Unknown Actors- They're Better Than You Think!
The best actors to play the Doctor's to my mind are ones that you typically don't recognise or notice until they take on the part, this is because someone with no prior public identity can build their Doctor from the ground up as the public has no preconceptions of them as actors/ people. They can form Doctor's based on themselves providing they meet the basic criteria set above. In the 60's when the show began television was treated more like theatre and stage performance due to the television production practices at the BBC at the time, meaning the presence of the first actor to play the Doctor was fresh, William Hartnell being an actor of the silver screen more than anything else, this meant that from the eyes of the public, no public identity was every really established of him as a person before Who at least on television. When the show changed Doctor's for the first time to Patrick Troughton, he rather famously avoided interviews to maintain the illusion and avoid the public giving him an identity. Jon Pertwee was only known for Comedy and Radio performance and Who was his first serious role, so likewise, he could build the character from the ground up by crossing mediums. Likewise Tom Baker in spite of the occasional bit part in films and TV was having to work as a builder before he got the role, and he turned out to be one of the most prolific Doctor's of them all. This idea can be followed right up to Matt Smith and there is a reason for this, the problem with casting a well known/ popular actor in such a high profile part is that they start to dominate the show and become something more than it. We saw this with Doctor's in the past, particularly Tennant (Bring back David Tennant anyone?) this is where the show and the character starts to suffer long term as popular actors bring so much of themselves to the part that it almost engraves them into the show and won't go away, they become greater than the show and it ruins its timeless ability to regenerate and change without fear of the popularity of past incarnations dampening the next (you've got Tennant fan girls to thank for justifying that theory). So who? So in conclusion I won't give a list of people or names because that's not what this article is about, this is about discussing how to cast a Doctor and what qualities to look for, but I will say this. If anyone at the BBC ever reads this (doubtful but it's worth a shot) the best shot at this stage is to cast an unknown and old actor for the role providing he meet the criteria above. Thanks you very much for your time, if you liked it feel free to discuss in the comment section and get talking!