(08-05-2022 13:27 )skully Wrote: ^ Just checked and yep, those wishing him well in the comments are getting massive down votes.
No clue who he is, after a search he seems to be pretty well liked. The Dr shouldn't be stifled by race or gender, not really. Good luck to him with this, if the actor pulls it off and the writing is improved, then it could be a winner. The only time race changing a character should be a real issue, is if it's a person/people in history, but even then there is some wriggle room, but fantasy should be open to everyone.
Anyone seen him in anything. Any good?
I agree.
Nonetheless, it's easier to single out long-running series to hijack, for crass political point-scoring, than for people to create new series with 'diverse' casting.
I'm old enough to remember when black
peoples (I avoid using 'people of colour') appearing on tv was still something of an event.
However, I didn't necessarily agree with the notion of my being 'represented' by the black people I saw on tv, even back in the 80s.
When I preferred 'No Problem' to 'The Cosby Show', the latter being for some, a more 'positive image' of black people, but yet another show about middle-class Americans.
I enjoyed what I saw of the Christopher Eccleston episodes. His being an actor with a similar intensity and gravitas to Tom Baker.
From what the former has said, he might have been around longer, but for an irreconcilable rift with Russell T. Davies.
Matt Smith, a less familiar actor, also had a similar manic energy about him.
But I rather lost interest, partly because I don't rate Russell T. Davies.
I thought Queer As Folk was brilliant, but everything since has been less hit than miss for me.
Too many castings in recent series, not just the title role, seem like box-ticking to me.
Opting for lesser-known, younger actors, the latest is barely-known, can mean the character and series can be moulded in ways that fit an agenda, that is less specifically dramatic.
Particularly if like Jodie Whittaker, you're not an actor who seems to be suitable for leading that series, if any series, other than a soapy type, or for children.
There are many other, established actors, female or male, black or white, young or older, who could really impose themselves and make the role their own: Lenny Henry, Idris Elba, Richard Ayoade, Sophie Okonedo, and Miranda Hart, are just some names off the top of my head.