David Tennant is back to work on the latest installment of “Doctor Who”. This is actually the beginning of the end for Tennant as “The Doctor”, and you can honestly see a bit of sadness on his face about the fact that he’s almost to the end of his run.

Most people say that the first person you see playing “The Doctor” will always be your favorite, but for me that isn’t the case. The first person I ever saw playing the role was Tom Baker, but that was only in the occasional episode on PBS late at night.

Christopher Eccelston was the first Doctor I watched on a weekly basis – and I wasn’t ready to see him go after the first season…but I’m incredibly glad that he did – because David Tennant is by far the best Doctor ever. Since I started watching the relaunched show in 2005, I have have seen episodes of every Doctor that has ever played the role, and I just don’t think anyone else comes close.

I’m going to miss him when he’s gone.

Tomorrow, January 3rd, 2009 is the big day. Tomorrow we learn who is going to play the 11th Doctor.

BBC News reports that the big reveal will happen on an episode of “Doctor Who Confidential” entitled “The Eleventh Doctor”. The show will air on on BBC One at 1735.

I simply CANNOT WAIT to see how this ends up being. The producers are being very coy, about whether the 11th Doctor will be male or female. I have no clue how they’re going to play this, and who it’s going to be, but I’ll be watching DoctorWhoNews.com closely waiting for the big reveal.

Current (and exiting) “Doctor Who” producer Russell T. Davies has picked his next project. He’ll be helping develop a BBC version of “The Fabulous Baker Boys”, which focuses on a small town facing the closure of its main factory.

Davies has been almost exclusively in the Whoniverse for the last several years, spearheading “Doctor Who”, “Torchwood”, and “The Sarah Jane Adventures” all set in the long running “Doctor Who” universe.

There is no word on if Davies is going to continue his associations with the satellite shows he helped create after leaving “Doctor Who” proper in 2009 after the airing of 5 specials.

The rumors about who will be the next Doctor are so strong that their are even rumors about when the rumors will be confirmed.

The current speculation is that the announcement will happen during the “Children in Need” fundraiser special. Each year this special is a huge event, and it often has a “Doctor Who” connection of some kind. It would be a massive fundraiser for the show, especially if they refused to announce the name until they reached a certain dollar amount.

The odds on who will play the new Who are stacking up. Here are the current standings:

ODDS ON NEW DOCTOR FROM PADDY POWER (3rd Nov 2008)
2/1 David Morrisey
6/1 Paterson Joseph
8/1 James Nesbitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor
10/1 Russell Tovey, John Simm
12/1 Anthony Head
14/1 Robert Carlyle, David Walliams
16/1 Richard E Grant
18/1 Richard Coyle, Aidan Gillen, Alan Davies, Sean Pertwee
20/1 Jason Statham, Harry Lloyd, Nigel Harman, Marc Warren, Jack Davenport
25/1 Julian Walsh, Adrian Lester, Alexander Armstrong
33/1 Julian Rhind-Tutt, Rupert Penry-Jones, James McAvoy
40/1 Bill Nighy, Stephen Fry, Ben Wishaw
50/1 John Barrowman, Ben Miles, David Suchet, Hugh Laurie
66/1 Gary Oldman, Matt Smith, Paul Bettany, Joel Beckett, Christopher Eccleston
80/1 Alex Kingston, Dean Lennox Kelly, Christopher Villiers
100/1 Ricky Gervais
150/1 Hugh Grant, Russell Brand, Vinnie Jones
200/1 Robbie Williams

I have to say I am saddened by this news. The BBC is reporting that David Tennant is leaving the role of “The Doctor” when the 2009 specials are over.

Frankly, I don’t know why this is being reported now. The 2008 Christmas special is coming up soon, and with the bad news of Tennant leaving the role all of the specials in 2009 are going to have a shadow cast over them.

It seemed pretty clear from the beginning that the 2009 specials were happening to give Tennant a break from the role, but if he’s not sticking with it, I don’t know why we couldn’t have just moved on straight into another series. (yes, I’m a pull the band-aid off quickly kind of guy).

So – now for an entire year we can all speculate on who is going to be the next Doctor, and Tennant will go out with a whimper instead of the bang he deserved.

Bummer.

Tom Baker, Peter Davidson, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, and David Tennant may be getting together to help ‘Children in Need’ if the rumor from The Telegraph is true.

The UK paper is reporting that all seven of the surviving actors who have portrayed “The Doctor” in the long running “Doctor Who” series may reunite in one big special segment for the annual “Children in Need” event.

Every year “Doctor Who” has some kind of involvement with the special. Last year Peter Davidson and David Tennant met for the first time in a fantastic mini-episode, and the idea of all these “Doctor’s” getting back together is very, very exciting for long-time “Whovians”.

The Sun is not the world’s most reputable source, but – what the hell? Let’s talk some Doctor Who.

Rumor has it that Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbins, and John Simm may revisit their roles as Donna, Wilf, and The Master in one of the upcoming Doctor Who specials set to air next year. Now, they may not all be in the same special, but if these rumors are true they would all be slated to appear at some point.

The Sun has also reported that Paul McGann might get a chance to return as The Doctor in a flashback capacity.

I’d love to see McGann back, because of all The Doctor’s we’ve seen him the least. It would be interesting to see more of that Doctor.

Plus, let’s face it – these specials all need to be “BIG”. They don’t need to just be run-of-the-mill episodes. Donna returning is BIG. The Master returning is BIG. McGann stepping back into the role is also BIG.

That’s good stuff that could keep us Whovians satisfied while David Tennant hangs out with Patrick Stewart in Hamlet.

So will any of it happen? Probably not – but we can hope.

Doctor Who fans all over the world will be giddy once they see this trailer. It aired this Saturday during Doctor Who’s normal time slot. Amazingly, Catherine Tate has proven to be one of the best companions ever for The Doctor. I’m sorry to say I thought she was a bad choice at first – she has really done an amazing job, and I’m very glad to see her prominently featured, along with the return of Rose.

This season of Doctor Who is shaping up to be absolutely fantastic, and the trailer for this second half really has me pumped.

It’s a great time to be a Doctor Who fan.