14th Doctor Who: 10 Actors Who Could Play Russell T. Davies’ Doctor
What does the future have in store for our favourite time traveller?
Everybody remain calm, this is not a drill. The new Doctor Who showrunner has been revealed, and it’s none other than Russell T. Davies - the man who revived the show from the depths and turned it into a modern pop-culture icon.
Say what you want about the BBC’s decision to revisit an old showrunner, most can agree that this will most certainly mean an increase in the quality of the show.
Helming the series for the 60th anniversary and beyond, RTD supposedly has big plans, and his recent comments regarding an MCU-style universe of Doctor Who shows is particularly exciting. But, before we get to all of that, Whovians have one burning question on their minds: who will play the Fourteenth Doctor, the face of this bold new second era of Davies (or, as the fandom has already dubbed it, the RT-D2)?
In this list, we’ll attempt to predict the most likely and realistic candidates to take over the role. Note that this list is not a countdown of our personal picks for The Doctor (for now, your writer's dream pick of Robert Sheehan remains a pipe dream) - we’ll save that for a separate list.
10. Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade is a comedian and actor who first entered the public consciousness after nailing his role as socially inept IT engineer Moss in The IT Crowd. He is most commonly seen on panel shows nowadays, as well as hosting both The Crystal Maze and Travel Man.
We’ll start by saying this: Richard Ayoade just is the Doctor - or at least, one side of him. A quirky, witty man with a slightly manic energy, Ayoade is capable of playing the more alien, mad man in a box side of The Doctor to perfection. In theory, he’s a shoe in, as he’s practically been playing the character for years already. So where does this fall apart?
Unfortunately, we’ve seen very little of Ayode’s dramatic acting, with the star sticking mostly to comedy. Can we see him hitting the emotional beats, or trotting out a speech with the authority and gravitas of actors like Peter Capaldi? Maybe not.
Who knows, though. If Ayoade is hiding some secret talent, he may just be in with a shot. Might I remind you, we were skeptical of Catherine Tate’s acting ability…