Doctor Who - The Tick Box Terror

Right, first things first - a few little points

  1) This post is just my thoughts and opinions on the recent revelation of the twelfth incarnation of Doctor Who. The thoughts and opinions are all my own and I am not trying to upset anyone. If I do upset you, please feel free to let me know.

  2) This may be a bit of a rambly post.....

Still with me?

Cool.

Right, earlier this year Matt Smith announced his intention to leave the role of Doctor Who incarnation number 11. Straight away the usual questions and statements started to be raised in the press and public -  It's time for a black actor to take the role, it's time the Doctor regenerated into a woman etc etc.

I don't get it

I really just DO .NOT. GET. IT!

Okay, in the Let's Kill Hitler episode Melody, the friend and (although they didn't know it at the time) daughter of Amy and Rory was  a darker skinned actress who regenerated into River Song so the possibility of The Doctor changing skin colour I can accept.

The one that really gets my goat is the idea that a The Doctor should change gender. It really does not make any sense to me. It is a fact of life that men and women are 'built' differently. If it were possible, the mechanics of it just, for me don't add up.

But, and this, to me, is where I feel strongest - why can't it just be left alone. The character of The Doctor is a white, male so let's just leave it at that and be happy. There is no need whatsoever to enter the Tick Box realm where a character is not chosen because he/she is the right person but because it's seen as pc to give them the part ( and here's a small point - I've never heard anyone suggest he should be Chinese or any other Asian race)

Now, after my little mini rant (or rantlet ,if you will), my thoughts on the new Doctor

In 1996 I just happened to fall across a drama on BBC1 and watched it just because there was nothing else on at the time. That drama was The Crow Road (based on the Iain Banks novel of the same name) and one of the main characters was Uncle Rory (who was missing but appeared to the main character Prentice McHoan as a ghost type) who was played by Peter Capaldi.

This show turned out to be one of my all time favourites and my initial thoughts included "that guy would make a brilliant Doctor." So, as I'm sure you'll have guessed by now, when Peter Capaldi was announced as Doctor 12 I was over the moon - matter of fact I still am. I think he will do a great job.

But, as you would expect, and I suppose it's inevitable, some people are not happy. He is too old, he is not 'pretty enough', he is white, he is a he yadda yadda yadda......

I believe he is the right person for the job and the future of the show is in safe hands.

As I said at the beginning of this post I have not set out to offend or upset anyone here and if you feel I have, please accept my heartfelt and most sincere apologies. Please feel free to respond or get in touch.

Right, if you've stayed the distance here, thank you for listening/ reading.

I'll be back to the book reviews soon but Doctor Who is a show that has been my 'thing' since seeing The Sea Devils in 1972 and I felt I had to say my bit.