This has been discussed here from time to time, but I'm not sure it's ever had its very own thread before. If they ever were to bring back the Monk, who should play him?

My vote is for Michael Palin, who then regenerates into David Mitchell.

How about Graeme Garden? He's been playing the Monk in the audio stories.

Though, given what happened in the last audio story he was in, I highly doubt the Doctor would be too happy to see him.

Was there a giant kitten involved?

peter butterworths son tyler should do it.

I loved Peter Butterworth as a meddling monk in the first story when he impersonated 'a monk' for obvious reasons due to the setting in time, but when he came back in the Dalek masterplan he was still a monk and addressed as such! Unless he had a stash of habits to use up I cannot see the logic in this. He should have been called 'Dave' the impersonator and this week I'll be mostly disguised as...whatever the story needed.

The original Hartnell story is amongst those that have aged the best. The series needs the occasional slightly comic touch for balance, and comedy is not easy.

You couldn't replace Peter Butterworth directly, but from currently established comic actors, possibly someone such as Nick Frost?

Perhaps he grew to like the monk look, the way the Doctor grew to like the police box. You might say it became a ...


Nope, not going to say it.

I'm pretty sure he was given a reason for his title when he appeared in the Eighth Doctor stories - something along the lines of a monk being someone who dedicates his life to serving other people, which is what he thinks he's doing when he meddles with time. Always thought his time meddling schtick was more interesting and apt for a renegade time lord than the Master's world domination plots.

Possible actors: Reece Shearsmith, Kevin Eldon.

In the Seventh Doctor novel "No Future" by Paul Cornell, the Monk, whose real name is revealed as Mortimus, is the manager of a Punk band in 1977. He wears a suit and tie in that one, not a habit.

(I don't remember much about that novel apart from the fact that the Doctor manages to temporarily fix the chameleon circuit, and the Tardis disguises itself as Nelson's column, which I thought was a nice touch).

I like the Michael Palin idea up thread