I can’t believe I’m even speculating about this…

Who do you like to follow David Tennant and step into the Tardis control room as the Doctor?

I’ve joked before about Dan Radcliffe or Rupert Grint, but this time I’m thinking seriously about it. The rumors are all over the place and I don’t trust any of them. (One even mentioned Billie Piper. I loved her the first time around as Rose, but I wasn’t at all crazy about the way they handled her return and banishment, and… God love her, please don’t bring Billie back as the actual Doctor. ‘Kay? Please let me be right that it’s just a crazy rumor.)

I’m not sure how I feel about a female Doctor, but I know it’s been talked about before. Still, I do see the character itself as inherently male, for better or worse. I’m all for breaking the glass ceiling, but I think *if* Doctor Who is to do anything with a female lead, it ought to be tracking down Georgia Moffett’s Jenny and seeing what the Doctor’s Daughter is up to, rather than feminizing the Doctor himself. Or possibly by finding a way to let Donna’s memory be restored without killing her – in which case, she’d be brilliant. But again – she’s not the Doctor, she’s the Doctor-Donna in her own right.

The show’s new lead writer, the brilliant Stephen Moffat (pauses to fangirl) has said the next Doctor shouldn’t be the same style as David Tennant’s Doc – in fact, he’s been quoted as saying the next one should be “40-plus and weird-looking.” Take it with a grain of salt – I’m taking all interviews and rumors with a grain of salt these days. And I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Moffat threw out a red herring just to throw us off.

We may not have too much longer to wait, anyway. (Insert grain of salt here!) Den of Geek is reporting the next Doctor could be announced as soon as the end of this week, as part of the BBC’s Children in Need specials. But hey, even if it’s not true, the Children in Need event this year will include the broadcast of the first two minutes of the Christmas special, “The Next Doctor.” So it’s worth paying attention regardless.

Bottom line: I’m not believing any reports about the next Doctor until I hear it from the BBC and Moffat himself.