BBC Fiction boss Jane Tranter has pretty much ruled out making feature films based on the best of BBC drama - except for Doctor Who. What would you think if BBC Films decided to make a big screen tale of the Timelord?
Well, it might be an idea to know who will be in it and writing it. The Beeb first has to sort out once and for all whether David Tennant will return for series five once he's finished playing Hamlet on the RSC stage.
Here's hoping the indecision of the Danish Prince, or indeed a taste for live performing, won't rub off on him too much. He's brilliant. The good news is that I got the distinct impression from speaking to Tranter yesterday that he will come back. Other BBC sources have suggested this to me as well.
But what about Billie Piper, currently playing TV's Belle du Jour, getting off her scented couch and returning as companion Rose as the News of the World recently reported? This may sound like sacrilege but I preferred Freema Agyeman's character Martha (minus those pained I-am-romantically-in-love-with-the-Doctor looks she had to flash two or three times an episode). There are rumours that both will be coming back. Some people - and papers - have even talked about James Nesbitt taking control in the Tardis but I have it on good authority that he has no intention of putting himself forward. Like most people, he probably can't imagine a better Doctor than Tennant from the current crop of British actors, but you could well disagree.
But before a decision is made about a film, the direction of the show certainly needs to be sorted out, as does the creative leadership of the series. Will Russell T Davies, the series' effective show-runner, stay on? And if not, will his write hand (see what I'm doing there?) partner Steven Moffat step up?
The real question, though, is whether a film would work? Let us forget a minute the fondly remembered but (if you have seen them in the last 20 years) unutterably dated two films starring Peter Cushing. Time has also moved on since Paul McGann took on the role in the 1996 blockbuster BBC/US co-pro that simply looked a bit naff compared with the crop of great US sci fi dramas around at the time.
Now the Doc is back, and bar the odd sabbatical, for good. It looks brilliant...is brilliant. But would a film be one step in the space time continuum too far?
