Who's next to play the Doctor?

THE best news to hit our household in years was when writer/producer Russell T Davies announced the return of Doctor Who. Peace broke out on Saturday evenings once again as the new version of the old favourite entranced parents and kids alike.
Christopher Eccleston did a good job as the first 'new' Doc, but in my far from humble opinion, Scottish actor David Tennant has been the best 'Who' since Tom Baker.
Tennant is currently starring as the Time Lord in the third series of the new Doctor Who and the show will be back for series four - but Tennant has refused to reveal whether he will return in the lead role.
As he showed in the recent one-off drama Recovery, there is little danger of him being typecast, and it's just been revealed that he will star in another BBC film, Learners, to be shown later this year.
But undoubtedly there will soon come a time when fear of stagnation will lead Tennant to shuffle off his mortal coil in Dr Who's umpteenth regeneration. He will be a hard act to follow but somebody will have to do it - and the bookies are already taking bets on his successor.
Irish bookies Paddy Power make another Scot, Robert Carlyle, their 5-2 favourite for the role, with Liverpudlian actor David Morrisey of Viva Blackpool second best at 4-1. Jason Statham of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is also at 4-1, but his ambitions lie in Hollywood.
Richard E Grant is quoted at 6-1 and the Withnail and I star would be an eccentric Doctor in the Tom Baker mould. So, too, would be Stephen Fry, a 10-1 shot.
Hard-man former footballer Vinnie Jones is 20-1 while Ricky Gervais is the outsider at 66s, though his stint in Night at the Museum showed he could handle any role.
But for an inspired piece of time-travel casting, why not try 10-1 shot John Simm (right), soon to finish his stint as Sam Tyler in the brilliant Life on Mars. He's handled going back 30 years just fine, so Simm could well be the man to take the Doctor character back and forth through the centuries. Check out www.paddypower.com for the odds.