Tovey tipped for Doctor Who role

[jimmyolsenblues]

<rte:body>http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0917/doctorwho.html

'Doctor Who' writer and producer Russell T. Davies has tipped 'History Boys' star Russell Tovey to take over from David Tennant in the show's lead role.
In a serialisation of his book in the Times newspaper, Davies revealed that he wrote in an e-mail: "He's (Tovey) going to be huge, that man. He's amazing. I think I'd make him the eleventh Doctor."
Davies also revealed that it was Tennant who vetoed a cameo appearance in the show by Harry Potter author J.K Rowling.
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He wrote: "David doesn't like the J.K idea. He thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we've paused it slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he's not going to be happy with.
"We've got to keep him happy. He keeps us happy. Plus, he might be right. So that idea has parked itself."


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I am not happy about david leaving :\:(

</rte:body>

[newbaggy]

A lot of the press over here have latched onto the Russell Tovey thing, but if you read the extracts, it's a bit less drastic. The e-mail is one of a series exchanged between Russell T. Davies and his collaborator on the book "Doctor Who: A Writer's Tale", Doctor Who Magazine writer, Benjamin Cook. To put it in context, here's the relevant paragraph, discussing casting for "Voyage of the Damned":

A read-through with Kylie Minogue! Marvellous, isn't it? She's going to watch Last of the Time Lords on Saturday with David. Madder and madder! And we've cast Clive Swift as Mr Copper. That's brilliant! (Dennis Hopper, it turned out, isn't available for that many days.) And Geoffrey Palmer is Captain Hardaker, which is glorious. Also, Russell Tovey as Midshipman Frame, which is my favourite casting of the lot, because he's going to be huge, that man. He's amazing. I think I'd make him the Eleventh Doctor.

So, it is actually part of an e-mail commenting on what a great cast they had got for the 2007 Christmas Special, and the "I'd make him the Eleventh Doctor" bit is just RTD being effusive, as only RTD can. It doesn't mean that David Tennant is definitely quitting, nor that Russell Tovey would be front runner to replace him if he did.

You might notice the reference to Dennis Hopper in there. Well, that rumour about Dennis Hopper being in Doctor Who has some truth in it after all. In March 2007, the BBc was informed that Hopper was interested in appearing in Doctor Who, and RTD suggested that he coould play Mr Copper in "Voyage of the Damned". However, the plan was abandoned when it became clear that Dennis Hopper would not be available for all the required filming dates.

Other revelations include:

- RTD was asked by BBC management to stay on for Series 5, but refused, in part, because he had already told David Tennant during the filming of "Doomsday" that series 4 would be followed by "the specials" to allow his replacement as executive producer/head writer time to gear up for series 5.

- RTD feared that the scandal over an incorrectly edited preview of a documentary about the Queen (the offending footage was shown out of sequence to make it appear that Her Majesty had stormed out of a photo-session with Annie Leibowitz) might affect Doctor Who. He described BBC1 Controller Peter Fincham as having a "siege mentality" (Fincham had apologised, but was under pressure from the press to resign. He eventually did so.), and thought that he might simply bring in a replacement production team to make Series 5 instead of the specials (Fincham had called up RTD's fellow executive producer, Julie Gardner, asking "why are we doing this?").

- The JK Rowling idea would have featured the author falling victim to a similar type of "space bug" to the one seen on Donna's back in "Turn Left". This bug would make the world of Rowling's imagination into reality, with The Doctor in a Victorian-style London facing magic and wizards as he searches for JK [I think David Tennant was right to be worried!]

- RTD talks about reading the scripts for Steven Moffat's "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" and becoming convinced that River Song is "The Doctor's Wife" (sort of). He also reveals that the production team tried to get Kate Winslet to play River [personally, although I like Kate Winslet, I think Alex Kingston was better casting].

- Steven Moffat was first approached to take over as executive producer/head writer in July 2007, but did not confirm his acceptance until September. However, in January 2008, he admitted to RTD that he had started writing his first script for Series 5 (despite not needing to do this for another year), claiming that he couldn't stop himself!

There are a couple of other spoilers about the 2008 Christmas Special, so I will post those in the Spoiler of the Day thread.