User reviews

It says something about the cultural impact that a show like this is truly event television . We're going to find out who the next Doctor is via a peak time one off show on a Sunday night . As Christopher Eccleston would exclaim " Fantastic " . There might be a downside to this however and that is when DOCTOR WHO was the most popular show on British television at the end of the Tennant era we didn't get the same type of hype probably because Matt Smith wasn't a household name in his own household . If you're holding a peak time show that that insinuates that you're not going to be wheeling out a totally unknown jobbing actor as the twelfth Doctor . I'm guessing that only leaves a small handful ofcandidates ?

This show could have easily been five minutes long but is padded out by talking heads mainly of minor BBC personalities who aren't facing any court cases in the foreseeable future . The second biggest cheer of the night went to some prancing dancing queen from STRICTLY COME DANCING who announced that " No matter what the Doctor should be British " Yes I'm sure that if we had the choice between Morgan Freeman and Paterson Joseph the only choice would be the British Equity member -duh . Thankfully we didn't get any fans dressed up as a Sontaran battle fleet commander embarrassing the entire gene pool of humanity by giving their esoteric , fidistic opinions on how each and every episode is greater than the last and the only criticism is that there's not enough gay role models or humour in the show - double duh So the moment had been prepared for and the most obvious choice one Peter Capaldi walks out on stage which led to a lot of criticism on the IMDb message boards that " he's too old " , or " too ugly " or " too Scottish " which hopefully means the more shallow Americanised voice of fandom will be departing internet fandom to pursue what ever glossy nonsense that may interest them . The only downside that is that Steven " One trick pony " Moffat is staying as the boss of the show and while we're gaining an " old Scottish Dude " as The Doctor it's about time another " old Scottish dude " left the show

This review was written by Theo Robertson an old Scottish dude who is very ugly . Old ugly Scottish dudes are cool at last

I must admit that I watched this show after I already knew the subject of the reveal and, to be honest, it was my pleasure about the choice that made me decide to watch this. The show was live and hosted by an excitable Zoe Ball who breathlessly ushered in clips of talking heads and a few guests in the studios to fill the first 20 minutes before spending the remainder chatting with the new Doctor. In terms of content it is decent enough although it must be fairly obvious that the focus is not going to be on people's memories of William Hartnell; no, this is the new era and while the show does have a history, it is not one the current makers want to be a slave to, so they generally focus on recent years.

This is the case here and although we get the odd mention (and one appearance) of former Doctors, the focus is on Matt Smith leaving and who the replacement will be. As such it is entertainingly high energy but mostly about noise and hype – which is something that could be directed at the show as a whole recently. Ball stokes up the crowd while Smith appears in a few recorded interviews where he hardly looks at the camera and seems awkward. The hyperbolic approach continues with the appearance of the new Doctor in the style of a contestant on Stars in their Eyes and then ends the show in an X-Factor-esque shower of confetti.

I can understand why the show is this way and Ball did a decent job to keep it moving and upbeat, but really the question is not who the new Doctor will be, but will the show make the most of whomever it is? The announcement offered me hope that maybe they wanted someone a bit older and more substantial – but this is not the same as the writers changing the show to meet that person on their ground. We'll see but I look forward to finding out.