So James Nesbitt As Doctor Who…What Do You Think, BBC AMERICA Fans?

Doctor Who creator Russell T. Davies and star David Tennant have not announced their departures yet, but that hasn’t stopped The Sun from predicting their replacements. To their credit, The Sun has actually had some great Doctor Who scoops; they called John Simm‘s and Kylie Minogue‘s guest spots ages before they were made official.

Now The Sun reports that writer Steven Moffat and actor James Nesbitt, the men behind BBC AMERICA’s Jekyll, may re-team on Doctor Who.

[Nesbitt] is pals with Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat, tipped to replace show chief Russell T. Davies when he also stands down at the end of the next series.

Our mole said: “Moffat has worked with James on Jekyll and the talk in BBC Drama is that he’s a shoo-in as the next Doctor.

“First a Scottish Doctor – now we could have a Northern Irish one.”

Moffat, of course, has already written a number of Doctor Who‘s most acclaimed scripts and has been discussed as a successor – should RTD ever step down. But Nesbitt as the Doctor could be seen as a choice out of left field.

Not so, says The Guardian‘s Daniel Martin. If anything, Nesbitt’s run on Jekyll was something of a rehearsal for taking on Doctor Who:

And of all the actors who’ve been tipped for the role (Robert Carlyle, Jason Statham, Hugh Grant?!), Nesbitt seems one of the few with both the right stature and the right sense of mischief. Take away the murderous tendencies and superhuman libido, and his portrayal of Hyde can be viewed quite credibly as an audition for the Doctor. The hyperactive yapping, lightning wit and physical jerks are all ‘a bit Tennant’.

The Guardian‘s Jason Deans is a bit less sold on the Nesbitt replacement:

I’m a Nesbitt fan, although it does occur to me that he would perhaps be a little bit too much like Tennant – affable, likeable, bit of a cheeky chap, and with a slightly manic energy on screen.

The folks in the comments section, still reeling from the casting of Catherine Tate as the Doctor’s sidekick, aren’t sold on Mr. Nesbitt either. They’ve suggested some other options, including various Doctors of colors: Lennie James (The State Within), Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba (I could get behind that one in a big way), Kris Marshall (My Family), Robert Carlyle, John Hannah, Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars at No. 42), Don Gilet (Night Detective), Adrian Lester, Richard Coyle (Coupling), Anthony Head (Little Britain‘s PM), Tamsin Greig (Black Books), Richard E. Grant, and yes, Eddie Izzard.

What do you think? Should Nesbitt be the next Doctor Who?