There’s yet another name said to be vying for the coveted lead role in Doctor Who before David Tennant has had the courtesy of quitting.
Paterson Joseph is the new hot name linked to the show. The talented actor already appeared in the series during Christopher Eccleston’s run as The Doctor. And, he’s familiar to anglophile TV fans through appearances in Peep Show and Green Wing.
But, it’s his villainous supporting role as Benjamin in Steven Moffat’s ingenious Jekyll that could make Joseph a legit player to pilot the Tardis. Moffat wrote the updated sci-fi take on the Jekyll and Hyde story, and he’ll be running Doctor Who come 2010. Ironically, Jekyll’s lead actor (James Nesbitt) is another name knocked around to replace Tennant. Nesbitt and Joseph square off in the clip at right. (Warning: The Jekyll scene is not for the squeamish.)
Tennant is set to star in the 2009 Who specials while negotiating a deal to return for the fifth full season in 2010. That leaves the door open for Joseph, Nesbitt or someone else in 2011. Why would this be worth announcing more than two years ahead of the season in question?
These casting moves can be done this far in advance in the United Kingdom as West End-friendly British actors like taking time to schedule stage appearances. Fans are only getting four special episodes of Doctor Who in 2009 and not a full season because current Tennant took on Shakespeare this year in sold-out stage productions of Hamlet and Love’s Labour’s Lost.
The stars could align for Joseph. He’s already known to British and American fans. He’s genre-friendly, and he’d be the first Doctor of color in an era when the world could be prepared for the first African-American U.S. president. However, Joseph’s agent put out an official statement to anyone willing to listen that this was just a rumor. There have been no official talks or negotiations.
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