Updated: Oct 27
Before the plot, the face.
Every *Doctor Who* pitch starts with the same question: who is the Doctor? For *Version Control*, the answer was never in doubt for me. It is Paul McGann.
McGann is the Eighth Doctor, the one who got a single TV film and then, for most of the show's history, hardly any screen time at all. His Doctor has spent years off camera, mostly on audio, travelling through some of the darkest stretches of the Doctor's life. The last time he appeared on TV, he chose to regenerate into a warrior to help end the Time War. Whatever happened to him in between those times was never shown.
That gap is the point. *Version Control* picks him up after countless years of unseen travel. He doesn't need introducing. He just needs somewhere to go.
It's sad to say that casting Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa was considered brave at the time. Some people who were perfectly happy with aliens of all shapes and colours couldn't accept the Doctor being a woman, a Black man, or gay. We saw similar reactions to the new Captain America. Sexism, racism and homophobia played their part, amplified by people who seemed more interested in the culture war than in watching the actual show.
Of course, not everyone who disliked those eras was motivated by prejudice. But the noise stuck, and better writing and stronger ideas might have given the naysayers less ammunition. I don't think Whittaker was always served well by Chris Chibnall's writing, and Russell T Davies eventually lost me too.
That's a real shame, especially for Gatwa, who had the man responsible for resurrecting the whole shebang in the first place on his team. I've read Russell T Davies's book about writing the first revival's scripts, and it's excellent. He describes occasions when the BBC budget couldn't stretch to the special effects he'd envisaged. He'd go back to the drawing board and come up with something better, something cleverer.
With Disney's money behind the revival, those constraints were largely lifted. My feeling is that Davies had the keys to the toy shop and, at times, forgot that having the freedom to do anything doesn't necessarily mean you should.
The Eighth Doctor is the Doctor who never got his own series. This is a six-part run that gives him one. And from the corporate side, he's the lowest-risk option on the table. The BBC and partners don't have to gamble on an unknown. Fans already love him, and he's proved he can walk straight back into the role.
Night of the Doctor was a few minutes of television, and he picked up the Eighth Doctor as if he'd never put him down. Nobody had to be convinced. That's not a bad position for a show that needs a win. And David Tennant is busy this time I'm sure, even if I have to finish East Kilbride and cast him in it myself!
There's also a practical upside. I don't have to go anywhere near the regeneration into Billie Piper at the end of the last series. Someone else can deal with that mess. I'm not moving the story forward, I'm going back to give McGann the episodes he deserved.
Gallifrey United are under threat of relegation, maybe even of going into receivership. Like many football clubs do, I'm bringing back an old player to get the vibes back and the fans excited. Then again, as I type this it seems Manchester United will be sacking Michael Carrick very soon, but don't let that worry you!
I am not going to say much yet about who he is up against. That is for Part 2. For now, the Doctor is cast, and the rest of the team is a conversation for another day.
Part 2 tomorrow: the pitch.
Homework: Deadstream
