David Tennant Out, Paterson Joseph In as Doctor Who?

So the news that we were all expecting (but dreading) has come to fruition: David Tennant is stepping down after a hugely popular run as Timelord on Doctor Who. “When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won’t be with me,” he revealed after winning his National Television Award last night.

As much as we mourn his departure, we’re relieved that we can now speculate about his replacement with abandon. The bookies’ favorite for the 11th Doctor is acclaimed stage actor Paterson Joseph, who would be the first black Timelord. Joseph has a history with Steven Moffat, having starred as the villainous Benjamin on Jekyll (which co-starred James Nesbitt, another contender.) He also boasts strong comedic chops; he’s a frequent collaborator with David Mitchell and Robert Webb, playing debonair businessman Johnson on Peep Show and “Numberwang” contestant Simon on That Mitchell & Webb Look. And like seemingly every other comic TV performer in Britain, he was on Green Wing.

Here’s Paterson Joseph as Benjamin on Jekyll:

I’ve also attached a couple of video diaries Joseph did to promote his roles in The Emperor Jones and Saint Joan for the National Theatre in the UK. I must say, he’s kinda hot.

Joseph himself seems game: “The news on Who was news to me as of last Wednesday, when my agent said they’d had lots of journos asking if the rumors were true. That’s all I know, and I’m very pleased to even be thought of in this way. It’s a blast!”

In other news:

• The Daily Telegraph‘s Robert Colvile says Tennant’s departure could improve the show: “if we were being unkind, we could say the constant switchblade between gurning buffoonery and deadly-cold drama in Tennant’s performance was becoming just a little too familiar. The Scot was probably right to end it where he will – with the crowd wanting more.”
• Doctor Who star Noel Clarke offers baby advice to his friend and former co-star Billie Piper.(The Sun)
• The Daily Telegraph‘s Tim Robey gives four stars to Quantum of Solace. “Quantum of Solace offers next to no solace, if we mean respite, but in plunging its hero into a revenge-displacement grudge mission, it has the compensation of a rock-solid dramatic idea, and the intelligence to run and run with it.”
• The Guardian‘s Paul MacInnes says the old, suave Bond can choke on his vodka martini, for all he cares: he’s a fan of the thuggish, brutish Bond played by Daniel Craig.
• The Times lists their top 10 Bond girls, and their No. 1 choice almost seems to be a slam on Bond purists.
• Princes William and Harry turned up at the Bond premiere.(The Sun)
• Was Bond girl Gemma Arterton wearing a mullet dress on the red carpet?(Guardian)
• Make sure you bring your syllabus to the next Jarvis Cocker concert: the former Pulp frontman wants to add lectures to his future gigs.(Guardian)
• Alan McGee is leaving the music industry, calling record companies “pointless things, like dinosaurs or trams or something.” Spoken by the Geriatrisaurus himself…(BBC)
• Sam Mendes will direct an adaptation of the graphic novel Preacher.(Guardian)
• The controller of Radio 2 has quit; Jonathan Ross has been suspended for 12 weeks without pay for his part in that prank phone call to Andrew Sachs. (Guardian)
• Even Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand‘s fellow comedians are piling on: “First of all, what they did was inappropriate, wrong and in bad taste – and not particularly funny either,” says Steve Coogan.(Telegraph)
• However, Catherine Tate says, “I just think it’s been overblown and I’m not getting into it.”(ITN)
• Noel Gallagher, of all people, seems to have some perspective on this: “Personally, I’m outraged that, yet again, the joyless f***ers who write the columns in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph or The Observer have dictated the tone and are telling people how to behave. I’ve seen the Daily Mail, they said that Russell should be arrested and charged. Arrested for what? For taking the piss? It’s so typical of the English in general. 10,000 people get outraged, but only days after it has happened.”(NME)
• Georgina Baillie, a.k.a. Voluptua, granddaughter of Andrew Sachs, rates Russell Brand “a disappointment” in bed. OK, she accuses him of embarrassing her grandfather?(The Sun)
• Lily Allen herself (!) has responded to Marina Hyde’s post in The Guardian ridiculing her press officer Murray Chalmers for calling Allen “the Wordsworth of her generation.” “Murray was an all too easy target, he has a lot of respect for me and was only trying to be enthusiastic about something he feels passionate about. It’s quite obvious the part of his press release you referred to was ‘tongue in cheek’. As we all know, it would be ridiculous to compare me to Wordsworth or Bennett and your poking fun at his reference was cheap, really…it’s plain rude. i wonder if maybe there is some other agenda in the Guardian blog office regarding myself, as it seems the things i have read there always tend to be quite negative?”