Had a good chat about all things Doctor Who in the pub the other night.As me and another fan got progressively more drunk we had a strange conversation about the series.Thought it might work as a thread starter so here goes.Just what if the BBC decided to remake Doctor Who from the Hartnell beginning over the next ten years.The rule would be that each of the first seven Doctors got a years worth of episodes in the role but they'd obviously have to be recast.If so,who would you have from the contemporary era playing Doctors 1-7.We came up with these Actors
1.Bill Nighy-still looks younger than Hartnell did when he started the role .
2.?
3.Sean Pertwee-just to have a bit of Family consistency
4.David Walliams-could get the same level of out and out loveable loonery as Tom Baker out of the role.Although they could get John Culshaw from Dead Ringers if they wanted an out and out impression
5.Mark Gatiss-was quite impressed with him on the COmedy sketches on the latest Who DVD-same laid back charisma as Davison.
6.Matt Lucas-Walliams Little Britain partner could get C Bakers pomposity down to a tee.
7.Ewan Mcgregor-Similar level of Enthusiasm to Mcoy.and Scottish
I know there's a large amount of comic actors/comedians I've cast but it's just a bit of fun.Any ideas for Troughtons Doctor No 2 to be recast.
p.S as we're on the subkect of comedians hows about
The Master-Ricky Gervais

No offence to any of those actors, but id kill myself if any of them (besides Sean Pertwee) tried to be the character of one
of the previous Doctors, especially the Fourth Doctor and the Sixth. Each actor should have there own original Doctor (Though Richard Hurndall did a good Hartnell I thought), it would be awful to see Matt Lucas (as much as I like him) try to be Colin Baker's Doctor...

As for the Master, id like Alan Rickman, not Gervais as I doubt anyone would take him seriously.

What about Michael Troughton for Doctor #2

Michael more than David I think. I can never think of anyone who could do Troughton really.

Surely if your restarting it would be a better idea to re-do everything instead of just copying the originals, cast new people to play the character differently, with different storylines etc.

If you had the same thing just re-made then it would be forever compared with the originals and would take a lot of slating because of it.

Each actor to play The Doctor should play it there own way, they shouldnt be playing another actor playing The Doctor.

think you might have to cut back on your beer in take

i would rather have feature-length remakes of the best episodes .....
maybe even film releases?

imagine a big screen version of city of death!!!

How about Peter Davison as the 10th?

ISTR Sean Pertwee has stated he will never play The Doctor, he hates it (something to do with it keeping his dad away from him when he was a kid)


Rather than remke all the stories from the beggining, they should remake the stories that have been lost.

Think even though the production standards and effects are different I don't think some of the stories from the 60's could be bettered. The callibre of writing made up for some of the dodgy effects and wobbly sets. Borrow from the past by all means but move forward rather than backwards.

This is fair enough as a bit of fun but I don't think this idea could ever work. Serious Dr Who fans would think it sacrelige while must other people would just find it confusing and irrelevant. Remaking a TV series would be terribly expensive and I really don't see the point of remaking something when the original was good enough.

What I think could be done quite cheaply and effectively is to remake the lost stories as animations using the original scripts and voice actors who can pass for the original actors. Animations could also be done with some of the audio stories made by the BBC and Big Finish. The trick would be to choose a graphic and animation style which incorporated elements of the original set designs and looked stylish and interesting enough that adults could watch it. It should not look like a cheap kids' cartoon.

I also think it is time to clean up and reedit the very early episodes and then rerun the classic series on BBC Two on Saturday evenings (when the new series is off) followed by audio episodes on BBC 7. That way the BBC could establish this as a year round Dr Who slot with the new series on BBC One alternating with the clasic series on BBC Two.

Ditto. And I'm not even a Dr Who fan. (my OH is fanatical about it though! OMG.)

I like the idea of Mark Gatiss playing the doctor. Maybe the BBC should have him on standby to play the next regeneration!

Some repeats would be most welcome on BBC2 and preferably not stories already released on DVD!