Guest contributor Dan Luisi addresses the rumour of just how long Peter Capaldi may stay as the Doctor.
You've probably heard the rumour? The one that says Peter Capaldi will only make one series as the Doctor? Sure you have, it's been doing the rounds for several months, slowly being thrashed out on internet forums. But just recently it's gained a lot of momentum, and even a national newspaper devoted a page to it, they even claimed that the source of the rumour comes from the Doctor Who inner sanctum itself.
So it must be true then?
Not necessarily, but let's run with the idea for a minute.
The rumour goes on to suggest that Peter Capaldi was specifically selected as a 'single season Doctor' to help move Doctor Who in a new direction, his regeneration would see the show take an even more radical, and possibly more controversial, direction.
What could this mean? Well, I'm sure the press will hammer on about it being a woman or an actor of a different ethnicity like they always do, but how about if the rumour is hinting at something bigger?
2015 is the tenth anniversary of the shows return, and with the success of The Day Of The Doctor it's possible that the BBC may want more of the same, so could both Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat bow out with another special feature length episode? Moffat revealed that he had to hold over some budget from season 7 for the 50th anniversary special, it's looking likely that series 8 will only be 12 episodes instead of 13, so a slightly reduced season may give him the extra money needed for what could be an expensive tenth anniversary show. But what of the controversy? Well they could blow our minds and have him regenerate back to David Tennant. His first line could be, "I told you I didn't want to go." That's obviously highly unlikely but it would be radical, and the Curator did tell Matt Smith's Doctor that he might be revisiting an old face soon. However, it could be that Doctor Who itself is moving in a different direction altogether.
Doctor Who is a very expensive show for the BBC to make and with it's current popularity in America being at an all time high, it could be that we are looking at a potential co-production with a US network. It wouldn't necessarily mean an American Doctor (after all Johnny Lee Miller does not pretend to be American on Elementary), we could still have a British actor, but just having American money involved would definitely be a controversial point for many Who fans.
Or possibly, just maybe the BBC is giving Doctor Who a rest on television and are finally making the movie that David Yates said he was directing a couple of years back. At the time Steven Moffat did say "not on my watch", but then just recently he hinted that he was "nearer the end than the beginning" of his time as Executive Producer of Doctor Who. Will he bow out along with the ongoing series? I'm not suggesting the BBC would cancel the television show completely, but giving the show a rest for just a couple of years, whilst a 'movie Doctor' has an adventure or two, is a real option.
Personally I hope the rumour is false. We know that Peter Capaldi is a lifelong fan of the show and so I would've thought he'd want to stay as long as he could, or at least for a few years. I for one think he is going to be a terrific Doctor, and with the show returning to a darker atmosphere, he seems perfectly suited. I think the source of the rumour comes from the fact that he has only signed for a year right now, but that may have been on the request of the BBC, because, although he is an amazing actor, his casting as the Doctor was a risk for them. They have just had two pretty boys doing the job for the last 8 years (and I mean no disrespect there as I thought they were both excellent, with Matt Smith being my joint favourite Doctor to date), it could be a shock to the casual viewer and it could affect the popularity of the show. I don't think it will, and if it does it just shows how fickle some new-Who fans are, but a year's contract covers the BBC just in case. Contracts can easily be renewed.
I'm looking forward to July, or August, or the Autumn, or whenever it is Peter Capaldi and his new kidneys make their debut, and I hope it's the start of many years worth of quality adventures in space and time.
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