10 More What Ifs About Doctor Who

6. What If Paterson Joseph Had Been The Eleventh Doctor?

After it was announced that David Tennant would be leaving Doctor Who, the rumour mill went into overdrive over who would be cast as the Eleventh Doctor. Among the many names floated by various sources was Paterson Joseph. No stranger to genre television, Joseph had previously appeared in the '90s adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, the remake of Survivors, as well as the movie Aeon Flux. The most telling argument in favour of his being cast was his appearance as Benjamin in Steven Moffat's series Jekyll. He'd also already appeared in Doctor Who, in the two-part finale of Christopher Eccleston's first season. Given that a black actor has never played the role before (at least, not a serious way - we're looking at you, Lenny Henry), this could have been a major move. It didn't happen, obviously - but what if it had? For one thing, there would have been a brainless howling from that contingent of sub-humans who call themselves Doctor Who fans and yet are still somehow racist, despite all the lessons the show teaches us about that sort of thing. Granted, it would be a huge step, but once the furor and press attention over this had died down, we'd likely see everyone simply let Joseph get on with it. Either that, or they'd stop watching, and good riddance to them. His Doctor would, by necessity, be very different, and not because of race. Joseph was in his forties at the time (and still is), so Moffat could not yet claim the prize of having casting the youngest actor to play the part yet. As a result, Joseph's Doctor would likely be less played as an ancient man in a young man's body and more along the lines of... well, dare we hope, maybe the Marquis De Carabas? That's the genre role that everyone seems to remember him best for, and while he may not have wanted to repeat all of the mannerisms of that character, there's no denying that it's hard to tell the difference between the Marquis and a more acerbic Doctor, of the same sort we'll be getting with Peter Capaldi. As for the Amy Pond-Eleventh Doctor-Rory Williams triangle still happening... well, why not? New Who has shown itself to be extremely comfortable with the idea of interracial couples, from Rose and Mickey, to Donna and Lance, to Martha and that bloke she was engaged to... whom she left for Mickey... um. Anyway, there have been plenty of interracial couples in the new show's brief history, and Amy doesn't seem like the kind of girl who would let race get in the way of a good snog. After all, the Doctor is another species, no matter what colour his skin may be, right?