Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Lemon Entry

Dear blog readers may have noticed that several national newspapers have been reporting Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch 'almost became the next Time Lord instead of Matt Smith.' Well, at least according to the Sun anyway, from whom this story seems to have originated. Cumberbatch, said that he had spoken to previous Doctor Who star David Tennant about the role, and added that he 'didn't really like the whole package – being on school lunchboxes.' All of which is very odd given that, at the time Matt's casting was announced in January 2009, Steven Moffat said that Matt was the first and, indeed, only, candidate. Fair enough, I guess - I imagine that a lot of actors were seen and that a few of them were in the frame at various times but dropped out for one reason or another. But, this kind of story is particularly unhelpful - if not downright hurtful - to Matt Smith who has just completed a fabulous first year in the role and is currently filming a second. Indeed, the Sun's story continues to push the absurd suggestion that Matt could be leaving the role after the next series, something which they claimed in an 'exclusive' a couple of week ago, citing unattributed quotes from an alleged 'pal' of Smith. A story which has subsequently been denied by Karen Gillan, Steven Moffat and, most recently, the BBC themselves (Neil Sean in Metro just this morning quoting a BBC 'source' as saying 'We are more than happy with Matt'). And yet the Sun are still sticking by their story. Even, amusingly, managing to mangle the 'thirteen regenerations only' story and fold that into their tale. Someone, somewhere, is clearly incorrect. And, out of the two, I know who I'd trust first. If I didn't know better, I'd suggest I could smell the pungent, rancid whiff of some, rather sinister, 'agenda' going down here.

Before we leave the subject of Benedict Cumberbatch and Doctor Who, however, we have this little titbit from last week. The actor told the Digital Spy website during an interview that he's a huge fan of the series and, somewhat cryptically, avoided divulging whether or not he would be appearing in the series in the future. 'Not [in] an episode of Doctor Who, no,' he said possibly - but only possibly - suggesting that he had been sounded out concerning a recurring multi-episode role. 'It's something that hasn't really crossed my mind that much, but I'm a huge fan of the series and amazing people do amazing work in it, in all episodes. I'm going to keep my powder dry for now. As I said before, not an episode.'

Benedict Cumberbatch, dear blog reder. The next Master. You heard it here first.

It's a guess, of course, and probably one that's way off-base. But if I turn out to be right, you dear blog readers are gonna be so impressed!