As always happens when the current Doctor decides to leave the show, speculation is rife as to who will be regenerating into the Twelfth Doctor. I almost don't want their identity revealed until the regeneration, because that way they would be avoiding all the hate that Matt had to go through when Tennant left and he stepped into the Converse trainers. I won't lie; when I discovered that the new Doctor was going to be so young, I had some hate going on too because I've watched the show since childhood and none of the other Doctors have been under the age of possibly thirty-five. Perhaps a little older. Matt, however, surprised everybody. He managed to be a 900+ year old Time Lord and he managed to do it perfectly. He was - if anything - Patrick Troughton all over again (he even borrowed Troughton's dress sense and a lot of his quotes, and he carried it off beautifully). After speculating with my husband and various Whovian friends, I've come up with five actors who I believe would be wonderful at the TARDIS console.
5. Ryan Cartwright
Possibly most famous for his role as autistic savant Gary Bell in
Alphas, Ryan has proved himself to be a rather special actor for somebody so young. As a method actor, he studies real people with the appropriate personality traits and/or medical issues (in the case of Gary Bell, autistic young adults) and practices until he nails it. He is also very charming and his general persona is similar to that of The Doctor - quirky, sweet and somewhat innocent with a sense of wonder about anything and everything that he encounters for the first time. That's how he comes across to me anyhow. If we were going with another young, eccentric Doctor, I believe that Ryan could pull it off very easily, with minimal people study. A lot of our current Doctor's behaviours seem to come quite naturally to Mister Cartwright. Quite possibly he could even use some of Gary's autistic traits to make his version of The Doctor somewhat more alien, which would tie in nicely with Matt's take on the character that we all know and love. Given that Gary was also a genius, Ryan could easily make this work by mixing Gary Bell and The Doctor together into one big ball of whacky, super-intelligent energy.
4. Masi-Oka
Otherwise known for portraying time-travelling Hiro Nakamura in the cult show Heroes. Endearing, funny, and with a real-life IQ that leaves MENSA in the proverbial gutter, I see no reason as to why Masi-Oka couldn't make a good Doctor. It's been mentioned before that The Doctor doesn't necessarily have to seemingly be of "White, British, middle class origin" and I honestly believe that Masi-Oka would throw himself into the role and have a great deal of fun with it. I can genuinely picture Masi-Oka at the TARDIS console, laughing at everything that goes wrong and taking all that the universe can throw at him in his stride. As Hiro, Masi-Oka had to work with the full spread of emotions from the sublime to the ridiculous to the downright heartbreaking, which to me is very Doctor-like. When you watch Masi-Oka in action you always find yourself laughing, smiling, crying and being angry with and for him. A very watchable, likeable actor is our Masi-Oka, and that is exactly what's needed for The Doctor if we're going to remain in keeping with the eccentric Madman With A Box persona that Matt has returned to our screens.
3. Mason Kayne
A relative unknown to many, this one, unless you happen to be a fan of cult show
Ashes To Ashes and also enjoy visiting the theatre and watching indie work. This man is quite fascinating in his approach to the roles he takes on, as whilst watching him in action you tend to forget that he is playing a character and that he is not - in fact - the living breathing person that he's portraying. "Living and breathing" would, of course, not be an accurate description of his most famous character portrayal - Gene Hunt's ghost - but he was still highly believable. Frightening to begin with, but very rapidly becoming a tragic figure. Lonely God, anyone? Here's Mason as many of us know and love him - silent, but still more than capable of causing a lump in the viewer's throat; extremely emotive simply by being there. With high levels of energy Mason is often given the more comical roles and overlooked for the darker genres but, in my opinion, he would an excellent crazy Doctor with a darker side. He might even be a little bit psychotic, but so was William Hartnell when you think about it. I also believe that he would make the perfect Doctor Who nemesis if given the chance, but that's another idea for another article. If you've ever watched The Killing Joke on Youtube, you will know why I think that Mason could be the perfect quirky, fun but utterly psychotic Doctor that Matt gave us - only far more aggressive and unpredictable.
2. James Nesbitt
Irish, funny, sarcastic and brilliant. I have been wanting Mister Nesbitt in the console room for a very long time. His dry wit and general on-screen gravitas alone would make him a fabulous Doctor. If you ever watched "Jekyll", "Munroe" or - many years previously - "Cold Feet" you will know that this man is incredibly talented and could probably turn his acting skills to pretty much anything and everything. With an expressive face and somewhat off-the-wall humour, James would make an excellent lunatic-style Doctor. With that said, he could also make the perfect Broken Doctor. With not only his race dead, but now his wife and his two best friends, perhaps we need for the Doctor to be older, bitter and against everything for a while - as Matt portrayed so wonderfully in The Snowmen. It's my theory that The Doctor is choosing to regenerate because his current face causes him too much emotional pain. Of course, a new face won't erase those memories, but he would no longer be seeing the face that ate fish fingers and custard with a young Scottish girl who he then had to lose to the Weeping Angels. Once he recovered from his losses he could very well be edgy and sarcastic - or perhaps genuinely terrifying when angry. James would fit the bill nicely for both of those personas.
1. Philip Glenister
All right, admit it - nobody is ever going to forget Gene Hunt. On the other hand I can see Mister Glenister making a dark and edgy Doctor with an explosive temper. A rough diamond who regenerates and forgets how to be polite maybe? Possibly a bit gobby and the rudest new regeneration ever? That sounds like a Doctor to me! A darker version of Nine, perhaps? We still don't really know what happened during the Time War - not all of it - and I can imagine Philip revealing every single dirty secret. With Philip as The Doctor, I can't see that much would be a match for him. He could have the Daleks against the wall with one icy glare; the Cybermen on their knees and Davros going into hiding. Gruff, commanding authority and with a bite worse than his bark, even his companions would be brave to step out of line (which could bring us feistier companions too, which would be no bad thing). Perhaps there wouldn't be quite so much running, but not all of The Doctor's regenerations had to do much of that. However, there would be some very atmospheric episodes if Glenister were to step into the role. What do you think? Who would be your top nominee for the role as Twelve and why?