Doctor Who: 10 Actors Who Could Play The Sixteenth Doctor

The future of Doctor Who is once again in a state of flux. Earlier this year, we watched Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor fall victim to his greatest enemy yet… Disney’s stubborn greenlighting process.

In his place, we were (re)introduced to Billie Piper, who appeared to be playing the Sixteenth Doctor. However, the closing credits did not confirm her as the Doctor, nor have we received any indication that this is the case. Russell T Davies has suggested that even he doesn’t know what Billie’s role is yet, and... that totally tracks. This was clearly a hail mary to give the show some sort of direction after Gatwa's decision to leave, with RTD hoping that it would generate enough buzz to convince Disney to re-up.

So if Billie Piper isn't playing the Sixteenth Doctor... then who could?

Before we begin, an important rule: realistic castings only. Actors must be at the right stage of their careers – recognisable enough to carry the show, but not so established that their presence would overshadow the character or torpedo the budget. I’ll be looking for versatile actors that capture the Doctor’s gravitas, humour, and eccentricity, while bringing their own original take to the role.

A few honourable mentions first: Harry Melling (Dudley in the Harry Potter movies – also the grandson of Patrick Troughton!), Ben Whishaw (Q in James Bond, and the voice of Paddington), Keeley Hawes (who played Ms. Delphox in Time Heist), Mirren Mack (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Sex Education), and Matthew Goode (A Discovery of Witches, The Crown).

They didn’t quite make my top ten, but I’d wager they’d all smash it!

Mathew Baynton has quietly become a recognisable face on British television, and his popularity is at a real peak thanks to the massive success of BBC’s Ghosts and his recent stint on Taskmaster.

In Ghosts, Baynton plays the hopelessly romantic Regency-era poet, Thomas, a character that is, for the most part, endearingly silly but more than a bit pretentious. Thomas spends much of the show expressing his unrequited love for the main character, but Baynton plays him with such sincerity and charm that you can’t help but love him.

Despite this being a primarily comedic role, there are hints of Baynton’s emotional chops throughout the series, and this ability to inhabit a character who is goofy on the surface but emotionally grounded underneath is Doctor 101.

Baynton's career has been built on versatility. He’s written and starred in Ghosts, Horrible Histories, and Yonderland, playing multiple characters, both recurring and one-off, in each. He’s a bit of a chameleon, shifting seamlessly between dozens of roles across a multitude of time periods, and he has a keen passion for history that is a marriage made in heaven for the show.

Baynton sits within an age bracket that’s been under-explored in NuWho, striking a balance between the youthfulness of Gatwa and the maturity of Capaldi. His work suggests he could deliver a clownish Doctor with real eccentricity and heart, something in the vein of Matt Smith or Patrick Troughton.