Billie Piper tipped as next Dr Who
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
The Actor David Tennant has hinted that Billie Piper could be the next Dr Who.
Tennant, who plays the Timelord in the hit sci-fi series, announced last week that he was to quit the show, and the race is now on to find a replacement.
Current favourites to take over the role of the Doctor include Cold Feet actor James Nesbitt, Life on Mars star John Simm, Paterson Joseph and David Morrisey. However, asked on BBC Breakfast if Billie Piper could step into the role, Tennant said a female Doctor was a definite possibility.
“Why not? It’s one of those parts that any actor could bring something valid to, because it can be anything and it’s a sort of blank canvas every time,” Tennant said.
“The fact is that the difference is a virtue with each Doctor. It’s not like you’re casting Tarzan where you’ve got to have somebody who looks good in a loin cloth. It can be anything.”
Piper previously played Tennant’s feisty assistant, Rose Tyler, after a successful but short-lived pop career, and was a big hit with fans. If she returns to the show as the eleventh Dr Who she will be the Timelord’s first female incarnation. Joanna Lumley had been considered for the role after the departure of Tom Baker in 1981, but was rejected in favour of Peter Davison.
Tennant, who is currently starring in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon, said that leaving the series had been a difficult decision: “Sometimes you’ve got to take a deep breath and make a decision otherwise I could literally be there when I’m 86 with people thinking ‘Is he never going?’
“Who knows what might happen in the future and it is one of those parts that sticks with you… the door isn’t closed forever, but in a day to day way I’ll be handing over the mantle to somebody else.”
