As for the supposed Marvel-isation, Marson thinks that also makes sense. “Doctor Who needs to become a player in the streaming marketplace,” he says. “It’s not just a BBC project any more, it needs an increased commercial profile if it’s to have any kind of meaningful future. If it’s just a homespun, BBC-doing-what-they-can-with-it sort of thing, it will wither on the vine.”
To add fuel to the fire, Grant has already been offered the role once, by Davies in 2004, before Eccleston was given the job, and expressed regret at turning it down. “I was offered the role of the Doctor a few years back and was highly flattered,” Grant said in 2007. “It’s only when you see it on screen that you think, ‘Damn, that was good, why did I say no?’”
Grant did actually say yes to playing the Doctor before that, for a Red Nose Day sketch in 1999, titled “The Curse of Fatal Death”, in which he, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Broadbent, Richard E Grant and Joanna Lumley played versions of the Time Lord. To add to a sense of fate, the skit was written by future Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.
But Tom Harrington, head of television at media analysts Enders Analysis, sounds a note of caution. “Supercharging Doctor Who makes sense for BBC Studios, but less so for Sony,” he says. “Sony is the only studio without a direct-to-consumer streaming service, so greater value would have to be derived from sales.
Is there a big international buyer that wants to license – and fund – the show? Perhaps, but if there is that sort of demand, why is the show generally only on smaller channels internationally, such as BBC America? That being said, maybe Sony will take a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy to the show.”
The question remains whether Davies could convince Grant that the Tardis may look small from the outside, but it’s a lot bigger once you step inside. Hugh Grant as the Doctor? Crikey.
