Kris Marshall is the very definition of a safe choice.
He’d be competent, certainly. Really, he’d be fine – the sort of choice that makes you go ‘yeah, alright, I guess’. But then, that’s exactly what should disqualify him from the role.
Casting next Doctor should make you sit bolt upright – surprise you, catch you off guard, but still make you go ‘ooh, that’s an inspired choice’. When casting the Doctor, a ‘safe choice’ isn’t a good thing. Indeed, a safe choice is tantamount to a boring one – there should always be something exciting and compelling about the new Doctor.
I wrote a little bit about the possibility – it’s not a certainty yet – that Kris Marshall might be the next Doctor. To be honest, I’m not hugely fussed by the idea. I watched an episode of Death in Paradise today, just to check him out. He was alright. I stand by my judgement of him as broadly competent, but largely uncompelling.
(Thankfully – well, for us, maybe not for poor Kris – we now know Jodie Whittaker was cast. But, you know, golly. For some time I was worried I might end up having to write an apology article if Kris was cast and ended up being decent in the role.)
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“Broadly competent” isn’t really good enough to play the Doctor.
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Yes, I agree completely.
It’s been sort of interesting to see the response to that article – fairly polarising. Quite a lot of people seem to be quite fond of the idea! Had a fair amount of comments to the effect of “he’s good at acting weird and crazy”. To my mind, though, that throws up the same concern – “broadly competent at being weird and crazy” isn’t exactly a description that enthuses me about a potential Doctor!
Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Natalie Dormer all the way for me, really. What about you, any preferences?
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Someone brilliant I’ve never heard of. (Not a white guy.)
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