lucrative offer to appear in the show’s second season and is rumoured in some circles to be a contender for the vacant role of James Bond. If that doesn’t work out, he might land the vacant role in Doctor Who instead. Page has Hollywood ambitions which might mean that he’s not looking for a steady television gig at the moment, but Doctor Who is a special series, and actors have been known to make an exception for it in the past. The downside of casting Page is that he’d likely be unwilling to commit to anything beyond a single season, which would be a waste of a regeneration for the Doctor.
Olly Alexander
Like Hugh Grant, Olly Alexander has been heavily linked with the part of the Doctor in British tabloid newspapers. In Alexander’s case, the connection is that he played the lead role in Russell T. Davies’ drama It’s A Sin last year and earned rave reviews for his performance. Davies is back in charge of Doctor Who now, and he’s shown many times in the past that he prefers to cast people who he’s worked with in the past and trusts when he’s making television shows. Alexander’s agent denied any connection between her client and the part, but that was before Davies was confirmed to have returned to the show. That might change everything from Alexander’s point of view, and so there’s a strong possibility that he could end up as the 14th Doctor after all.
Jo Martin
As fans of Doctor Who will already know, Jo Martin has already played the Doctor. She’s the “Fugitive Doctor” – a mysterious forgotten regeneration from the Doctor’s distant past. Her precise placement in the Doctor Who timeline is unclear and might be resolved in the remaining two episodes written by Chris Chibnall before Davies resumes control. The fact that the character of the Fugitive Doctor is a Chibnall creation might put Davies off installing her in the part permanently, but she’s popular among fans. If the next Doctor turns out to be female, Jo Martin is the most likely contender.
David Tennant
This is the most outlandish rumour of them all. David Tennant played the 10th Doctor and is considered by fans to be one of the best Doctors of them all. He was a huge fan of the show, clearly loved playing the part, and stayed in the role for five successful years. It might sound like it makes no sense for someone who’s already played the Doctor to come back and be the Doctor again, but anything can happen in the crazy world of Doctor Who, and, at one point, Tennant was the odds-on favourite at betting websites. The rumour is that he’d be returning for a series of specials to help relaunch and re-establish the show with viewers before handing it off to a replacement in the hope that the extra viewers he’d surely bring in would stay with the show beyond his departure. Stranger things have happened, but we wouldn’t bank on it.
Maybe the next Doctor isn’t on this list at all. Very few people guessed Matt Smith was the 11th Doctor before he was unveiled, and Russell T. Davies loves to surprise the audience. Be they male or female, the next Doctor is coming soon and has a whole universe of adventures waiting for them in the TARDIS. We can’t wait!
