Who Should Play the Doctor: Vote on Possible Replacements for David Tennant on "Doctor Who"

Who will pilot the TARDIS?

While it's still possibly too early to guess who will take over as our favorite Time Lord on Doctor Who after yesterday's announcement that David Tennant would be leaving the series after the four specials slated to air in 2009, I figure that I should push myself towards the acceptance point of the grieving process by looking at some likely contenders to take over as the Eleventh Doctor.

Below are a few guesses, speculations, and (pipe) dreams about who could be in contention for the role of the Doctor once Tennant hangs up his pin-striped suits and specs at the end of 2009. But I am curious to see (A) if you agree with these selections, (B) if you have your own candidates in mind, and (C) which of these men (and one woman) you feel is best equipped to take over as the Doctor. Vote now!

James Callis (Battlestar Galactica)

He's enticed our imaginations and gone to some very weird places after four seasons as Battlestar Galactica's tortured Gaius Baltar. Callis would bring an expected degree of wackiness to the role (he's also clearly not afraid of acting in front of green screens or fey comedy as evidenced by Bridget Jones' Diary) but also potentially a deeply rooted darkness to the role as the Doctor. I think he would be an ideal candidate to follow Tennant's more whimsical Doctor and bring a different energy to the part; he's just different enough from Tennant to be able to distinguish himself from his predecessor but he might be just similar enough to make the transition as painless as possible.

John Simm (Life on Mars)

If there's one candidate I'd most like to see take over the mantle of the Doctor it's John Simm, who has proven himself to be a talented actor of wide range (to wit: The Lakes, State of Play, Life on Mars) and has quite a following after his star turn on BBC One's Life on Mars. He's brainy but kinetic, explosive yet thoughtful, all of the attributes that go into making the perfect Doctor. Except for one problem: he's already appeared on Doctor Who in an iconic arc that brought the Master, a villainous Time Lord, against the Doctor and Martha Jones in Season Three. And somehow--rather sadly, I should add--I don't think the regeneration process would have him regenerate as someone we've already seen, much less as the former murderous Prime Minister of England. Sigh.

Jack Davenport (Coupling, Swingtown)

If anyone's name is likely to turn up on the list of possible candidates, it's Jack Davenport, most recently seen on the small screen this summer on CBS' Swingtown. Davenport can do wacky quite well (just pick his turn as Steve in any episode of Coupling) and he has a history with Steven Moffat, the co-creator of Coupling. He seems a logical choice to take over as the Doctor, given that history and his comedic background... and Swingtown proved that Davenport can do drama as well. And yet I can't help but think that Davenport won't be a strong enough actor to stand apart from Tennant and lacks that consummate presence that made both Tenannt and Eccleston knock-out leads on such an enduring, iconic series.

Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, a.k.a. MI-5) and Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks, a.k.a. MI-5)

No list would be complete without the former leads of Spooks but to me both of these blokes lack the consumate warmth and spark of Tennant and Eccleston and both of their possible spins on the Doctor would be a little more icy than we've grown accustomed to. Still, I was pretty damn impressed with Macfadyen's recent (and almost unrecognizable) guest turn on Ashes to Ashes, in which he so became OCD-affilicted robbery victim Gil Hollis that Macfadyen all but disappeared. Could he carry off another such transformation with the Doctor and show us a lighter side? I'm undecided. The same holds true for Penry-Jones (next to be seen in The 39 Steps) who seems a little too reserved and gruff for our brainy, quirky Doctor.

Colin Salmon (Doctor Who)

Personally, I think a really interesting approach could be to go with Colin Salmon, who memorably appeared on Doctor Who last season as Dr. Moon in Moffat's two-parter ("Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead"). Salmon brings a quiet gravitas with him as well as a feeling that he's seen it all. Salmon's also no stranger to more comedic roles, such as the ones he played on Keen Eddie and his guest star turn on Season One of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. The fact that he worked with Moffat on Who is a distinct plus but that very same fact could work against him as he has already appeared on the series. Meanwhile, MGM is said to be keen to get Salmon to reprise his role as action hero Jonas Moore in a TV version of the web series The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore. Hmm...

Russell Tovey (Gavin & Stacey, History Boys)

Tovey's name has cropped up a few times in conversations with outbound Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies (who, like Tennant, will depart after next year's four specials). Tovey already appeared once on Doctor Who as Midshipman Frame in the "Voyage of the Damned" Christmas special. While I like Tovey quite a lot (his guest starring turn on Ashes to Ashes was absolutely heartbreaking while his recurring appearances on Gavin & Stacey are hysterical), I can't help but feel that he's a little bit too young to take on the role of the Doctor and a little too baby-faced. While Tennant brings a wide-eyed wonder to the role, he also brings a knowledge of the universe and I can't help but wonder if Tovey could pull off that difficult combination.

James Nesbitt (Jekyll)

Another frontrunner for the role of The Doctor would definitely be Irish actor James Nesbitt, who starred in last year's gripping Jekyll, the gripping BBC revisionist take on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale that was written by--wait for it--none other than Steven Moffat. Best known for his work on Cold Feet and Murphy's Law, Nesbitt would bring certainly a different sort of look to the Doctor that is miles apart from the slender and stylish Doctor currently embodied by Tennant. While I think that Nesbitt is an extraordinarily talented actor (and Jekyll proved he could do wacky sci-fi as well as comedy and hard-hitting drama), he doesn't quite fit the bill for the Doctor for me.

Paterson Joseph (Peep Show, Jekyll)

Like several of our other candidates, James has worked with Moffat previously (on Jekyll) and has appeared on Doctor Who (as Rodrick in Season One's "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways"). He's quite a good comedian, as evidenced by his memorable turns on Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Hyperdrive, and Green Wing and could definitely pull off that off-kilter humor and wonder that the Doctor does so well. That said, his grating Southern accent in Jekyll made me want to rip off my own ears so I am torn (heh) about him, though many are tipping Joseph as a front-runner for the role and a black Doctor would be not only a different way to take the role but also a powerful sign of social progress and an added relevance with today's multi-ethic and multi-cultural society.

Mackenzie Crook (The Office)

While it's more of a longshot than anything else, I'd absolutely love to see Mackenzie Crook take on the Doctor. Crook, perhaps best known for playing anal retentive/borderline sociopath Gareth Keenan on the original UK version of The Office, would bring a combustive energy and je ne sais quoi to the role as well as offer a vast difference in looks, carriage, and demeanour to Tennant. Crook can do pathos (just watch his scene with David when he learns that David has accepted a job with corporate) as well as comedy (any of the Pirates of the Caribbean films) and, well, how awesome would it be if the Man Who Was Gareth was flying around in the TARDIS?

Gina Bellman (Coupling, Jekyll)

Some might decry it as heresy, but if Steven Moffat really wanted to shake things up, he could do something wildly unexpected and have the Doctor regenerate as a woman. (Which would not only be shocking but really prove the series' anything-can-happen moxie.) And if that were to occur, there's only one woman I'd put forward as the obvious first female Doctor: Gina Bellman. Bellman, next appearing on TNT's Leverage, has worked with Moffat twice (on Coupling as the batty Jane and then as tough-as-nails Claire Jackman on Jekyll) and would bring both a fantastic comedic timing and an unpredictable wackiness as well as a powerful and commanding presence (especially seen in Jekyll) that speaks volumes about the Doctor as a destroyer. It's unlikely to happen but worth a thought, nonetheless.

So who do you think should take over as the Doctor when Tennant leaves? Vote now!