Certainly early on you'll still need a qualified, compos mentis driver sitting in the driver's seat ready to take control at a moment's notice (witness Tesla being happy-not-happy with the Youtube videos of drivers of their cars playing cards etc. while the car drives them around). Particularly in the transition phase…

You'll likely be surprised to hear then that Tom and Colin Baker were both about 40 when they started (T Baker being about 47 when he finished). Sylvester McCoy was about 44. Peter Davison was indeed only 29 IIRC and at the time, perhaps ironically given your gist, people were skeptical and thought he was too young.…

That's at least one of the reasons why I didn't call anyone a newbie (are you responding to the right person ?).

The time of broadcast has been getting later since Tennant left but yeah, S8 and 9 were the latest yet IIRC (mostly after 8 pm and sometimes closer to 9 - mainly depending on content i'd assume). I think even with catchup the numbers are down about 1.5-2 million compared to the highs of Tennant or Smith's runs but…

Insufficiently British but otherwise…

I dunno, she saves every incarnation of him afterwards too, I actually thought that was very clever of Moffatt - she carries on saving him in his future incarnations because that's exactly how it would work when you drop yourself into the timeline of such a complicated spacetime event.

It should most definitely be a Brit but if not, Irish is the most acceptable non-Brit for me. Dylan Moran maybe or, more left field, Chris O'Dowd ?

You know I really think he might.

The UK air times since the revamp vary a bit in fact, Ecclestone/Tennant were mostly 6:30 ish but they've got progressively later. Most of Capaldi's run has been 8 pm or later (which may be partly responsible for the slight dip in UK live ratings). Back in the day it was usually around 5:25 pm (after the football…

You know that one of the few things that would incite a re-invasioning of the US by the UK would be a non-Brit Doctor right ? It's actually in our constitution.

Yeah I don't think either of the last two regenerations were bland. I can understand plenty of complaints being levelled at 'Deep Breath' but bland isn't really one of them and 'The Eleventh Hour' is just a great episode all round.

Wasn't Paterson Joseph one of the people rumoured to have been offered it that turned it down ? A couple of years back it came out that a black actor had already been offered the part but didn't want it and I thought Joseph was one of the leading contenders.

"Who frowned me this face? Why this one? Why did I choose this face?"

Yeah, there are worse choices but I wonder about Siddig playing the clown, he seems a bit too sophisticated for that to work.

He's much more of a return to a traditional style of Doctor. Which isn't for everyone (fans that only jumped on for the revamp may have particular trouble with it).

Without checking i'm reasonably sure it wasn't on at the same time twice in a row when it aired in the UK. That by itself could contribute to a live ratings drop. Then there's the somewhat darker tone and generally later broadcast time (which makes it harder to watch live with younger kids).

Haven't seen it so for me it hasn't been made yet.

She is and so maybe a bit unlikely to commit to a 9 month per year shooting schedule in Cardiff.

Bowie McBowface

I thought the same but wonder if they're just acknowledging that what's _thought_ to be a fact can turn out not to be (by which I mean it never was a fact, we were just mistaken and NOT that facts are malleable). E.g. until around 1998 it was presented as a fact that the expansion of the universe was slowing, after…