What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Wednesday, March 24, 2004

ONE CROWDED POLICE BOX

Following on from that "Doctor Who" bit the other day, I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Richard E. Grant. This most arch of British character actors appeared last year in the BBC's first animated Doctor Who episode as the new Ninth Doctor. This of course meant that, in a strange bit of small-world-isn't-it, he was replacing his good friend and "Withnail and I" co-star Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor.

McGann apparently found out about his replacement during a call from his agent and announced, "[Richard] never mentioned it...the bitch!" At this point, McGann had only played the Doctor in one TV-movie -- a marvellous performance stuck with a lousy script -- and now refers to himself as "the George Lazenby of the Time Lords".

But he gets the last laugh as, with the new casting of Christoper Eccleston as the official Ninth Doctor, Richard E. Grant is now referred to on the BBC website as "the, er, online Doctor." Apparently, the BBC website department was never told what the BBC television department was planning. Nice to see that corporate miscommunication occurs absolutely everywhere.

So, to sum up, Paul McGann is an offical Doctor while friend/rival Richard E. Grant has only his online cartoon. Fortunately, it's a very fine online cartoon and one where his Doctor halts a monster's attack by singing "Cabaret." What is not to love?

Labels: Doctor Who