And incidently, a very happy Christmas to all of you at home

[macfadyan]

well I never - Dr Who gets a second series AND a Chrimbo special


but NO Ecclestone

thats a deep blow that is...

heh

heh heh

[Adam J Purcell]

Unbelievable! Quitting after only one series?! He's the George Lazenby of the Doctors! (McGann, at least, has had more time as the Doctor if you count his Big Finish plays and didn't exactly quit).

Oh well, I wasn't sure if I liked his Doctor yet, now I won't have to force myself to!

Let's just hope he returns for a regeneration in the Christmas special...

[lordsummerisle]

You could look at it as quitting after one episode in fact. I know the BBC are desperate to keep the show in the news but this is going too far.

Whose bright idea was 13 regenerations anyway

<FX> WHOOOOOSH!!!!
Fan 1: What was that?
Fan 2: That was your new Doctor, mate.
Fan 1: Oh, that was quick. Do I get another?
Fan 2: Sorry, mate. That's your lot.

[tallorder]

It's just bizarre - had he not spotted that even the dead ones are referred to as 'Former Doctor Who'... As for worn out... he's a bloody stage actor so he should be used to doing eight performances a week! Typecasting my arse... there's more to this than meets the eye.

Shame.... I enjoyed 'Rose' and am looking forward to the rest of the run. Hope the public at large don't turn off in droves because of this.

Not really a Lazenby though... 13 x 45 min is quite a lot of screen time. Shame about all the Eccleston toys coming for Christmas.

So, David Tennant anyone?

As long as it's not bloody Bill Nighy... or Hugh Grant! Hell... just say I don't want anyone from the cast of 'Love Actually' (except maybe Martin Freeman once he's earned his genre stripes in the Hitch-Hiker's film)... How about Ricky Gervais for the 10th Doctor?

[macfadyan]

Nope, Tennetnt is far too young for the role,, IMHO....however...atr the moment I can't seem to think of anyone. Reckon it needs to be a complete unknown.

However, we are missing one point here....second series! (or series 28, rather)

Does feel though like this is gonna shoot the show down - people will start to wonder why they should bother watching ifd he's leaving. How will veiwer loyalty be kept....?

Ah, I dunno...bloody pissed off with the guy - sure he had his reasons and Id like to hear em....

[tallorder]

Rumours abound that this was planned and they only wanted the Big Name Actor to launch the series proper... Perhaps RTD has a masterplan. The Beeb have spent so much money that they're going to make it work. I was a bit peeved but am so over it now. Who has always been bigger than any one actor and all the press attention can't do any harm, I suppose. Perhaps Eccleston really wishes to leave us wanting more! He's a jobbing actor, it's a job. You can't really hold it against him.

The upside. as you rightly say, is Second Series and a Christmas Special.

Viewer loyalty? I don't reckon the kiddies will care - they along with most of Joe Public won't think much further than Saturday to Saturday. They'll still love the Moxx of Ballyhew, the Siltheens, whatever Mark Gatiss has come up with - as well as the return of the Daleks... and if something grisly happens to CE at the end of it all they'll be shocked, horrified and excited at the Regeneration.

And the fans? We'll love it, hate it and say Hinchcliffe did it much better, and worse in turn. Then websites will spout on about leather jackets, rice pudding, blah blah blah and well all get excited about Doctor number 10. And Gary Russell will fanwank it into a BF audio that explains the whole regeneration away using some recently discovered audio of Patrick Troughtion eating a sandwich.

So what I'm saying is Who cares... roll on Saturday, don't you know it's 'The End of the World!'

[Adam J Purcell]

Unless the secret special guest star this season is McGann it's looking unlikely we'll ever see a flash back to the McGann/Eccleston regeneration. And I so liked the idea of one of the stories in season 2/3 (28/29!) start, unremarked, with McGann stepping out of the TARDIS and see the beginning of the Auton story or whatever it was that got him killed.

Oh well, nothing we can do about it except buy hankies with Eccleston's face on it!!

Do you think the Christmas special will have the Doctor doing a David Brent dance?

Still, at least Billie is staying on, the viewers will have some continuity. Will she be the only companion to have more screen time than the Doctor she started with?

[Andy Simpkins]

I think that the general consensus of opinion is that now Chris Ecclestone's name is now pronounced 'Mud'......

[tallorder]

Unless the secret special guest star this season is McGann it's looking unlikely we'll ever see a flash back to the McGann/Eccleston regeneration. And I so liked the idea of one of the stories in season 2/3 (28/29!) start, unremarked, with McGann stepping out of the TARDIS and see the beginning of the Auton story or whatever it was that got him killed.

Yeah - but that was so never going to happen! I think multi-doctor stories and flashbacks will be the arena of Big Finish and the books only i.e. for the fans consumption rather than for the viewing public. I also don't see McGann wanting to come back - though it would be lovely for him to de-regenerate and for Paul to get a fair crack of the whip.

Can't quite get my head around the Eccleston thing though. He's either the most naive actor in the world, thinking that even a minor stint as the Doctor wouldn't forever link his name to it - or it's a contract negotiation gone terribly wrong.

According to his biography (and interviews with Ingeborg) Pertwee asked for more money towards the end of his tenure, none was available and they said 'off you go'. He would have been happy to stay for another couple of years but just wanted a little more financial recognition for it.

Davision, who was in a sucessful series before (All Creatures) and has been in them after (Braithwaites, Campion, Dangerous Davies) is still referred to as Former Doctor Who... he's been out of the series for over 20 years. How can Eccleston have missed that point? To be Who is to be forever associated with the part. Most actors have embraced it - even McGann and realised that it brings a good supplementary income in, gets you viewers on your other work and even increases box office sales when you're in a play. Plus the opportunity to raise some reasonable charity

I wonder if the Beeb weren't prepared to flash the cash to get him to stay - or Eccleston realised the sooner he put some distance between him and the series the better.

Or perhaps he genuinely just doesn't want to do another series. Perheps he got in to it and decided that it wasn't for him. It's very high profile with press follwing your love life etc. Perhaps he didn't want that / truly couldn't handle that. I don't espect to hear his manc scally tones on a Big Finish soon!

Billie's Rose on the other hand will, you're right Adam, out last her Doctor and be the first to do so. Jamie came very close, as did Tegan and Peri. Minute for munute Amazing Grace probably beat Paul McGann too - or came damned close! She was on screen with the dying 7th and then with the 8th in most or all of his scenes!

[tallorder]

FIY: This year's Christmas special is currenty titled "The Christmas Invasion" according to RTD speaking at BAFTA last night.

I'm thinking Cybermen with mistletoe. Or perhaps an alien Santa who consumes more than just the mince pies and sherry left out for him!