Part III, Chapter I: "The Best is Yet to Come"
“The audition experience was unlike any other I’d had up to that point. Normally, they know what the character is like, and they’ll give you some lines or a scene to act out in character. But with Doctor Who, they gave me a few pointers, and set me off. They were looking more to see what I could bring to the role, and evidently, they liked it. I got the call while we were filming Goldeneye. I was working with Sean [Bean] at the time, who had screen tested for the role in the past, as we moved in the same circles as far as roles went, and he urged me to take the opportunity.”
- Paul McGann on his being cast as the Tenth Doctor.
The future of
Doctor Who was, in many ways, in the most jeopardy it had been since the initial cancellation in 1984. With Cartmel fired from his showrunning role, and neither Brooks nor Ryder’s contracts being renewed,
Doctor Who found itself without a main writer, or main cast. A sigh of relief came when NBC announced that it was tentatively renewing
Doctor Who for a ninth season on their network. Though the BBC did still technically own the show and all characters on it, NBC was providing the money, and as a result, was the network that called the shots.
This new ninth season, or rather thirtieth season, would mean one major thing. There would be a new actor in the role of the Doctor. As with their three predecessors, there would be major speculation over who would play the Tenth Doctor. Fan circles went into a frenzy when Ian Richardson was spotted on set, with rumours leaking that he would be playing a version of the Doctor in the Season 29 finale. This turned out to be the role of “the Other”, a past version of the Doctor.
As they were casting the role with little knowledge of who would be writing the show, the producers made the auditions more open than in the past. They would provide the actors with a few ideas to act out, but would mainly be looking to see what the actor could bring to the role. As each Doctor was different, they wanted something new, that could bring the audience in.
The auditions narrowed the large pool down to two candidates, Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann. Both were well known for the film
Withnail and I. McGann was offered the role, as the producers felt that his portrayal was more “alien” than Grant’s. While McGann was involved with the ITV production
Sharpe, this involved only three stories a year, and could easily be made to work with the
Doctor Who schedule. Indeed, the role of Sharpe was what most Brits would associate McGann with, though Americans would be more familiar with his appearances in
Alien 3 and
Goldeneye.
So, the producers had a Doctor, but no writer. Numerous names from within the current writing staff were suggested, with Russell T. Davies, Paul Cornell and Nicholas Briggs being common suggestions. However, NBC wanted something new, and decided to hire someone from outside the show as the new showrunner.
The somewhat controversial (at the time) decision to hire English writer Neil Gaiman as showrunner had many effects for the show. Gaiman notably had no screenwriting credits prior to his work on the show. He had however, written the highly successful
Sandman comics and co-written
Good Omens.
For companions, Gaiman did have control over the casting, though McGann had been cast before he was hired. He decided that the Doctor should have two companions, one from the present, and another from the past.
The first companion was a creation of Nicholas Briggs’. Lucie Miller would be a girl that is placed in the TARDIS by the Time Lords, in order to protect her. This would allow for an arc to find out why she was in danger, and who she was in danger from. Initially, she was envisioned as being from Blackpool, but the NBC executives insisted on making her North American. [1]
Canadian actress Nicole de Boer was cast as Lucie Miller, with the character being written as from Toronto, rather than Blackpool. De Boer had had multiple roles in Canadian television movies prior to her casting, but was unknown to most American and British audiences. [2]
The second companion was envisioned as a Native American character named Kahn-Tineta . Auditions were slightly complicated by the relative lack of Native American or First Nations actresses. However, an actress would be found in the form of Canadian First Nations model Alex Rice. Rice had only recently travelled to California when the casting call went out, and despite her lack of acting experience, was cast due to her chemistry with de Boer and McGann. In recognition of Rice's heritage, the character was made a member of the Mohawk tribe. [3]
It was hoped that although neither of the companions’ actresses were well known, casting a more well known actor like McGann in the main role would help to bring in new audiences, as well as convince some of the audience that had abandoned the show to come back.
1996 was going to be a bold new year for
Doctor Who, and only time would tell if this trio would be a success.
[1] This era will borrow a bit from the Big Finish Productions, but not too much, for reasons that will soon become clear. This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of the people involved with it are working on the show here.
[2] When one of you asked a few weeks ago about Nicole De Boer, and I said that I had plans for her, this was it.
[3] She's young and fits the role, as well as being a not terrible actress. This is me indulging my fascination with Native American culture once more.