Is Doctor Who Turning Into Telly's Biggest Comedy?
So that's it. It's official. Having now seen a picture of Catherine Tate standing next to David Tennant outside the Tardis I now believe the story that Tate is going to appear in the next series of Dr Who. There have been so many silly season rumours flying about lately – last week James Nesbitt was said to be taking over from David Tennant, not so much picking up the baton as being handed the sonic screwdriver – that I don't know what is true and what is cooked up on a quiet news day.
Anyway, good for Tate, though this does seem like a bizarre career move for one of our top comic performers. So will she play it straight or for laughs? Presumably there will be a few giggles as there were when she appeared in the Christmas special The Runaway Bride last year, though her theatre work suggests that Tate also has serious aspirations as a proper thespian.
Then again, it makes perfect sense for Tate to appear in Dr Who. Ever since the cult show was revived in 2005 it has had a fabulous sense of humour. I remember in a very early episode, possibly the first, Rose Tyler asked the then Timelord Chris Eccleston how come he had a Mancunian accent, to which the Doctor brilliantly replied "lots of planets have a north".
The scripts have consistently been witty and sharp as well as scary, but the writers have to be careful how far they take this. If Catherine Tate starts doing her grumpy nan while travelling through the space-time continuum this could just turn into a parody of itself and start feeling like a Tate sketch spoofing the sci-fi show. Not so much Dr Who as Carry On Doctor.
hey its not like catherine tate's decides to act however she
wants its the directors and story writers. Catherine tate
was acting using the catch phrase
AM I BOVVERD? she is a comdeian there she is gonna be
dramatic so don't blame her she is just going to be like other sidekicks!!!!
Posted by: mel | 11/08/2007 at 10:21 AM
I must admit that the truth that Catherine Tate is carrying on in Doctor Who might put me off completly in watching the program which is a shame because it is excellent.Some of my friends say that the program started not bieng that good once Billie Piper left. Catherine Tate was meant for programs like the Catherine Tate show because that is the area in comedy which she excels at even though i think that is finished now. Her personality is too much for Doctor Who and she makes it look like she cannot act at all. To put it in short- I hate her.I watch programmes like Doctor Who so I don't have to see people like her and it is a more relaxed form of entertainment.All the makers of Doctor Who should start recasting as soon as possible because i know if annoying characters like Catherine Tate keep on coming they will lose many viewers.
Posted by: Ems | 11/08/2007 at 08:41 PM
Yes, because Catherine is REALLY going to do her Nan Taylor sketch in the Tardis. If you chose to see past your arrogant nose you will find that Catherine had a career before her sketch shows, and was a member of the RSC.
For God's sake write something worth reading in future.
Posted by: SJ | 11/08/2007 at 10:56 PM
The only way forward for Doctor Who is too have no boundaries, as far as storylines go. If it needs to become a parody of itself then so be it. Ardent fans may already suggest that the programme already is.
It was a sheer stroke of genius for the BBC Drama department to approach Russell T Davies to oversee the new era. His scripts, alongside contributions from others, have been first class. The whole production deserves the accolades it boasts.
Catherine Tate's portrayal of new companion, Donna, is not unlike several of her characters rolled into one. There are definitely traces of wayward teenage Lauren apparent. Who can forget her immortal line from last year's Christmas special, The Runaway Bride: "Doctor, Santa's a robot!"
Bruce Dessau, the blogger, is justified in suggesting that Doctor Who is turning into a comedy. He also says and I quote: "Not so much Dr Who as Carry On Doctor."
What's wrong with that? The Doctor's earliest incarnation, William Hartnell, was in the first Carry On film (Sergeant). The third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, appeared in Carry On Cowboy and Carry On Screaming.
Maybe the next Doctor will be played by somebody as camp as Pertwee's portrayal.
Keep your diary free, Paul O'Grady!
Posted by: Kit Kavanagh | 12/08/2007 at 11:02 AM
Catherine Tate is good at what she does but I wish the BBC would use this opportunity to bring in one of thousands and thousands of actors living on the breadline to have a go rather than let its favorites have a go for fun.
Posted by: steve | 13/08/2007 at 09:34 AM
After the prior Doctor was regenerated ...I thought it this was a good as it gets. There were some great shows and a couple shows that I must admit were just so-so...then Rose was gone. Then came Martha ... I thought lets give it a go even though I enjoyed the character of Rose.
Is it just me or did anybody else get the impression that the Martha character was wrote to be expendable. Was Rose coming back or was Martha just a stop gap? After awhile I started getting a bit put off by the way the character was being written. In spite of it all "Martha" did start to grow on me and I was hoping that the character would be expanded instead of expended.
Posted by: Eunice | 16/08/2007 at 11:12 AM