Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby's Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Volume 1: The 60s) by Robert Shearman, Toby Hadoke Read Free Book Online

time, now that Doctor Who really isn’t just seen as a funny little family show with a cult following, and has become a genuinely global concern. Now, that it’s a programme which has sold two of its Christmas specials principally upon its guest stars, and which earned its biggest ratings by featuring Kylie Minogue on a Radio Times cover. They could have reached out for the Robert Carlyles of the world, the Alan Rickmans, the names we fans have seen bandied about for well over a decade every time a tabloid story ponders a feature film. Or, failing that, they could have gone down the popular celebrity route and cast a soap star wanting a new vehicle, or a TV presenter choosing Doctor Who as a means for further exposure rather than appearing in the Big Brother house or learning how to do the cha-cha in front of Bruce Forsyth.
    Quite rightly, I think, the role of the Doctor has gone to an actor who’ll come with no baggage whatsoever. Who can make whatever he wants of the part, without any audience expectations of whatever he’s done before. Matt Smith has got everything to play for. David Tennant has cast such a huge shadow over Doctor Who, and I think any actor trying to follow him will find such resistance from the public that it needs to be someone, as a result, who has nothing to lose. Put Robert Carlyle in the part, and all he can do is not quite measure up to his predecessor and watch as his reputation suffers. What’s in it for him? Give it to someone who instead has everything to prove, who can use the part as a stepping stone in his career whatever happens, someone indeed who has the right to fail – and let him off his leash.
    I have no particular opinion of Matt Smith yet, and that’s precisely because I’ve never seen anything he’s done before, and I think that’s wonderful and exciting. At a time when Doctor Who could have been easily forgiven for playing it safe, for trying to follow the brilliant success of David Tennant with a name, they have gone instead for an unknown they feel is right for the job. Good for them. Good for Matt Smith. And good for us, too.
    T: I’d previously seen Matt Smith in the first episode of Party Animals, and on that occasion looked him up on IMDb because I’d been impressed with his performance. I didn’t keep up with the series, though, and promptly forgot his name. That actually causes me some disquiet – I can remember the name of every actor that’s ever been in Doctor Who, but my brain failed to retain even the most basic two-syllable nomenclature.
    Nonetheless, and despite the BBC’s best efforts, Smith’s name had leaked on some forums as a possibility. So when I heard that the new Doctor would be “the youngest ever” and that “he’s only 26,” I guessed that it was him. I then cracked open my birthday bottle of Talisker to welcome in the new guy, and was delighted to finally see him as a slightly offbeat interviewee with delightfully expressive fingers. I’d anticipated that, for the first time, the Doctor would be younger than me – but Smith is nine years younger! It was enough to make me apply for my old age pension, dye my hair, and forget the names I’ve read on IMDb. After raising a glass to him, though, I logged onto the Internet to gauge fan reaction to his casting... and immediately wished I hadn’t. We’re striving to be positive in this book, so let me just sweep that bit of unpleasantness under the rug.
    It’s entertaining, though, to see some commentators criticize Smith because he’s an “unknown”, even though by “unknown”, what they really mean is “someone held in high regard within the industry with a string of leading stage and screen credits, but who has, for all these achievements, never been featured on TV Quick’s list of Best-Dressed Men”. He’ll do splendidly in the role.
    January 4th
    The Escape (The Daleks episode three)
    R: Ah. Hmm. Oh dear. I said to you that we should look for the positive in all these