Who's Who

Well, the new Dr Who obviously isn't me - I think the big clue was when I realised that I was sat in my mother's living room watching him being unveiled live on TV, rather than being in the studio in London.  Oh, that and the fact that I'm not an actor and didn't apply for the job.  It's interesting that this time around there hasn't been the large negative backlash from some quarters that had accompanied Matt Smith's casting.  But, unlike Smith, Peter Capaldi isn't a relative unknown.  As one of the UK's most respected and versatile actors, most of us have a pretty good idea of what he can do and most fans have no doubt that he'll gives us an interesting new take on the Doctor.  In many ways, he represents a 'safe pair of hands' for the series - he's a performer who never disappoints or gives bad performances.  The producers clearly feel they know what they're getting with Capaldi and that he'll deliver the goods.

The intriguing thing about Peter Capaldi's casting was the way his name only came into the frame around a week before the announcement and rapidly became the bookies' favourite.  Intriguing, because it coincided with a conversation I'd had with one of my brothers about prospective Twelfth Doctors, where we had concluded that if they were going to go for an older, more established actor, then Capaldi would be their man. Coincidence?  Well, only a couple of weeks prior to that, we'd been having a similar discussion, this time about what if they wanted to cast an established, but young(ish) actor, whee we concluded that Julian Rhind-Tutt could be a good choice.  Guess what?  The following week, Rhind-Tutt became the bookies' favourite.  What was going on?  Does the NSA's 'Prism' snooping programme extend to listening in on Dr Who fans on behalf of bookmakers?  To be frank, these days nothing would surprise me.