The latest name attached to the role of the next Doctor is Hugh Grant — which shouldn’t come as a great shock, considering he and Russell T Davies worked together before on 2018’s A Very English Scandal.
Oh, and considering Grant was approached for the role before by Davies. And that Grant has played the Doctor before in the charity spoof, The Curse of Fatal Death. Ah yes, and that Grant has previously said he wished he’d been the Doctor. But apart from that, it’s all very unlikely.
The rumour comes from The Mirror, a tabloid with a history of Getting Things Right, including numerous Doctor departures like Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker (plus showrunners, Steven Moffat and Chis Chibnall). That doesn’t mean this is true, but equally, we might not take it with such a large pinch of salt as we otherwise would. If your mate Keith from down The Nag’s Head had told us about “that bloke from Love, Actually” being the Fourteenth Doctor, we’d be skeptical. You know what Keith’s like. But The Mirror? Hmm.
Is Hugh Grant Doctor Who?
Grant has previously noted:
“I was offered the role of the Doctor a few years back and was highly flattered. It’s only when you see it on screen that you think, ‘Damn, that was good, why did I say no?'”
The Mirror reports that “conversations are in progress”. Davies has called Grant “one of Britain’s finest actors”, so we could see some truth to this. Equally, we had heard that RTD was intent on either another female Doctor and/or a person of colour.
Or, you know, David Tennant. So who knows?
The Mirror also has a mysterious insider — let’s call them Robin Bland — who reveals:
“The vision is that the show can be a Marvel-like product, building franchises around the Doctor and other key characters in his many lives… With the utmost respect to the BBC, in the past attempts like Torchwood were made on a very limited budget in locations around Wales. Now the world is Russell’s oyster.”
Davies has expressed interest in a Doctor Who universe, consisting of numerous shows, similar to the MCU model which straides across movies and the small screen. So again, we’ll see…
What do you think, DWC readers?