We may have many, many series of the Thirteenth Doctor on television ahead of us, but press reports and online speculation that Jodie Whittaker will be leaving Doctor Who‘s titular role after the upcoming Series 13 has sent the bookies into overdrive.
And those reports made it feel like 2017 all over again, as former Death in Paradise star Kris Marshall surged into an early lead as favourite to take over the role of the Fourteenth Doctor (if showrunner Chris Chibnall maintains that numerage after his big Series 12 reveal about the character’s past) with those placing the bets.
Sam Rosbottom, who is PR for betting agency Betfair, said to tellymix:
“Whoever replaces Jodie Whittaker will have a tough act to follow – the Huddersfield actress having won the hearts of Whovians across the world.
“But the betting suggests that in Kris Marshall at 3/1, someone who has been linked with the famous role for years before Whittaker was handed the part, there is a favoured choice to get the top job.
“The likes of Tom Rosenthal and James Norton have been spoken about before as well – but if the producers decide to stick with a female doctor, Maxine Peake and Natalie Dormer as joint 8/1 second favourites could be shrewd picks to make the Tardis their home for the foreseeable future.”
Since that chat, the picture has changed again though, with I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel now at the top of Betfair’s odds at 4/1 to becoming the next Doctor.
Long-time theatre actor and former Silks star Peake is still in joint second place at 8/1, along with Game of Thrones‘ Dormer, Fleabag creator and now James Bond scribe Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Richard Ayoade.
Of course these odds totally disregard the timing of what projects these actors may already be commited to for the future, what with 2020 wiping out many people’s filming schedules and delaying productions, but it’s interesting to see that the odds seem firmly stacked in there being another female occupant of the role.
In fact, Ayoade’s probably so high up the list because his public persona at all times – regardless of if he is playing a character or himself – is of akward intelligence. As well as being the top male in the odds, his Nigerian-Norwegian parentage makes this list of favourites for the next Doctor a very diverse list.
As well as the regular recurring names that appear whenever a vacancy in the TARDIS is potentially up for grabs, Betfair also has 33/1 odds at present on Jenna Coleman returning to the show as the Doctor rather than as Clara, and for her fellow TARDIS diner traveller Maisie Williams to be a Time Lord rather than the immortal Me.
Sally Sparrow actor Carrey Mulligan is at 50/1, and Catherine Tate is at 66/1. Even more remarkably, newspaper columnist Katie Hopkins has 200/1 odds of being hired to play the Doctor.
There are identical odds at the top with Paddypower, seeing Coel as the early favourite to replace Whittaker whenever she leaves the role.
