
But the denial wasn't that great. A BBC statement said: "Sorry folks, but even we don't know what's going to happen at Christmas, it's not been written yet!"
That's hardly reassuring. Rumour says he's leaving and they said we don't know if he is or not. It's not a "no". That's like getting down on one knee and saying, "Darling, will you be mine?" And they say, "I don't know what I will be, so, erm, that's kind of good news, right?"
I don't want Matt to go as I worry about what will happen to the show. The BBC seem obsessed with getting that 12 to 16 year-old demographic and they're turning it into a kids' show.
That's why they revamped the Daleks and made them primary coloured. They never used to be that bright and fun looking. When they started they were all grey. Or maybe it was just because it was filmed in black and white. OK, that's not the strongest part of the argument. But Daleks are meant to be scary, they're not meant to make the room they're in seem like they really open up the space.
And what about the age of the actors? When Doctor Who started he was played by William Hartnell and he was 55 when he first played the part.
Then it was Patrick Troughton when he was 46, then Jon Pertwee was 51, Tom Baker was 40, Peter Davison was the young lad of 30, Colin Baker was 41, Sylvester McCoy was 44, Paul McGann was 37 and Christopher Eccleston was 41. But then David Tennant was 34 before Matt Smith took over at the age of 27.
There's a lot of number, so let's remember GCSE Maths and express it as a graph.
As you can see there's a downward trend that is accelerating. At that rate we can predict that the next actor to play the Doctor will be 12.
And it's at that point I realise I sound like a moaning old man, because I have basically just said, "Oh, doctors these days are getting younger and younger."
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